What has more pressure; starting at quarterback in a Grey Cup game, or throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game? One proved to be a lot more nerve wracking than the other for Toronto Argonauts quarterback Nick Arbuckle, and his answer may throw you a curve.
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“One hundred percent, no doubt, throwing out the first pitch,” Arbuckle told Argonauts.ca one day after performing that ceremony along with Dejon Brissett at the Blue Jays game against San Diego. “I never played baseball in my life. Never owned a baseball or baseball glove, I didn’t really know how to hold a baseball until two days ago when Cameron (Dukes) showed me.”
It’s surprising that a Southern California kid who threw a football didn’t at least try baseball at some point, but he thinks his parents, who watched his older brothers play a ton of baseball growing up, didn’t want him to follow in their footsteps because he didn’t think they wanted to go to another little league game.
Ever.
He was strongly encouraged to play every other sport, and the Argos are glad he landed on football. But at least for yesterday Arbuckle must have dreaded not having played some baseball.
If he had, say, hit the mascot with his toss, Argonauts.ca was ready to drop a Bull Durham reference and refer to him as “Nuke” Arbuckle, but fortunately that wasn’t needed.
“All I could think of was the expectation that the throw should be good because I’m a quarterback,” said Nuke, er, Nick. “But I was dirtin’ them in warmups. I was a mess.”
He was relieved when his pre-game pitch hit the target, and he was back throwing strikes with a football at Thursday’s walkthrough at the Argos training camp facility at the University of Guelph.
With Chad Kelly’s status for starting in Week One listed by head coach Ryan Dinwiddie as 50/50, three other quarterbacks are in camp vying to be the starter if needed when the regular season opens in Montreal on June 6.
Arbuckle is the favourite to get the nod should Kelly not be ready to go. Last year’s Grey Cup MVP is relaxed and ready to roll.
“It gets better and more fun with age,” he confessed. “The nerves start to go away a little bit more as you get older. You understand the flow of camp and what the energy is going to be like.”
He doesn’t know how many reps he’ll get in the two pre-season games but is cool with whatever his pre-season game workload is.
“I’m good with whatever it is,” he said. “The reps never hurt, getting a hit or two never hurts. You don’t want to get hurt, but we’re not live (full contact) in practice so you never get popped for months and months and months since last season.”
A year ago in camp, Cameron Dukes was the favourite to start the season at quarterback. He ended up starting eight of the first nine games and proved he was capable of being a CFL starter. He’s battling Arbuckle for the higher position on the depth chart, and the potential of starting Week One if Kelly’s not ready.
“Mentally, I approach camp the same way every year, just trying to compete and get better,” said Dukes. “I’m just developing as a young quarterback in this league. I’m happy with where I’m at right now in terms of how I’m seeing things pre- and post-snap. I’m feeling confident and I’m ready for the season.”
If there was one criticism of Dukes’ play last year it would be that he seemed hesitant at times to throw deep passes. So far in camp that hesitation seems to be gone for the most part. It’s a part of his game he’s worked hard to improve.
“I worked at all aspects of my game for sure,” said Dukes. “But that was one thing that I really wanted to get comfortable doing, is seeing when those (deep) shots presented themselves more, whether that was with film watching, and when I can alert those shots, or if it’s just my placement of those balls on the deep shots. I think I’ve gotten a little more comfortable.”
With Kelly still on the shelf for now, third-string duties fall to Tucker Horn, a rookie out of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Hailing from Graham Texas, a town of fewer than 10,000 residents located just west of Dallas/Fort Worth, Horn is a prototypical gunslinger from the Lone Star State who was named his conference’s Offensive Player of the Year three straight seasons.
He couldn’t be happier to be at camp.
“Man, it’s a blast,” he told Argonauts.ca. “First off, this is my first experience in a professional setting. The coaches are awesome, and the locker room is better than I could ever have expected.
“I’m from a small school, just the overall level of talent across the board is something I haven’t been exposed to. It’s been so cool to see everybody from different backgrounds, different places in life come together. We’re all fighting for one goal.”
All three quarterbacks are expected to see playing time when the Argos play in Hamilton on Saturday night.
ARGO NOTES: It was another rainy day in Guelph, so Coach Dinwiddie moved practice indoors to the field house. He finished his session early, but the team worked out for another half hour with strength and conditioning coach Usama Mujtaba…Rookie offensive lineman Ethan Pyle was released by the club, while Jai Nunn-Liddell was activated from the suspended list, and Mark Milton and Brian Harelimana joined Adam Guillemette on the suspended list, all for personal reasons. The Argos also added Dorian Anderson from Southeast Missouri State on Tuesday. Argonauts.ca is not afraid to point out that before attending SMSU, the 6’7” receiver played at Shorter University…A tip of the cap to Argos digital content manager Aidan Miller who hit gold with his video featuring players talking about their most memorable play in college. Synching videos to the players’ stories just added to an already great segment. More please!