It all begins today.
The Tiger-Cats took to the field at Ron Joyce Stadium today for the first official practice of the CFL regular season.
There are no more dress rehearsals, from here on out, every game counts. In four days the ball will leave the kicker’s tee in Calgary, and the Ticats’ road to the 103rd Grey Cup will commence.
A minimum of 19 games and countless practices stand between now and November 29 in Winnipeg, but today was the first step on that road to that goal.
After two and a half weeks of training camp and two preseason games, the team has chosen the guys who give them the best shot at winning, and now the real work begins.
For Ray Holley, the opportunity to do that work was one that nearly brought a tear to his eye.
“It really was that emotional for me,” said Holley, who described the feeling of his first practice on the roster as surreal.
Holley arrived at training camp on May 31, with no Canadian experience and an uphill battle against some very talented running backs ahead of him.
Quarterback Jeff Mathews was in a similar situation to Holley entering training camp. He had attended mini-camp a month prior and had experience in Coach Austin’s offensive system; but Mathews was a rookie all the same, and the competition at the quarterback position was just as deep as at running back.
When the dust settled at the end of Ticats training camp, though, both Holley and Mathews had carved out a spot for themselves on the final roster with strong training camp performances.
Mathews, who entered camp in a three-way battle for the slot behind Zach Collaros on the quarterback depth chart, now sits comfortably in that role ahead of Week 1 against the Stampeders. When asked what led to that decision, Coach Austin heaped praise on the young quarterback.
“His play, his management of the offence, his understanding,” said Austin, “It’s a cumulative evaluation, every single day, every single practice…and Jeff earned it.”
The young quarterback made a name for himself early on in camp, and cemented that with a strong CFL preseason debut against the REDBLACKS and a team-first attitude.
“Anything I can do to help us move the football and win games, I’m going to be all in for it,” said Mathews, “whatever I’m asked to do, I’m excited for it and ready to go help our team with some football games.”
Meanwhile, Holley found himself activated for Friday’s game against the Stamps on Monday morning, just 12 hours after being named to the team’s practice roster.
Injuries have contributed to the chance that Holley now has, and he’ll be the first to tell you that the injuries to the running backs were unfortunate; but the coaching staff expects the same level of play from whoever finds themselves in the lineup, and Holley has quickly proven that he can provide that.
“Our guys are good,” said Coach Austin, “they understand it’s next guy up, and the expectations for everybody who plays are the same.”
And after all of the poor luck that the team has experienced on the injury front, Coach Austin said that Holley was a stroke of good luck.
“Sometimes you get lucky,” he said, “and we’re lucky to find a guy of Holley’s quality and football intelligence.”
