What might have been, and now is, for Zach Collaros
Quarterback was an MOP candidate for Hamilton in 2015, and returns as an MOP candidate for Winnipeg in 2021
Zach Collaros has spent more time of his career, so far, quarterbacking the Hamilton Tiger-Cats than any other CFL team.
But on Sunday the 33-year-old Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback will be trying to beat the Ticats for the second straight Grey Cup.
Not only is this the biggest game of the year — the Grey Cup always is — it will be the first time the 2021 Most Outstanding Player Award finalist has been back on the field in Hamilton since he suffered a concussion on a penalized hit by former teammate Simoni Lawrence on just the third play of the 2019 season.
Those were the only three plays Collaros has played in Hamilton since the Tiger-Cats traded him west at the end of the 2017 season.
“It’ll be cool, it’ll be awesome to be back,” Collaros told The Spectator. “The one time that I did go back in 2019 it was really great to see some familiar faces, the people who work in the building, a lot of the fans I knew there, even the coaches who were there in my time.”
Collaros started his CFL career in 2012 with the Toronto Argonauts after legendary achievements as a high school quarterback in Steubenville, Ohio and as a Cincinnati Bearcat in college. The Tiger-Cats grabbed him as a free agent after the 2013 season and he led them into the 2014 Grey Cup game in Vancouver and a narrow loss to the
gary Stampeders.
In 2015, he was the runaway favourite to be named the league MOP with 25 touchdown passes and just eight interceptions when he tore his ACL in the season’s 12th game and didn’t play again for 11 months. In 2017, the Ticats lost their first eight games and replaced Kent Austin as head coach with June Jones who, in turn, installed
g quarterback.
In the off-season, they dealt Collaros to Saskatchewan for a secondround 2018 draft choice which they eventually parlayed into Darius Ciraco, now the Ticats’ starting centre.
“From a football standpoint, I think I grew up when I was in Hamilton. A lot of the ways I study the game I learned from Tommy Condell, Orlondo (Steinauer), (Jeff) Reinebold and Kent,” Collaros said.
“I didn’t know what to expect when I got to Hamilton, but I really enjoyed my time there. I thought I might spend the rest of my career there, but that doesn’t really happen much in the CFL anymore. Obviously, it didn’t end up the way I expected, the way anyone expected, but I’m so thankful for all the relationships that I developed there.”
Collaros didn’t play against Hamilton in 2018 because of concussions, then suffered another on the 2019 Lawrence hit which cost the Ticats’ linebacker a two-game suspension.
“That’s in the past,” Collaros said. “And I don’t have hard feelings about it. Simoni and I were good friends when I was there and I don’t think he has any hard feelings about me, and I don’t for him. Things work out. He’s done well and, looking back, had that not happened, I probably wouldn’t be in the good situation I’m in right now.”
With Cody Fajardo playing well while Collaros was recovering in 2019, the Riders traded Collaros to Toronto. He never threw a pass for the Argos before being dealt to the Bombers in time to lead them to their first Grey Cup championship in 29 years.
Collaros has maintained numerous Hamilton-area connections. He and wife Nicole — they have two infant daughters, Sierra and Capri — were introduced to each other by former Ticat receiver Andy Fantuz and his wife, Amanda. Collaros owns a Scholar’s Education tutoring services franchise in Burlington with former Ticat teammate Ryan Bomben, and before the pandemic struck often did athletic therapy sessions here with McMaster’s Carly Vandergrient.
While the Ticats finished second to Toronto, Collaros isn’t surprised his former team has emerged from the East.
“They have a great coaching staff, great players, a great organization,” he said. “The record isn’t indicative of much. I think we thought all along on this side of the bracket that Hamilton was going to be the team to get there.”