Quarterbacks recall their first CFL starts
Whenever it happens, QB will remember it
One of the best defences I’d seen — and have seen since ... Wasn’t horrible number-wise, but probably as many hits as I’ve ever taken DAVE DICKENSON ON HIS FIRST START, IN 1997 AGAINST THE TORONTO ARGONAUTS
Without hesitation, Kevin Glenn provides the details.
“Toronto, 2001. I was a Saskatchewan Roughrider. We won. I remember a lot.”
Dave Dickenson is no different.
Blanks can be quickly filled.
“Oh yeah — 1997 versus Toronto. Big matchup. They had Doug Flutie. Jeff (Garcia) had an inflamed elbow, staph infection. It was a tough one. One of the best defences I’d seen — and have seen since. Took a pounding. Got beat. Threw for about 50 yards in the first half, 250 in the second. Wasn’t horrible number-wise, but probably as many hits as I’ve ever taken. A lot. Next start, 1998, I got player of the week. Five touchdowns.”
No one forgets that very first start.
And Bo Levi Mitchell — with Drew Tate and Glenn, to varying degrees, hampered by throwing-arm injuries — is poised to earn his initial nod in the Canadian Football League, Friday at Winnipeg.
“For me, it would be a big deal because who wouldn’t want to get their first CFL start?” says Mitchell, 23. “It’s a great thing. It’s a great accomplishment. Either way, it’s another football game — just go out there and play.
“If it does happen, it happens. If not, it doesn’t.”
Intriguingly enough, the Blue Bombers are turning loose their own greenhorn, Justin Goltz, 25.
Cool storyline, but Mitchell does not bite.
“I don’t really think that’s something that quarterbacks look at,” he says. “Whenever you go and you play the other guy, sometimes you might watch him and see how he’s doing and everything. But you don’t really focus on the way he’s playing, because it’s not going to affect the way you play.
“If he’s playing bad, you can’t be complacent and take it easy, thinking you have the game (in the bag). And if he’s playing good, you can’t freak out and say, ‘I have to make a play.’ You don’t worry about how the other guy’s playing. You go out there and play football.”
See, this isn’t totally new territory for the young fellow.
In front of crowds of more than 15,000, Mitchell started, as a junior, for Katy (Texas) High School.
“You think, ‘Oh, man, I’m young. I hope this team trusts me,’ but when you get out there, they have all the confidence in the world in you,” says Mitchell, who got his first NCAA nod with Southern Methodist University. “It prepared you for college, and college prepared you for here. As a quarterback you just have to forget about nerves. You go out there and get hit one time and you’re just ready to play. No butterflies or anything like that.
“You’re always going to remember your first start, whether it’s high school, college, pro. You’re going to remember the first time you get to get in there and play.” Glenn agrees. Leading up to his own momentous occasion, he had been splitting reps with Keith Smith in Regina. He can recall getting his start confirmation on Day 3 of the work week.
“It is a big deal,” says Glenn. “But I think the biggest thing is, as a quarterback, knowing that you have a team. You don’t have to go out there and win the game yourself, especially it being your first start. You want to basically have the help from your team. That’s what this game is about.
“If (Mitchell) gets the start, with everybody on the sideline helping him, with everybody on the field helping him, he should do well. This won’t be the first time he’s played, though. He’s been in some games and he’s played some meaningful minutes.”
Mitchell, in addition to holding on field-goal attempts, serves as the Stamps’ shortyardage pivot. Last year, he rushed for five majors.
In Saturday’s dramatic comeback win over the Montreal Alouettes, he went 7-for13, pitching a pair of touchdown strikes (matching his total from 2012).
“Bo’s played quite a bit,” says Dickenson, the team’s offensive co-ordinator. “He was in for all of the big plays last week. The game was very much in doubt when he came in. So I don’t know if Bo would feel that (pressure). Sometimes if you haven’t played in a while, but he’s played quite a bit of football.
“But it is a little different when you go out to start — you know this is you and you’ve got to play the whole game.”