Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
Whether he starts on Friday or not, Brandon Bridge’s path to the CFL has already defied the odds. CFL.ca’s Justin Dunk, a former CIS quarterback once with a dream of playing the position in the CFL, explains the challenge Canadian QBs face.
As a young boy growing up in rural Guelph, Ont. I can vividly remember watching Doug Flutie shredding defences and putting up video game-like numbers for the Argos. He was the most exciting player I watched in my childhood. Anytime Flutie was on television – through rabbit ears – you could bet I was tuned in.
Flutie really ignited my interest in football and he was my idol for many of my young, formative years. Meeting the six-time Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player before a game in the late 1990’s was a special moment. He had on a sleeveless T-shirt that doubled as a crop top with a six-pack clearly visible, muscles bulging and flowing hair – Flutie looked like a superhero. That day Flutie became real to me, and so did the idea that maybe in the future I could be like him and play quarterback in the CFL.
So I set out with that goal in mind, playing quarterback in the Guelph Bears minor football program all the way through and John F. Ross high school in Guelph, eventually suiting up for my hometown University of Guelph Gryphons.
After the Gryphons started 0-3 to start the 2005 Ontario University Athletics schedule, I got the nod to start against York in Week 4. When I turned on the film I distinctly remember No. 55 jumping off the screen, it was stud Lions defender Ricky Foley. Seeing what Foley was capable of doing on film made me very nervous heading into my first university start, but I survived. In fact I beat him on a zone-read running play, which gave me confidence and proved I could thrive at the university level. York beat us that day, Sept. 24, 2005, but I started the rest of the season and our team rallied to win three of the last four regular season games to make the playoffs.
After suffering a first-round loss to Ottawa I really wanted to push myself in off-season training to be the best quarterback possible. Guelph’s high-performance trainer at the time was Chris Munford, who played six years as a defensive back in the CFL and knew what it took to get there. At the end of a workout early in 2006, Chris and I got into a long discussion – they happened often because I was always picking his brain – and he said if I changed positions to receiver or defensive back, he thought I could play in the CFL. I paused and responded fairly emphatically that I wanted to play quarterback. He explained how the odds were against me because I was Canadian and then laid out what I needed to do to even have a chance at making my dream a reality: Throw as much as possible.
Chris’s belief was that American quarterbacks had more reps throwing the football because they do it all year round. In Canada nobody can go outside in the winter to get some throws in, and if there wasn’t an appropriate indoor facility available you could go months without throwing. Fortunately at Guelph there was a Gryphon Dome – far from the fancy one on campus these days – and I got in there to throw as much as possible with a fine group of young men, who got up early before class or came in between and after class to catch and cover. In the summer Chris ran footwork and condition sessions twice a week and we would throw at the end. I missed one throughout my five-year university career.
Lifting, running, throwing, watching film, learning new techniques – there was nothing I wanted to do more than become a professional quarterback.
Despite all my efforts, harsh reality hit me in 2009. Prior to the CFL Draft that year I worked out for the BC Lions and Toronto Argonauts, but as a receiver. At that point I just wanted to keep playing football and if that was going to be as a pass catcher, so be it. The draft came and went without hearing my name called.
To be frank, it sucked.
It hit hard for a couple days, but I still had one year left to play at Guelph and that became my focus. I thought about switching positions for that final season, but didn’t feel that would be fair to the team or even myself after all the work I had put towards becoming a better quarterback.
After my final season at Guelph, I received an invite to the 2010 CFL Combine as a quarterback. Some hope – it can be a double-edged sword – for a pro career at the position I had watched Flutie play was restored. I interviewed with Saskatchewan at the combine and thought overall I showed well. Although, slowly as the days passed after the combine and no teams came calling, I had to accept that my dream would forever be just that.
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