As far as quarterbacking talent goes, I have a bit of experience there being the father of a D2 qb at SFU before the purge 4 years ago where the university deep sixed football as a sport. I firmly believe that there are some kids born to play the position. You either have it or you don't. The kids that don't, struggle. Some work hard & make the rise to the top. But it's not easy when someone doesn't have a strong arm. Offenses have to be adjusted. shorter routes, more timing routes, spreading the ball around & not pressing the ball downfield. Then outof nowhere some guy shows up who can throw the ball 60 yards with ease & the kid who worked hard to be a starter with a so so or average arm is benched. I've seen it many times. My son Tyler at age 10 could throw a football 35 yards with no effort. Anything he picked that was throwable he did. He was a pitcher & outfielder in baseball. At 12, he could drill the ball across the plate with accuracy & strike out his opponents. He was one of those kids who magically was born with a super strong arm who figured out how to use it.. Throwing just came naturally. He could out skip me throwing stones on water when he was a kid & I was in my early 40's. Then the intangibles took over for Tyler as he went up thru the ranks playing football at all levels here in Calgary, Winnipeg, California & Burnaby. As he got older & physically stronger, Tyler played with confidence & became a leader. His teammates believed in him when he was on the field. Knowing my son the way I do just seeing the transformation from this happy go lucky guy away from football to a qb who hated losing was amazing. His leadership was his play on the field. His time with the Winnipeg Rifles hit a dead end. He was sharing starting qb duties with another player & both hated it. Tyler had a stronger arm but the other qb also had intangibles that made him successful. Their different styles of play complimented one another. Tyler went in to talk to his head coach at the end of his second season in Winnipeg. The coach indicated that changes would be coming at the qb position next season. As in, they'd pick one guy & stick with him. Tyler being from Calgary got the sense that they'd choose the other qb as he played all of his football in Winnipeg. he also had the advanyage of being coached by some of the guys on the Rifles staff. The other qb would be favoured over him. So, he informed the HC he wasn't coming back. The Head Coach said, "Fine. Good luck to you." So, it turned out he was right after all. Tyler spoke to his qb coach & mentor in Portland, Oregon, Greg Barton as it looked like his football career was over. Barton was a former qb with the Argos who had a lot of connections all down the West Coast. Greg made a phone call to a JUCO in California called The College Of The Siskiyous. The HC called Tyler & invited him down to see the campus. He went down & agreed to play for them. He redshirted his first year but started in his second season & he led the Eagles to a California JUCO Championship in 2012. From there, he was offered a walk on opportunity with the University of Oregon by Chip Kelly. Tyler showed me the letter from OSU. I tried calling Kelly but his ******* secretary refused to put me through to him so we never connected & Tyler never went. He was also being recruited by Texas Tech. The QB Coach came to an Eagles practice to talk to him but that was the last time any coaches from TT spoke with him. Just ghosted him suddenly so they obviously changed their minds. The University of Akron told him he was their guy & wanted him to play in the MAC Conference but... then the entire coaching staff was fired. So, that fell through. The University of California at Pennylvania, then called Cal Penn & now Pennwest also recruited him. Tyler went down for a visit & loved it. At the time, Cal Penn was the top D2 school in the US with a number of players in the past who went on to play in both the CFL & NFL. The coaches wanted him & they offered him an athletic scholarship. He accepted but the coach had to clear one thing first before it became an official written offer. The $40,000 International fee we'd have to pay that was not included in the scholarship offer. The HC said he spoke to the Chancellor of Cal Pen earlier who had agreed to waive the fee. However, when he went to verify that to make sure, he found out the Chancellor changed his mind & said we'd have to pay. My wife & I didn't have a spare $40,000 US lying around so that all fell through. That was so disappointing. I remember Tyler being crushed. What might have been... The only program left that recruited Tyler was Simon Fraser. They knew they were way down the list so they never thought they had any chance of getting Tyler to play at SFU. So, they brought in a qb from the transfer portal who played at Arizona State & NDSU. SFU was his third school in 3 years. When I called HC Dave Johnson checking to see if SFU was still interested, he nearly fell off his chair exclaiming, "I never thought we'd get him!!" However, they already offered a full ride scholarship to the transfer qb & could only offer a half scholarship which Tyler accepted. However, SFU sweetened the deal & by the time he graduated he only had to pay 25% of his tuition & was able to get a student loan. I think they even helped him out with dorm fees as well. He & the kid from Arizona shared qb duties & they battled it out every week for 2 years. A torn hamstring while training in the off season really set Tyler back. He played with the injury his senior year & it really set him back. His senior year was hard dealing with that injury & not being able to run anymore or evading the rush. When he'd go in, he'd get sacked so his playing time was drastically reduced. After he graduated from SFU, he knew his playing days were over. Tyler went into coaching which is what he still does in Seattle today. That's my son's story. His strong arm & athleticism carried him to places where other kids wouldn't have been able to go. You either have it or you don't.
.jpg.950e3b9f5969889111ab8ecb595281fc.thumb.jpg.b1a5dd9f9bca6910a7a38d1b01f9fc84.jpg)
