Quarterback to the future
After two backups had breakthroughs in Toronto, Argos look to life after Ray
While he watched Ricky Ray attempt to come back after shoulder surgery last season, Jim Barker admitted that he looked at his then 35-yearold quarterback and wondered if maybe this was the end.
The Toronto Argonauts GM traded for Ray in December 2011 and, 11 months later, watched Ray lead the Argos to victory in the 100th Grey Cup.
But with 13 CFL seasons and more than 50,000 yards in passing on Ray’s arm, Barker approached things real- istically. He didn’t wonder if Ray would choose to hang it all up, he said on Monday morning as Ray warmed up at Downsview Park with his teammates. He wondered “whether or not he’d regain arm strength and regain what he had.”
“Last year was real frustrating to watch,” Barker said, “and probably we were rushing him back because we were so anxious to get him back.”
In Ray’s absence due to injury in 2013 and again in 2015, both his understudies showed that they were ready for a starring role. It was Zach Collaros in 2013. He left as a free agent in 2014 to sign with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Collaros has grown into a most outstanding player candidate and signed an extension with the team Monday through 2018.
With Ray missing16 of18 games last year, Trevor Harris filled in and played very well, throwing for 4,354 yards and 33 touchdowns. He signed as a free agent over the winter with the Ottawa Redblacks, after Ray signed an extension to stay with the Argos through 2017.
As he has moved further into his career and after working through a major injury last year, Ray has proven to be something of an anomaly. Maybe more than any other sport, football is impartially cruel to its players. When someone younger and talented comes along, it often signals an unceremonious end for a veteran.
Ray bucks this trend for a couple of reasons.
“For what we do, it’s hard to cut a guy out that’d be better for our system (than Ray),” Barker said. “Scott understands it and he has a lot of confidence in him.”
Second, after bringing in Collaros and Harris, Barker and Milanovich are confident in their ability to develop young quarterbacks.
Logan Kilgore joined the Argos last season and will back up Ray this year. And just like in years past, Barker has a plan for the guys behind the backup.
“We believe in what we’re doing,” Barker said. “Logan last year was really bad in the pre-season but we knew what we thought we had. This pre-season was really crucial for him. If he wasn’t what we wanted him to look like, we move on from it. That’s kind of the philosophy.”
“We like to think we have a system that’s quarterback-friendly and we know what we’re looking for. But ultimately you don’t know until a guy plays,” Milanovich said. “Sometimes, to some degree, you just catch lightning in a bottle, but I believe what in we’re doing.”
Kilgore, 26, said that Ray plays a big part in that development.
“He’s basically another coach on the field,” he said. “It’s great to have that in the meeting room with one of your peers — someone that’s not afraid to tell you that you should have done this or good job on this.”
“Some teams . . . you may have a young guy and he may be on the bubble and you just let him go,” Ray said. “Here, they try to keep guys around so they can learn and that’s the biggest thing as a quarterback.
“You want to be able to have that time to develop and learn to run an offence and get comfortable with what you’re doing. Trevor last year it was I think his fourth year in the offence and now Logan has been here for a couple of years. It’s just learning over those years and getting guys to develop.”