Hardy Boys a novel story for quarterback duo
Starter Lulay and backup Reilly, brothers- in- arms on and off field, follow similar path to CFL
They are inseparable except on the stat sheet, which is where Travis Lulay and Mike Reilly stand apart. Lulay is a 28- year- old from Oregon who has been around the B. C. Lions for three seasons and a starter in the Canadian Football League for just one. And he is the experienced one.
Reilly is a 27- year- old from Washington who wouldn’t follow Lulay to Montana State University but followed him to B. C., arriving two years ago. Which was also two CFL passes ago for Reilly, too. And he is the guy one injury or illness away from starting for the Grey Cup champion Lions.
For the first time in a decade, the first time since rookie head coach Mike Benevides came with mentor Wally Buono to the Lions from the Calgary Stampeders in 2002, B. C.’ s starting quarterback will be working without a safety net this season.
“Yeah, it is a little different,” Lulay said after the Lions practised in a steady rain on the second day of training camp. “This is the first time since I’ve been a pro that I’m the oldest guy in the room.
“I don’t necessarily feel any more pressure. And heaven forbid, if something were to happen and Mike gets called on, I have faith in Mike going in and being able to do the job.”
So, too, does Benevides, who decided last winter that veteran backup Jarious Jackson was expendable.
Jackson, now with the Toronto Argos, spent the last seven seasons with the Lions, tutoring younger quarterbacks and throwing more than 900 passes, mostly as the backup to Dave Dickenson and Buck Pierce and Lulay.
Jackson was a terrific Plan B, the get- out- of- jail card who could be relied upon to provide competent work as a temp if the starter was injured. And until Lulay was promoted to replace Pierce before last season, the starter always seemed to be injured.
Now Reilly, who completed half of his two attempts last season, is Plan B.
After going from backup to the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player in one year, Lulay has to prove this year that he is not — as was ex- Lion Casey Printers — a one- hit wonder.
But given Lulay’s ability, humility and professionalism, there seems little chance of him crashing spectacularly in form. This being football, there is a good chance that at some point he will be hurt, which is why Reilly’s inexperience stands out.
“We had to create an opportunity for Mike to step up,” Benevides explained. “I wouldn’t use the term ‘ safety net.’ Is he as experienced as Jarious? No question he’s not. But he’s been around us for two years ... and performed at a level that made us confident he has what it takes to go the next step.
“At some point, you have to give someone the opportunity. Until they play, you can’t really tell whether they can or can’t do it. And they’re never going to grow unless they get the opportunity.
“His relationship with Travis pays a big dividend in this. A quarterback always needs a sounding board and Mike and Travis have a tremendous relationship. They see the game the same way, they’re good friends and spend a lot of time together.”
Like the Hardy Boys spent time together. Like Daniel and Henrik Sedin spend time together.
Lulay and Reilly are like brothers.
“We’ll probably get crap from the guys for you saying that,” Lulay said of their inseparability.
“Most of the time it’s from the [ defensive backs]. But ... those guys are always holding hands, anyway. Those guys are never seen apart. You talk about [ Korey] Banks and [ Dante] Marsh ... we give them a bad time right back. We’re road roommates, we’re in the film room together, always eating lunch together. That’s just the way it is.
“Mike and I both grew up with brothers in pretty competitive, athletic families. You never could let the other guy outdo you. It’s the same way in weight room all off- season. It’s borderline annoying because I’ve got to count his reps to make sure he’s not doing more than me, and if he is I’ll do an extra one. We’re both competitive guys and we push each other and sometimes it’s silly, but that’s just the way we’re wired.”
Things got especially silly in February when Reilly was staying with Travis and Kim Lulay in south Surrey while Mike looked for a place of his own. They were watching TV together when Lulay figured he’d fill the commercial time by pounding out some pushups.
“It was like: ‘ Oh, no, I’m not going to let you get better than me,’ ” Reilly said.
One thing led to another and suddenly the living room floor was boot camp. Lulay lay down 25 pushups, so Reilly knocked out 30, which meant Lulay had to do 35.
In a way, they were competing long before they were Lions.
Reilly, who is from Kennewick, Wash., was a high school senior when he went to Montana State on a recruiting visit.
“But they had a pretty good true freshman quarterback who was starting and I figured he was going to play four years,” Reilly explained.
Some kid from Salem, Ore., named Lulay, who left Montana State in 2005 with a handful of school records that included 10,724 career passing yards. After a year at Washington State, Reilly transferred to Central Washington. By the time he finished in 2008, Reilly’s 12,448 career passing yards were the third most in NCAA Division 2 history.
Lulay and Reilly each bounced around National Football League practice rosters before heading north. Each is big ( 6- 2/ 215 for Lulay, 6- 3/ 225 for Reilly) and academically adept ( business degree for Lulay, engineering degree for Reilly).
“His story is very similar,” Reilly said. “I’m just a couple of years behind him.”
And one spot on the depth chart.