It’s seems to be all positives for Zach Collaros after his first training camp day with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Rider training camp officially kicked off Sunday morning in Saskatoon, and all eyes were on the club's biggest offseason acquisition, quarterback Zach Collaros.
"It was awesome just playing football today and getting out there, and talking to Duron and Bakari and Naaman. Once we got into practice it felt like football again, and it was a really enjoyable thing,” Zach Collaros said.
Ridernation is hoping the 29-year-old will be able to regain the form that had him in the conversation for the CFL's most outstanding player in 2015.
In his first day, it was clear he made a positive impression on Riders brass, with his adjustment to Chris Jones' "double-barrel" approach in practice.
"When we put that quick clock on them, and they have to get those people out of the huddle. You got horns blowing and people yelling, that's what we want to create though. Do you like the way he handled it? Yeah, I mean again, he's a pro,” head coach Chris Jones said.
Collaros likes the look of the personnel of the Riders offence.
"It definitely excites me on what we could become. Coach Jones said we had a good day today, but we got a long way to go, and a ton of potential. I think our ceiling is very high,” Collaros said.
"When he was in Hamilton and I was in Montreal, he beat me a couple times, more than a couple times. So, you know, being able to get out there and catch some balls from him and win some games, that's going to be very fun,” receiver Duron Carter said.
Collaros had a disastrous 2017 campaign in Hamilton, where he went 0-8 and was benched for the rest of the season. So far, all indications are that the riders possess an extremely focused and confident quarterback.
"I think there's a lot of factors in a quarterback's success, a lot of things are outside his control. Certainly there are things that you can control, but I think being in this system and scheme, he's excited about it,” quarterbacks coach Steve Walsh said.
"Once the season ended, I kind of saw the writing on the wall of what was going to happen there, and being able to sign here and be around some people that I played with, and been coached by, it was easy to kind of move on from the situation,” Collaros said.
As for the depth chart at quarterback, Chris Jones wasn't wavering on his pre-camp comments that despite Collaros' reputation and salary, the starting job doesn't belong to anyone.
-With files from a report by Pat McKay
