4 QBs left in Argonaut camp

Jim Barker’s job got easier on Friday morning.

Not a lot, but a bit.

“I was hoping something would happen,” Barker, the Argonauts head coach, said.

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“I was not hoping someone would retire, but I was hoping something would sift out, because they were all so even. And now things will settle down.”

Barker was referring to the quarterback situation, which will be the focal point for the rebuilding Argos until the first snap in the season opener in Calgary on Canada Day.

Gibran Hamdan put away his cleats for good on Friday, sending a shock through the Argos rookie camp. Hamdan’s sudden departure leaves Cleo Lemon, Dalton Bell, Ken Dorsey and Danny Brannagan as Toronto’s quarterbacks.

Hamdan, who had been with the Buffalo Bills and drew the attention of the Argos thanks to a working relationship with former head coach Bart Andrus, said his passion was gone, and Barker’s intuition kicked in during practice on Thursday.

But he had no idea that Hamdan would tell him, offensive co-ordinator Jaime Elizondo and general manager Adam Rita a day later that his football career was history.

“I got the sense something was wrong,” Barker said. “He just did not have the pizzazz he had earlier. You have some guys who are older, and he just got married, and those things happen. He was total class all the way.”

Hamdan’s team-first decision — he could have stuck around and taken up time in drills, knowing his heart was elsewhere — now will increase the pressure on the four who remain in camp.

Barker was adamant that he will not bring in another quarterback to replace Hamdan, so the starter is wearing a red Argos practice jersey.

But who will it be? Does Hamdan’s absence make their jobs any less difficult?

“Not really,” Bell said.

“It’s a sad thing but life goes on. It gives us more reps, but we have to take advantage of the ones we get, whether it’s two or five or seven.

“I hate to see the guy go. I enjoyed being around him.”

Lemon and Hamdan knew each other from their days together in the Miami Dolphins’ training camp in 2007, when Lemon secured a job and Hamdan did not.

“He came to us like a man and told us all,” Lemon said.

“It’s a tough decision when you are going to say you’re comfortable with hanging them up. You have to respect a decision like that.”

The concentration for the quarterbacks turns to Sunday, when veterans join them and the rookies who survived for on-field workouts. That’s when the quarterbacks will begin to separate themselves from each other. Throwing to receivers such as Jeremaine Copeland and Chad Lucas instead of green freshmen who had a hard time holding on to the ball in the rain in the first two days will represent quite a jump. The same can be said of playing behind an experienced offensive line.

None of the quarterbacks has looked like the second coming of Tom Brady, but none has looked like the second coming of Cody Pickett either.

“I’m looking forward to that, going against guys who know what is going on, who have all the –experience and all the little tricks,” Brannagan said.

Said Lemon: “We have to crank it up a notch.”

Barker thought each of his quarterbacks did just that on Friday with Hamdan out of the picture.

“It was interesting that all of them stepped up their game a little bit,” Barker said.

“You can’t play this game if you don’t have a passion for it.”

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