The Canadian Quarterback Conundrum: TWELVE PART SERIES

 

CFC reporter Rahim deMolitor was tasked with getting to the bottom of the CANADIAN QUARTERBACK CONUNDRUM.  This multi-series story digs deeper than ever and includes interviews with many Canadian Football experts including a variety of journalists including Kirk Penton & Andrew Bucholtz; coaches including Danny Maciocia & Warren Craney; former players including Duane Forde; Quarterbacks including Brad Sinopoli, Giulio Caravatta and Michael Faulds and many, many, many more.  And of course, we encourage you to join in the discussion, and forward these great stories to your friends.

Where is the Pro-Style Offence?

Canadian quarterbacks and the disconnect between college and the pros

PART 1  includes comments from Danny Maciocia and Brad Sinopoli

PART 2 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Giulio Caravatta, Warren Craney and Michael Faulds

Part 3 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Billy McPhee, Brad Sinopoli, Michael Faulds, Giulio Caravatta, Kirk Penton and Richard MacLean

Part 4 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Jamie Bone, Kirk Penton, Giulio Caravatta and Brad Sinopoli

Part 5 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Duane Forde, Andrew Buchotlz, and Kirk Penton

Part 6 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Kirk Penton and Andrew Bucholtz

Part 7 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Lowell Ullrich, Giulio Caravatta, Michael Faulds, Brad Sinopoli, Billy McPhee and Duane Forde

Part 8 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Danny Maciocia, Giulio Caravatta, Duane Forde, Brad Sinopoli, Andrew Bucholtz and Michael Faulds

Part 9 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Danny Maciocia, Andrew Bucholtz, and Duane Forde

Part 10 – CLICK HERE includes comments from TSNs Farhan Lalji

Part 11 – CLICK HERE includes comments from Christian Audet, Pat Boies, Cherif Nicolas

Part 12 CLICK HERE includes comments from Danny Maciocia and Brad Sinopoli

The CFL. It’s uniquely Canadian.

You have 65-yards from sideline-to-sideline, an oasis for the most-agile. Behind the uprights, 20-yard end-zones offer more real estate than some of the country’s richest neighborhoods. Each piece combines to encapsulate 150-yards of mammoth football field that delivers enough greenery to make any outdoorsman feel right at home.

But make no mistake, when you hear those three letters C-F-L – you are talking about the pinnacle of football competition in this country.

South of the boarder, Division-1 NCAA acts as a breeding ground for NFL quarterbacks. Look no further than Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson or Robert Griffin III. In the United States, signal-callers are nursed, groomed and fattened with knowledge before bidding the eventual farewell on draft day.

Here in Canada, the transition isn’t quite as smooth.

CIS quarterbacks are not making that jump to the next level. Whether it’s Kyle Quinlan, Danny Brannagan, Brad Sinopoli or Eric Glavic – CIS stardom  is not translating into CFL success.

What’s causing this break in the chain?

Why can’t our college system develop professional quarterbacks?

Many CIS coaches have said “we run a pro-style offence” and that schematics are on-par with the CFL.

But according to former Edmonton Eskimos head coach Danny Maciocia — this is not the case.

“You need to experience the CFL in order to make that comment,” he said. “It’s not by going to a clinic or a training camp that lasts a week. You need to live it to understand it.

“To say that teams (in the CIS) are running a pro-style offence today is a farce; that’s pushing the envelope.”

This apparent lack of offensive complexity is leaving CIS quarterbacks stunted when they chase the CFL dream: plays that used to work — don’t, reads that used to be there — aren’t, the internal clock — you better speed it up.

The CFL game moves at a faster clip, and mentally, CIS quarterbacks are finding it hard to adjust.

“Coming out of Ottawa I had no worries whatsoever about protection, it was basic,” said former Ottawa Gee-Gees quarterback Brad Sinopoli. “You just identify the defence; there are no progression reads; it’s based off a top-down approach.”

Before switching to receiver, Sinopoli auditioned at quarterback for the Calgary Stampeders. But despite his natural talent, the learning curve was steep – an overhaul CIS football had not prepared him for.

 “When I got to Calgary, everything was reversed,” he said. “It was bottom-up; you never pass up an open guy, even if it’s in the flat. In terms of how you read the field it’s completely opposite — you need to have quicker feet, make quicker reads and get the ball out of your hands a lot faster.

“At Ottawa, I was able to hold the ball a lot more.”

Next up is the CFL playbook.

Running a professional offence is like a scene in Memento, except here, your memory resets on a weekly basis. New plays, new adjustments, new scheme — you have to approach each game like a new season.

“From week to week there are a lot changes — and I mean a lot – so that’s where the challenge comes,” said Sinopoli. “At first it was a lot to take in; each week you have a different set of protection rules, different reads and different plays that make (the game) a lot more complicated.”

Unlike the CIS, NCAA coaches also transition from college to the NFL: Jim Harbaugh, Pete Caroll, Chip Kelly. Two of which led their teams to playoff appearances in their first season.

But in Canada, this doesn’t happen.

And according to Maciocia, it’s because coaches in the CIS simply don’t have that ability.

“I don’t think we can ask our coaches who have never coached at the CFL level to walk in there and start coordinating on the offensive side of the ball,” he said. “We have to show some respect to people like coach (John) Hufnagel, Wally Buano and Marc Trestmen. It’s two different worlds.”

John Hufnagel: Tom Brady’s quarterback coach in 2003.

Wally Buono: Five-time Grey Cup champion head coach.

Marc Trestman: Current Chicago Bears head coach.

Maciocia may have a point.

“Even coverage wise and scheme wise on the defensive side of the ball, (the CIS) is not as sophisticated as what I’ve seen in my 14-years as a coach in the CFL.”

“We are not even in the same area code here.”

According to Maciocia, this is the argument. If coaches themselves can’t make the jump to the CFL, how can they develop a CFL quarterback?

Having been on both sides of the coin, he has credibility; currently the head coach of Montreal Carabins, Maciocia said even he has scaled back his approach to the game. He’s not in the CFL anymore – and he can’t coach that way either.

 “There is only so much you can get (CIS quarterbacks) to process. Conceptually, some stuff they have never seen before, so you have to water it down to get it executed,” he said.

“Now, ‘has the level of play in the CIS picked up in the last 10 years?’ Without a doubt.”

But still, “we can’t prepare a quarterback to play at the CFL level right now.”

Advocating for football prospects one story at a time.

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