NO. 12 CAN STILL TAKE CHARGE
Russ Jackson checks out Redblacks
Old No. 12 can still take charge of a huddle.
“One, two, three ... Ottawa!” Redblacks players shouted as instructed by Russ Jackson, the hall of fame Rough Rider whose last game was long before they were born.
That included Henry Burris, a 40-year-old quarterback when he wakes up Thursday.
Redblacks coaches and management express confidence that the CFL’s No. 3 man in all-time passing yards and touchdowns can continue to get the job done, but 40 is 40 and football remains a collision-laden sport, so it’s fair to wonder about “the next guy” who will take over after Smilin’ Hank. Jackson wonders, too. “I compare (Burris) with Calvillo in Montreal,” Jackson said. “That last year that Anthony was playing in Montreal, he got banged around a whole lot and got hurt and didn’t really go out the way he wanted to go out. He went out hurt.
“Burris is getting close to that, and you just pray that he stays healthy because they haven’t really got an experienced quarterback sitting behind him that has got a lot of playing time. They’ve got to bring somebody along, they know that they’re going to need somebody. Hopefully it’s one of the kids that’s here this year and they can develop him to step in when Henry can’t play anymore.”
Jackson, 78, was visiting Ottawa with his wife, Lois, from Burlington, Ont., when he made a spur of the moment decision to attend Wednesday’s practice.
Rick Campbell, whose father, Hugh, played against Jackson’s Rough Riders in the 1960s, invited the three-time Grey Cup winner onto the field during a break. Some Redblacks met Jackson last year during events connected with the CFL’s return to the city, but Campbell figured newcomers could benefit from meeting a living example of Ottawa’s football history.
Jackson wasn’t always a Grey Cup champion and three-time recipient of the CFL’s most outstanding player award. The McMaster University grad earned a roster spot as a defensive back in 1958 and began playing quarterback only after injuries sidelined Americans Hal Ledyard and Tom Dimitroff.
He survived because the offence he led, laden with option plays and rollouts, was something the CFL hadn’t seen in a while. He became a better passer and leader on the job.
“It was a lot easier in those days to develop as a quarterback on the run than it is today,” Jackson said. “You’ve got to be prepared when you go in. You’ve got to understand the defensive and offensive systems, and they’re much, much more complicated than when I started.”
Burris agreed and added that defenders have become quicker since he entered the CFL with the Calgary Stampeders in 1997. With only two preseason games per team, there are also only so many plays for young quarterbacks to gain onfield experience before wins and losses start counting.
“As a quarterback, you can only get so much better watching the game (on video or from the sidelines),” said Burris. “You can get better as far as finding comfort in certain plays, getting used to the basics, getting used to seeing the basic coverages, understanding what the man-zone blitz is, but you don’t understand what the speed of the game is until you can actually get under centre and you can see it.”
Going into his fourth season, Thomas DeMarco is the Redblacks’ acknowledged No. 2 quarterback, but he hasn’t played since tearing a ligament in his left knee last August.
Also on the roster are secondyear CFLer Danny O’Brien, who saw some action near the end of last season, and newcomer Brock Jensen.
“First and foremost, you congratulate a guy on his birthday regardless of whether he was the starter last year or not,” DeMarco cracked.
“(Burris) is a great guy to be around; he’s a competitor. We all want to be Henry Burris in terms of having the great career that he has had. It’s just (about) being ready when your number is called.”
Six months younger than his No. 1 pivot, offensive co-ordinator and quarterbacks coach Jason Maas said Burris had been not only the CFL’s oldest quarterback since Calvillo last played in 2013, but also the only quarterback to start every game for his team during that span.
“He works extremely hard. He takes care of himself,” Maas said. “I think the offence suits his strengths, and the age doesn’t factor into my thinking.”
General manager Marcel Desjardins said the Redblacks didn’t use Burris effectively last season.
“You need good people to buy in to what you’re doing. That’s a big part of it,” Desjardins said. “Whether it’s my staff or anywhere, you need people to feel like they’re part of it, and that didn’t exist last year, so that didn’t help.
“He’s further ahead at this point for a number of reasons: mentally, the (new) players, everything. Familiarity, too — that’s all part of it.”