Shutter looks to make things right again
QB eyes CFL spot after blowing NCAA chance
Cayman Shutter’s road to the CFL will be a long and rough one if he ends up making it.
Born on the Saskatchewan prairies, where his extended family remains diehard Roughriders fans, his parents moved to Hawaii when he was 10 and he grew up playing American-style four-down football.
After being a standout high school quarterback, Shutter had to wait until his senior year at the University of Hawaii for a chance to start. But he blew it when he was arrested for drunk driving just before last season’s training camp and was suspended from the NCAA Division I team.
Now, the six-foot-one, 185-pound passer is getting a second chance to re-ignite his career. He is hoping to impress scouts at this weekend’s CFL combine in Toronto where more than 50 of the top Canadian college players have come in the hopes of improving their draft ranking.
Shutter, 22, pleaded no contest to his DUI charge, and while he says it was “the worst mistake” of his life, the ordeal made him a better person.
“I really feel I couldn’t be here today and be the person I am had I not gone through that,” said Shutter, who spoke frankly about his run-in with the law nearly a year ago during his interviews with CFL team GMs and coaches on Friday and Saturday.
“But it really put things in perspective as far as knowing what’s important.”
Prohibited from participating at training camp, Shutter couldn’t compete for the starting job. He was also suspended for four games (eventually reduced to three). In his three seasons, he played in just four games and completed just one of four passes for 13 yards. With his legal issues behind him, Shutter decided to forfeit his final year of NCAA eligibility to enter the CFL draft. He’s considered a nonimport even though he played all of his high school and college football in the U.S. because he lived in Canada for five years. He understands that Canadian quarterbacks rarely get a shot in the CFL, but he believes the fact he learned his craft like an American — playing intense high school and college ball — gives him an edge. “I’m in a unique position . . . having lived half of my life in the States,” said Shutter, who in 2008 led his Punahou High School team to its first-ever State championship in front of 25,000 fans. He threw two touchdowns and posted a state-record 400 yards in the championship game. In his senior year, he threw 28 TDs and passed for 2,403 yards. On Saturday, Shutter demonstrated his flexibility to scouts in jumping and bench pressing 250 pounds. But he can’t wait to demonstrate his arm strength and passing ability for scouts on Sunday under the bubble at Varsity Field. “It doesn’t help my draft stock not having a ton of college game experience, so I’m hoping to make an impact on Sunday when I throw,” he said. Shutter, along with Myles Gibbons of York University, are the only two quarterbacks at the combine. Gibbons played previously for Division 1 South Alabama. Shutter’s late grandfather Ken McLeod, who was a judge in Regin,a and his grandmother Amber, were Roughrider season-ticket holders for more than 40 years. Shutter’s minor football coach in Regina was former Saskatchewan kicker Dave Ridgeway. After his parents, Darryl and Maureen, moved to Hawaii, he and his father often listened to Rider games on the Internet. “I’ve never rooted for any other CFL team. I can remember painting my face green and white when the Riders were in the 1995 Grey Cup game,” said Shutter, who graduates in May with an arts degree and an English major. “It would be a dream to be drafted by Saskatchewan because I would rather not have my family rooting against me, but I just want the chance to go to any CFL camp and compete.”