Collaros keen to rekindle his mojo at quarterback
Former MOP contender looks to regain his footing with fresh start in Regina
REGINA Most quarterbacks wouldn’t have fond recollections of a four-interception game that featured a long-distance pick-six. Zach Collaros is an exception.
Collaros, who was acquired by the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Jan. 3, intercepted four passes — returning one of them 100 yards for a touchdown — for Ohio’s Steubenville Big Red during a Division 3 high school playoff game in 2006.
“The only time Zach came off the field was for kickoffs and that kind of stuff,” said Mike Mathison, who was a sports reporter with the Steubenville Herald- Star during most of Collaros’ high school career. “When they were so far ahead, the head coach would sub him out for other players. He still spent a lot of time on the field.”
Collaros was the Big Red’s starting quarterback for three seasons, compiling a 41-1 record, celebrating back-to-back 15-0 seasons and capturing Division 3 state championships in 2005 and 2006.
While in high school, he compiled 4,306 passing yards and 53 touchdowns, while rushing for 1,304 yards and 25 TDs.
As a defensive back, he returned six of his 14 interceptions for touchdowns. He also recovered five fumbles, returning two for majors.
Mathison noted that Collaros could have recorded even better statistics if Steubenville hadn’t been so dominant.
“The head coach was all about the team and that’s where Zach came from,” Mathison said. “When Zach talks about being part of a team and being a good teammate, that’s where it comes from.”
Those attributes have carried Collaros through his NCAA career, spent with the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, and six CFL seasons. The Riders acquired Collaros from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for a second-round selection (10th overall) in the 2018 CFL draft.
Collaros was introduced to Rider Nation Tuesday at Mosaic Stadium.
“I watched him (via video) during the media conference and my first impression is he was a straight-up young man and everything you would want in a quarterback,” TSN’s Matt Dunigan, a Canadian Football Hall of Fame quarterback, said from his Texas home.
“A change in scenery and being part of Rider Nation is special in itself. It’s also a heck of a motivator for him.”
The next step is up to Collaros. “I think everybody is looking for that guy,” Dunigan said. “Zach has certainly shown us glimpses of that potential. Now it’s up to that man individually to reach it because he has the right environment and the right people around him to do that.”
Collaros was “that guy” while growing up in football-mad Ohio.
“Every kid grows up aspiring to be a high school football player,” Collaros said. “You would go to games and watch those older guys and look at them like they were NFL players.
“I can remember being a kid and begging my dad to go outside with me every day to throw a football around. They don’t tell you that you have to play football, but it’s kind of what we do in the neighbourhood.”
Collaros spent four seasons with the Bearcats before making his way to the CFL. He initially signed with the Toronto Argonauts in 2012 before joining the Tiger-Cats as a free agent in 2014.
He then led the Tiger-Cats to the 2014 Grey Cup game, in which Hamilton lost a 20-16 heartbreaker to the Calgary Stampeders.
In 2015, Collaros was the leading candidate for the CFL’s most outstanding player award until Sept. 19, when he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during a 25-18 loss to the Chris Jones-coached Edmonton Eskimos.
“Up until September, when we knocked him out in 2015, he was the best player in the league,” Jones, who is now the Roughriders’ head coach and general manager, told the Regina Leader-Post’s Rob Vanstone
“I remember very vividly we had a damn good football team in Edmonton the year we won (the 2015 Grey Cup). They came to our place and dismantled us. He’s looking over at me and kind of shrugging and I can hardly help it.
“We went over there and played him and he got hurt in the first quarter. After that, he just hasn’t really regained his footing.”
In 2015, Collaros had 25 touchdown passes against eight interceptions while throwing for 3,376 yards and career-high 9.4 yards per attempt. He was also a dual threat with 28 carries for 168 yards and a touchdown.
Collaros was sidelined for the stretch run in 2015 and missed the first eight games of the 2016 season while recovering from the knee injury. He had 18 touchdown passes versus eight interceptions in 2016.
In 2017, Collaros was healthy, but nonetheless struggled. The TigerCats lost their first eight games before Collaros was replaced as the starter by Jeremiah Masoli.
“I remember (Collaros) used to make big plays with his legs and that changed after he was injured,” Dunigan noted.
“The last two years, he has rushed the ball 15 times for 91 yards and no touchdowns.”
If you look at Masoli the last two years, Dunigan said, he’s had 114 carries for 626 yards and 10 touchdowns over that span.
“That’s the biggest difference in Zach’s lack of production or ability to win football games — Zach’s propensity not to run the football,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s selfpreservation or if that’s a predetermined mindset of working within the confines of the pocket.
“I know that when Zach was having success early in his career, it’s when he was rushing the football and that’s an underrated aspect of the quarterback’s game in the CFL.”
Jones got to know Collaros after he signed with the Argonauts in 2012. Jones, who was Toronto’s defensive co-ordinator and assistant general manager at the time, also contributed to Collaros signing with the Argonauts.
They spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons with the Argonauts before Jones moved to the Eskimos as their head coach.
Now that Jones and Collaros are reunited, the 29-year-old quarterback is hoping to move past his struggles from 2017.
“It has been well-documented that we didn’t start the season off very well and that I didn’t play very well,” Collaros said. “From a personal standpoint, it was really tough.”
The Riders have five quarterbacks — Collaros, Brandon Bridge (who recently signed a contract extension), Vernon Adams Jr., Marquise Williams and David Watford — under contract. Veteran quarterback Kevin Glenn was released the day after the Riders acquired Collaros.
Collaros hasn’t been promised the starting position despite his seniority and experience compared to the other quarterbacks.
“I’m showing up and I’m competing,” he said. “It’s what every quarterback does. I don’t think anybody, even if they tell you you’re the starter, slacks off in the off-season or comes in nonchalantly.
“If you’re coming (to camp) and you don’t have the fire in your belly to play the game at a high level, you’re going to get passed up.”