Glenn adds experience to Riders’ core
CFL: Departed B.C. QB serving as buddy Durant’s backup under former Lions offensive co-ordinator
SASKATOON — Darian Durant and Kevin Glenn have taken their relationship to a different level.
The veteran quarterbacks have been competitors and friends during their CFL careers, but this season marks the first time that Durant and Glenn are teammates. That development took place during the off-season when the Saskatchewan Roughriders signed Glenn, who played with the B.C. Lions last season, to bolster the team’s depth at quarterback.
Durant and Glenn had been hanging out in Regina before moving to Saskatoon for the team’s training camp at the University of Saskatchewan’s Griffiths Stadium.
“It has been pretty cool and Darian’s a good guy,” Glenn said after Sunday’s morning session. “I’ve known Darian since we’ve been playing in the league and we’ve become good friends. It’s good to be here and experience what it’s like being on the team.”
Durant has already enjoyed being around Glenn.
“I’ve learned so much from Kevin in the six or seven days that we’ve been together,” Durant said. “He’s another set of eyes from a guy who has played the position before and he has been in the heat of the battle.
“He has already had a lot of success. That’s huge. We will work well together. Hopefully it doesn’t happen, but if something happens to me, we have a guy who can come in and win some games for us.”
Glenn and Durant both started their CFL careers with the Riders. Glenn’s first experience was in 2001 and he remained with the Riders through the 2003 season. In 2004, he was traded to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers where he remained until 2008.
Since leaving Winnipeg, Glenn has had stints with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Calgary Stampeders and Lions.
Durant joined the Riders as a free agent in 2006. He was promoted to starter after the 2009 training camp and led the Riders to appearances in the 2009, 2010 and 2013 Grey Cup games. The Riders won it all at home in 2013 with a 45-23 victory over Hamilton.
The Riders’ 2014 season got off to a promising start before Durant suffered a torn tendon in his right elbow against the Blue Bombers on Sept. 7. The Riders dropped seven of their next nine games — including an 18-10 loss to the Edmonton Eskimos in the West Division semifinal — with Durant on the sideline.
When backups Tino Sunseri and Seth Doege struggled, the Riders learned they needed a quarterback who could win games if Durant gets injured. The 35-year-old Glenn fills that void and that’s all he’s looking to do this season.
“My role is to be a player on the team and that’s the same as everybody else,” said Glenn, who is eighth on the CFL’s all-time list with 43,336 passing yards and 11th all-time with 239 TD passes. “I’m trying to make the team better and help in any way that I can.
“There are a multitude of things that I can do from being another set of eyes to a guy who has had experience and has seen things going on.”
Head coach Corey Chamblin is looking for Glenn to contribute in many ways this season. Chamblin isn’t looking for Glenn to be another quarterbacks coach.
“I don’t ask players to coach and I don’t ask coaches to play,” Chamblin said. “(Glenn) gets paid to play and it just means he’s a leader. He’s not a coach, but he has stepped into a veteran leadership position.”
Durant doesn’t feel threatened by having Glenn on the roster.
“I don’t need a guy to push me,” said Durant, adding his surgically-repaired elbow was fine. “My internal drive pushes me. I always want to be the best regardless of the guy behind me.”
There is more to training camp than adjusting to life with Glenn as Durant’s backup.
During the off-season, the Riders hired Jacques Chapdelaine as their new offensive co-ordinator. Chapdelaine, a former Lions co-ordinator and Simon Fraser University head coach, replaced George Cortez, whose contract wasn’t renewed after two seasons. Chapdelaine is the fifth offensive co-ordinator for the Riders since Durant earned the starting quarterback’s job in 2009.
“It’s always a process whenever you’re learning a new system,” Durant said. “I’m excited about it with the talent we have on this team.”