Hastings continues to make progress
Stefan Endsin believes the high point of Asher Hastings’ football career is the result of a low point.
Things were falling into place for Hastings before the 2012 PFC season began. He had attended training camp with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders and was set for his first season as the Regina Thunder’s starting quarterback after two seasons as a backup.
But in the fourth quarter of the Thunder’s seasonopener Aug. 20 against the Edmonton Huskies, Hastings was driven into the ground while throwing a pass. The impact snapped his right collarbone, which surgeons repaired with eight screws and a plate.
“Things were going really well and he had expectations for how things would go,” says Endsin, the Thunder’s offensive co-ordinator. “When he broke his collarbone, that was all erased and it was a bit of adversity.
“To be a good quarterback, having to deal with a little adversity at points in your life is a good thing. It added to his ability to play well under pressure when games are on the line.”
Hastings admits the injury “was pretty tough on me,” but not necessarily because of the physical toll it took on him.
“The biggest thing for me was missing nearly six games; that’s a decent chunk of my career,” recalls Hastings, who returned for Regina’s sixth game of the 2012 regular season but played in only one half of two other games before regaining the No. 1 job for the playoffs.
“To miss six games, I thought it pushed back my development and took away lots of snaps and playing time and things that I was looking forward to doing that season.”
The 21-year-old has made up for lost time in 2013.
He played in all eight of the Thunder’s regular-season games, earning the nod as the PFC’s all-star quarterback as well as a share (with Winnipeg Rifles quarterback Ryan Marsch) of the league’s most-valuable-player award.
Of more importance to Hastings is the fact he led the Thunder to the 2013 PFC title, the first in the franchise’s 14-year history.
Regina defeated the host Saskatoon Hilltops 21-16 on Sunday, with Hastings setting a PFC final record with 25 completions.
Before the Thunder headed to Saskatoon, Hastings accepted some of the blame for Regina’s 37-0 loss to the Hilltops in the 2012 final, suggesting he wasn’t ready — which perhaps was a result of his relative lack of playing time.
With a full season as a starter under his belt, Hastings was a different quarterback Sunday. It helped his cause that the Thunder gained valuable insight into the Hilltops’ defence during a 29-28 victory in Saskatoon on Sept. 7 and those lessons resulted in a new game plan for the final.
“It was made a lot simpler for me,” says Hastings, whose team earned the right with Sunday’s win to play host to the CJFL championship game on Nov. 9. “I think I’m finally getting it.”
Endsin has been impressed with the quarterback’s decision-making in recent weeks. Hastings has figured out when to take a shot downfield, when to dump the ball to an underneath receiver or when to throw it away.
It’s all part of the progression of a quarterback who’s only in his first full season as a starter. And yet Hastings is, in some ways, ahead of the curve.
“He’s able, like nobody else I’ve been around, to tell me what everybody else is supposed to do,” Endsin says. “He knows where they’re supposed to be and he’ll get them to where they’re supposed to be or where he wants them to be.
“The other thing he does really well is he’s reflective. He sets goals and tries to achieve them. But when things aren’t going well, he’s not going to keep pounding his head against the wall like other people do.
“It’s pretty impressive for a player his age to be able to sit down and say, ‘What do I need to do differently to make myself better and the team better?’ ”
Hastings knows he has work to do — for one thing, he’d like to be more accurate with his throws — but he likes where he’s at some 16 months after being injured.
“I had so much support from my family, my teammates and my coaching staff,” Hastings says when asked to explain his growth. “Stefan and I have been really close over the past few years and he has taught me a lot on and off the field.
“I’ve had a lot of really great people in my life who have helped me get to that next level, not only as a football player but as a person as well.”