Don Landry
CFL.ca
Hamilton Ticats’ receiver Luke Tasker has an awful lot going for him; Pedigree, athletic ability and that all important internal warning system that has made him, perhaps, the best broken play receiver in the Canadian Football League.
It seems like at least once a game, quarterback Zach Collaros bails out of the pocket when the original plan has gone awry only to find Tasker on the loose for a big gain where none seemed possible. Part of that is on Collaros’ abilities when it comes to fire drills. Part of it rests with Tasker’s habit of finding wide open spaces.
“Kind of an alarm goes off in your head that says it’s not a time to get kind of complacent and hesitate,” explained Tasker, the second year Ticat who is visiting Vancouver for the first time in his life this week. “It’s a time for you to sharpen up and make a deliberate move, right or wrong.”
He usually makes the right move. A knack for making chicken salad on plays that have turned to, you know, makes Tasker one of the most clutch catchers in the CFL, with 937 yards receiving on 72 snags, in 2014. 30 of those receptions were second down conversion catches, ranking Tasker number two in that category, behind Edmonton’s Adarius Bowman, who led the league with 35.
“When things break down you kind of get a sense of urgency about it,” explained Tasker, who stopped short of agreeing with the notion that he actually relishes those times. “I don’t know if I say ‘oh, great.’ You wish it happened as it was drawn up.”
Ask Kent Austin about Tasker and a fountain of platitudes gushes forth; the Ticats’ head coach can’t say enough about the 23-year-old native of East Aurora, New York.
“He’s got great hands, he’s really bright, he’s got time and space ability,” Austin begins. “He’ll catch everything. He’s tough. We can move him around.”
“He’s just an unbelievable person. Very bright.”
Intelligence is in obvious abundance when you speak with Tasker, as is kindness. After each of his post practice interviews on the field at BC Place, he asked the interviewer for their name, once again, and was sure to shake hands.
“He’s got unbelievable intangibles,” said Austin, not speaking of football talents. “His dad and his family, they’re awfully close.”
His dad is, of course, Steve Tasker, the seven time NFL pro bowler and former Buffalo Bill. Luke got some football DNA from dad, of that he’s reasonably certain. Because, deep down, he just really wanted to play football. Just wanted to catch passes.
“The desire to play came natural to me,” he said. “That was there before even I was able to recognize (it). I wanted to play right away.”
Catching passes seems to come so naturally to Tasker, it’s amazing that the coaches of his childhood didn’t immediately take advantage of those hands. Then again, it is often the case that the best athletes on a pee wee football team are just about always automatically made a quarterback. Tasker played that role, even though he had a deep-seated desire to be on the other end of the pass.
“When I was a kid I played quarterback but, still, I kinda felt like maybe I was a receiver. So, in some aspects I guess it did kind of come naturally. I certainly liked receiver and it was probably because of my dad playing receiver in his later years with the Bills. That’s probably where it started. But it was always there.”
As he prepares for his first Grey Cup Game, Tasker is relishing the thought of his tight-knit family members joining him in the adventure, later in the week. Having his loved ones close is important.
“I think that’s one of the reasons that I’ve really enjoyed being in Hamilton so much,” he explains. “My family lives an hour away. I’ve had people at every single home game and it really does make a difference for me.”
Asked to size up the challenge ahead in meeting a talented and powerful Calgary Stampeders’ defence on Sunday, Tasker points out that the cerebral will be as important as the physical. Good thing for him he went to an Ivy League school, Cornell.
“They’re good at disguising. So, that’s gonna be a hard thing for us and something we’re gonna have to work on is recognizing what coverage they’re running. Recognition will be huge,” he said, before adding how much he respects the Stampeders’ football abilities as well as their scheming.
“They have some really good athletes on their team. They have some guys who can make up ground in terms of covering a larger area on the field. So, we’re going to have to be crisp about the depths of routes that we run.”
So, Tasker will run those routes and he will do it with the precision that has allowed him to rise quickly in the ranks of most valuable receivers.
But when Collaros breaks contain and is running toward the sidelines, a Calgary sack posse at his heels, Luke Tasker will do what he does maybe better than anyone in the CFL.
He’ll find a soft place for a Collaros fire drill pass to land.
