SASKATOON — While the Saskatchewan Roughriders have no question as to who their starting quarterback will be this season, what is up in the air is who will be on the sidelines behind veteran Trevor Harris.
And of all the teams in the Canadian Football League, it’s not too much of a stretch to say the Riders will have one of the most experienced benches at pivot no matter how things shake out.
One quarterback who has performed well through the early stages of training camp is second-year veteran Jack Coan. After serving as the third-string QB last season, the University of Notre Dame product is hoping to move up the depth chart when things start rolling in June.
First things first, though, and that’s continuing his progress with the team, something that’s coming along quickly in year two as a member of the Roughriders.
“That experience has just helped me a ton,” Coan said when asked about coming into camp with a year in the CFL under his belt. “I'm super comfortable with the playbook now, so I'm not really getting up to the line and thinking about where receivers are going to be. I know the back of my head this time. I understand defences a little bit more and what they're trying to do, different rotations, and what problems they can cause. I feel like the experience I have has really helped.”
Every little bit makes a difference given the aforementioned depth in the Riders' quarterback room. Joining Coan behind Harris is fifth-year veteran and former Calgary Stampeders starter Jake Maier, along with fourth-year veteran, short-yardage specialist Tommy Stevens, a crew that’s plenty familiar with the CFL game.
“It's a great group of guys,” Coan said. “If they came in and were terrible people, I'd feel a lot differently, but it's really fun being around them, eating lunch with them, being in meeting rooms with them. Whether it's Trevor or Jake or Tommy, they have a lot of experience in this league. It's good for me to talk to them about different things, watch them work and see the way they see things.”
Still, there is that competitive aspect to things, with all three of the back-ups aiming to earn their spot on the totem pole.
“You really focus on yourself, try to do the best you can do and see what happens from there,” Coan said. “I've taken a step from last year. I've gotten better from last year and really try to take it play-by-play and day-by-day and do my job on each play. Don't worry about what anyone else does and compete my hardest.”
Coan did have a chance to show what he can do in the Riders final game last season, completing 10-of-21 passes for 100 yards while tossing his first CFL touchdown in a 27-12 loss to Calgary.
“It was great for me to really get the speed of the game again because all I really did was practice all year,” Coan said. “Once you get in the game, it's a different speed and makes you see if you still got it or not. I feel like I was able to see some things, maybe some other stuff where I didn't trust it quite enough and I could have ripped it. Getting the speed of the game, the flow, your vision of everything, I think that was the biggest thing for that game.”
Learning can often be done by simple observation, Coan having a chance to see Harris while picking up as much as he can from his fellow pivots certainly works in that direction. Harris himself touched on how that works in his 13th season as a CFL quarterback.
“Hearing their perspective, certain ways that maybe they read a concept, maybe they see it a little bit differently,” Harris said when asked about conversations in the QB room. “Trying to pick up everything you can from everybody and learn certain tools from their toolbox… then if you can find somebody that sees the game similarly to you, a lot of times those are the people you can learn from because of similar skill sets.”
Even with the ongoing position battles and competition, there remains a positive air of familiarity around the team through the first week of camp, something Coan feels the club has grown into since head coach Corey Mace took over last season.
“Great culture around here, from the coaches to the players,” Coan said. “I think in general, the level of play here is way higher than it was last year at this time, I feel like compared to day five this year, day five last year, I feel like offensively and defensively we're way ahead of where we were last year.”
Be sure to keep an eye on Sportscage.com and catch The SportsCage every afternoon on CKRM for regular updates from training camp.