Joseph says Riders QB is only as Young as he feels
Kerry Joseph says Young is not old.
“You know me when it comes to age,” a chuckling Joseph says when asked about 33-year-old Vince Young, the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ newest quarterback. “I don’t think that’s a factor at all.”
It certainly wasn’t a factor for Joseph during his finest season.
Joseph turned 34 during the 2007 CFL campaign, which was capped when he quarterbacked the Roughriders’ fourth Grey Cup win. Three days before that game, Joseph was named the league’s most outstanding player.
If Young can even come close to emulating Joseph’s excellence as a 30-something passer, runner and leader, Saskatchewan head coach and general manager Chris Jones will be hailed as a genius for having lured the former Tennessee Titans star out of retirement.
Jones was undeterred by the quarterback’s age — he turns 34 on May 18 — and his hiatus from the sport. Young has not played in a regular season game since 2011, when he was with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles. He announced his retirement from football in June 2014. Since then, demonstrations of his diverse on-field talents have been restricted to flag football.
There are parallels to Joseph, and not just because Young hopes to be a 33-turning-34 success story in Saskatchewan.
Like Young, Joseph played flag football during a break from the pro game in a one-year absence in 2002.
Joseph also went several years without playing quarterback. After starring as a pivot at McNeese State University, where he is now the receivers coach, Joseph was primarily a safety — a position he played as a starter in the NFL.
His quarterbacking career was resurrected in 2003 when he joined the now-defunct Ottawa Renegades. He quickly became a premier CFL player at his preferred position, charting a course Young would surely like to follow.
“I do see some comparisons,” Joseph says. “I was away from the quarterback position for about seven years. I think the difference is that I was still playing football. I was on the defensive side of the ball, which actually helped me when I got back to playing quarterback again because I had a better understanding of the defence — what they were trying to do to you and how they were trying to attack you. It actually helped to prepare myself as a quarterback when I got back to playing.
“The plus that I had, and the plus that he has also, is coaching. I had Joe Paopao and Kent Austin in my corner, teaching me the game up there. He’s going to have (quarterbacks coach) Jarious Jackson and (offensive coordinator) Stephen McAdoo, and they both have a lot of knowledge and they both have had success, whether it be coaching or playing.
“That’s going to be a plus for him and that can help to speed up his learning curve.”
Joseph is confident that Young can make the adjustment to three-down football.
“It’s going to take some time, but Vince has not forgotten how to play quarterback over three years, that’s for sure,” Joseph says from Lake Charles, La.
Like any American quarterback, Young must become acclimatized to the expansive Canadian field, the dizzying presnap motion and a 12th player on each side of the ball.
As Young prepares to make that transition, he has displayed an attitude that impresses Joseph.
“He seems like a humble person,” Joseph says. “He’s just going to take all the knowledge that J.J. and coach McAdoo give him. If he takes all that in and just tries to be Vince — don’t try to be Henry Burris, don’t try to be Dave Dickenson, don’t try to be Bo Levi Mitchell — he’ll be fine. Just be Vince.
“The biggest thing he has on his side, also, is he’s athletic. He has the mobility where if things break down around him, he can still go make a play. He’s not a quarterback who is just going to be there in the pocket. Sometimes when things don’t go right, you just go make it happen with your feet.
“Eventually, things are going to slow down for him, so he’s buying himself time and helping his team be successful with his legs instead of just being in the pocket where, if things don’t look right, he takes a sack.”
This is all predicated on the six-foot-five, 232-pound Young being in game shape.
“If he’s conditioned and he’s taking care of his body, age doesn’t matter,” Joseph says. “Look at (Ottawa Redblacks quarterback) Henry Burris and what he did this past year at 41.
“I don’t want to put age on it just because Vince is 33 going on 34. You’re only as old as the way you’re taking care of your body. I’ve always taken care of mine, so when I was 33, I didn’t feel 33. I felt like I was still in my 20s.
“With age comes maturity. He has matured over the last few years. He’s got a family, and I think all of that stuff is going to play into this being another opportunity. Whether he’s trying to go back to the NFL or trying to make a career in the CFL, if he just says, ‘This is an another opportunity for me. I have to dive in and pour all of my energy into this process,’ I think he’s giving himself a chance to be successful.
“He’s going to get a lot of support in Saskatchewan — you know that. People are going to back him. He just has to go out there and produce.”
And produce in a football fishbowl — something to which Young is accustomed, given the scrutiny he faced in the NFL and playing for the University of Texas Longhorns.
“I think that’s going to be like rain hitting a rain jacket,” Joseph says. “It’s going to roll right off his shoulders because he has dealt with it. He knows how to handle it. He’s not a 21-year-old trying to deal with it. He’s 33, so he understands.
“I think he’s going to do well, I really do. I’m hoping he does well. I’m pulling for him one, because he is a quarterback and two, because he’s in one of my favourite places, so I want to see that team succeed and be back on top.”