THE CANADIAN PRESS
CFL.ca Staff
With files from Ticats.ca
HAMILTON — After consecutive Grey Cup appearances but no Grey Cup, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats know the next step is obvious.
Meteoric is one way to describe the team’s transformation under Kent Austin, but it won’t be complete until a Grey Cup Championship is added to the mantle.
Now entering year three under their head coach and general manager, the Ticats have built a solid core that’s remained largely intact. Will continuity give them a competitive advantage this upcoming season?
“We hope so. We’re going to take it a day at a time. We’ve got a lot of our guys back,” said Zach Collaros, the 26-year-old who took the reins as a starting CFL quarterback for the first time last season.
“I’m a big believer in continuity, especially in the CFL where you see a team bring back a lot of guys, because there’s so much turnover,” he continued. “We’re really excited about that and I know we’re all looking forward to training camp.”
After last November’s Grey Cup loss to the Calgary Stampeders, the Ticats at first glance appeared to face a daunting off-season. Shutdown defender Delvin Breaux was headed south of the border while the majority of the team’s top receivers were without a contract.
For an offence that depends so much on precision and timing in running routes, locking up receivers and explosive playmakers like Luke Tasker, Brandon Banks and Bakari Grant had to be near the top of the team’s agenda.
On top of signing national receiver Spencer Watt from the hated Argos, the Ticats were able to extend the contract of all three of those guys.
“That’s huge,” said Grant, the most recent Ticat to sign a contract extension. “Just being back here this week, we’ve had our core guys, especially from the offence around.”
“We didn’t lose very many starters, so to come back off competing for a Grey Cup – I think that’s huge.”
Grant’s extension was left until later in the off-season, leaving a return to the Hammer up in the air. Now just over a month until training camp with a contract extension in hand, he couldn’t be happier.
“I’m definitely glad to be back,” said Grant. “It was a priority of mine to get back here, and I think anybody that’s been around the professional game understands that it’s a business as well as a game.”
The 27-year-old has 2,535 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns in four seasons with the Ticats, last year catching 58 passes for 605 yards and three touchdowns. He’s currently back in Hamilton training with teammate Craig Butler and talking to the media, where he’ll remain for the team’s mini-camp later in April.
“I call this my Canadian home,” said Grant, a native of Oakland, Calif. “We teach guys the culture of the team, and that’s the biggest part of our leadership and I think one of the bigger parts of our success.”
“We do have a culture; we have an identity, and as long as we bring the new guys up to speed, I think we’ll be good.”
A different training approach for Collaros
While Collaros’ rise as a star CFL quarterback created shockwaves last season, he’s not resting easy this off-season. He’s taking a new approach to his off-season training, hiring someone to help him focus on improving speed and agility.
“It’s more of a fitness deal,” said Collaros. “Not as much lifting weights but more speed and agility.”
“We’re going to put in some triple option for me this year. I’m just kidding, we’re not doing that – I hope not at least,” he joked.
“It’s just a different way to train. Usually in the past I’d end up by myself and I don’t know enough about it to be good at it, so I went out and hired somebody this year.”
Collaros is already one of the fastest and most elusive quarterbacks in the CFL, last year rushing for a career-high 328 yards with a pair of touchdowns across 13 games – good for second in the league among quarterbacks behind only Mike Reilly.
But Collaros says he believes there’s always room for improvement, a mindset he hopes his teammates share as well.
“There are definitely some mechanical things I can get better at, whether it’s with my feet, eye discipline or the whole throwing motion,” said Collaros. “Getting better in the offence, and I think having a year under my belt and a whole training camp again will help.”
“I’m looking forward to getting back at that,” he added. “There are definitely things you can take away, not just from the season but week by week and I hope everyone’s been doing a good job of improving on those things.”
