Sun’s shining

Knowing he was returning to the Okanagan as the clear-cut starter, Zyla put his nose to the grindstone in hopes of reaping the rewards on the gridiron.

“The thing I took away the most was just the work ethic,” he said.

“I look better, I feel better, but just that drive to wake up every day and put in the work to be successful and keep pushing.”

Now, he’s looking forward to silencing his critics — Zaron, among others.

“It is fuel and motivation,” Zyla said. “The more talk and everything, it just feeds the fire.”

There is no quarterback controversy to start this season — Zyla is No. 1 and Nick Wenman is No. 2, followed by Josh Leggatt and Matt Mahler on the depth chart.

Last season, the Sun deployed a 1A-1B platoon system, featuring the aforementioned Martens and Zyla.

Good in theory — with Martens’ strength being game management, while Zyla was more of a game-breaker with his arm strength and ability to deliver the deep ball — but it caused too much confusion and even tension on the sidelines, according to Zyla.

He admitted to struggling with consistency and finding a rhythm, and also to “butting heads” at times with rookie offensive coordinator Mike Wolthuizen, who is back for a second year in that role and now on the same page as his QB.

“This year, it’s completely changed and you can tell on the field. Our play-calling, it’s more confident, and our offence looks way better,” Zyla said.

“It’s hard when you’re getting switched in and switched out. It’s hard for the coaches too, because they don’t know what to call. This guy can run this, this guy can run that . . .

“This year, I think it’ll be way smoother.”

Zyla also praised new quarterbacks coach Tyler Nickel, who crossed over from Westshore and previously played the position for Simon Fraser University.

“He’s doing very well with us. Very good at simplifying defences and helping us break down coverages and everything,” Zyla said of Nickel.

With more pressure to perform this season, Zyla can only hope to have a debut like last season — when he threw three touchdowns and produced a perfect stat-line by completing all four passes he attempted for a total of 174 yards in a 56-14 road victory over the Valley Huskers in Chilliwack.

The Rebels are a much different beast, however, and will be hungry to hunt down Zyla.

That will mean a much bigger challenge for Okanagan’s offensive line in terms of protecting their quarterback — giving Zyla time to pass while also opening up holes for him and the running backs to scramble out of the backfield.

Zaron also questioned the O-line as an area of weakness for the Sun, so that group will have something to prove on Saturday too.

“I probably had some questions about that myself, until we got these guys into camp,” said Macauley, who had two huge holes to fill there with the graduation of All-Canadians Michele Vecchio and Quinn Horton.

“We’ve got guys like Marshal Klein from the (University of Alberta), who is not only a great player but he steps in as an instant vocal leader. You can’t replace a guy like Vecchio, but what you can do is bring out some of those qualities in other guys and that’s what we’ve done.

“Our running game has been great this last week and a half,” Macauley added.

Donelson agreed and feels those concerns are overblown, borderline fearmongering.

“The O-line, I honestly feel like we’re going to be OK. They are all clicking, they are all sound and they know the playbook,” Donelson said.

“It comes down to everybody just doing their job and staying composed and trusting each other.”

For his part, Donelson is looking to emerge as an impact player in 2017.

“Throughout my years here, I’ve been waiting on my moment to kind of explode,” he said.

“Last year was my first taste of starting and becoming a leader. This year, I definitely have a lot more confidence.”