Eskimos rookie Zach Kline will make his first pro start in Friday’s CFL pre-season game with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg.
Opportunities to be a starting quarterback were rare for Kline during his nomadic college career as he changed schools several times while trying to find a team willing to give him a chance to play.
Kline, 24, started only the final two games during his last year of college with Fresno State in 2016 but has put up impressive numbers during three brief pre-season appearances with the Eskimos in 2017 and ‘18.
“I’ve played in a bunch (of games); came in off the bench pretty much my whole college career,” Kline said. “Starting a game or coming off the bench is basically the same thing. You’ve got to do your job.
“It’s definitely cool,” he added about Friday’s start, “but I’m really thankful, and our guys are ready. For the most part, I’m just excited to get out there and show what our guys can do and show our preparation and do the job that we’re told to do and complete the ball.”
Kline will be leading a host of rookies and potential backup players Friday (the game is not televised, but will be broadcast on 630 CHED at 6:30 p.m.) as the Eskimos sit out 22 veterans, including 10 starters on offence, after playing their first pre-season game only five days earlier at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.
“He’s going to get a long look in this game,” said Eskimos coach Jason Maas. “We’re not playing Kevin (Glenn). We’re not playing Mike (Reilly). So those three guys – Eli (Jenkins), Danny (O’Brien) and Zach – will play the whole game.
“They’re going to get more looks than they’ve ever got here,” Maas continued about the three QBs vying for the third-string role on the team. “But it’ll be about production and staying on the field. If they don’t produce and are not effective and efficient on offence, they won’t be out there very long.
“They’re going to get the opportunity; they’ve got to make the most of it. Particularly Zach.”
Last year, Kline connected with then-rookie receiver Duke Williams for a 90-yard pass-and-run touchdown on his first-ever play with the Eskimos to tie a pre-season game in the fourth quarter against the Calgary Stampeders and then rallied the Esks from a 31-17 deficit early in the fourth quarter by putting together three scoring drives over four series to tie the Bombers 38-38 at Winnipeg.
“It’s familiar. It’s a good spot. It’s loud. They have great fans,” Kline said about Winnipeg’s stadium. “At the same time, really it’s just practice, but with more people at practice. You just have less room for error.
“I’m definitely excited, though. It’s going to be fun. It’s obviously our last pre-season game, and the guys are really excited to see what they can do, as am I.”
Kline made it five touchdown drives in seven career pre-season series with the Green and Gold by plunging into the end zone from the one-yard line to complete the scoring in the Eskimos’ 35-12 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday.
“I watched him play a little bit when we were in Vegas (for a mini-camp in April), and I liked what I saw, and he’s done a nice job out on the field so far,” said Reilly.
Kline’s excessive celebration after his TD didn’t go over as well, though.
“We had a little talk about that,” Reilly said. “That won’t happen anymore.
“I love the excitement. I don’t love the dance. It was too much. It was interesting. We’ll say that.”
Reilly remembered getting excited to play games when he was younger – heck, he admitted that he was still excited to throw a touchdown pass in Sunday’s pre-season game “and I’ve been in this league for nine years now.”
“You get excited, but temper it down a little bit,” he said. “There’s still football left to play.”
Kline, who has completed 13 of 21 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns over his three pre-season appearances with the Esks, said he learned a lot from Reilly and backup QB James Franklin last year and continued to work on those things during the off-season.
“I prepared as if I was going to be travelling and playing all last year – even when I was staying home, and it was an away game – and I think that really did help,” Kline said. “It forces you to keep sharp even though your name isn’t being called.
“If I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t be in this spot where I am right now and be given the opportunity right now. I feel very comfortable in the reads and the timing and everything. It’s just the verbatim of how we run our offence. That’s the biggest thing. It’s a different vocabulary, and it’s a different way of talking. It’s a lot different than college, and it takes a while to learn.”
The competition for roster positions on the team will be in play all over the field Friday with the Eskimos also sitting out all four international receivers (Derel Walker, Vidal Hazelton, Kenny Stafford and Williams), starting running back C.J. Gable and left tackle Colin Kelly, centre Justin Sorensen and right guard Matt O’Donnell from the offensive line.
Playing a second game within six days and travelling on the same day makes for a challenging situation, but Reilly pointed out that the younger players will be excited about the opportunity.
“I remember when I was at the point in my career where I needed to get in to show that I could make a team,” he said. “That was exciting.
“Now pre-season is exciting for different reasons (for Reilly). Now it’s to see how our guys are going to work together and then to see what kind of talent we have that’s up and coming.”
On defence, veteran nose tackle Almondo Sewell and second-year defensive end Kwaku Boateng will be rested, leaving prized free-agent recruit Alex Bazzie and seven other international plus three national players to share the playing time on the rebuilt defensive line.
Korey Jones, who played middle linebacker last season in place of the injured J.C. Sherritt, will get the start Friday night flanked by two rookies at outside linebacker while second-year cornerback Arjen Colquhoun is the only expected starter playing in the secondary.
Bazzie, a four-year CFL veteran with the B.C. Lions who played a little more than the opening quarter on Sunday, will be a key player on the new defensive line that lost players like Odell Willis (traded), John Chick (retired), Phillip Hunt (released), Marcus Howard (released) and Da’Quan Bowers (retired) during the off-season.
“Our biggest thing was to start to build chemistry and start to understand one another,” Bazzie said about the defensive line newcomers in training camp. “Some little things that we do to help us with that is we all talk to each other a lot during practice. Outside of practice we eat together, we walk and travel together to and from meetings, just little things that could bring us closer.
“And having a guy like Almondo, who understands the organization and what it wants, what’s the Eskimos Way, is a great help,” he continued. “Then you’ve got a guy like J.C. (Sherritt), who comes around and hangs out with his D-line group and he tells you, ‘Man, you guys are my best friends. You make my job easier. We all have to be close.’
“We take it very seriously as new faces, as new guys, as rookies,” said Bazzie. “We’re all just absorbing everything that’s being said from the guys who have been here in this organization and understand what’s being put out there.”
Bazzie said it was “good to get the rust off and show the fans what we’re looking to bring this season” in last weekend’s pre-season game. He was disappointed to get only one quarterback pressure, though.
“The intent was to get a couple of (quarterback) sacks, believe it or not,” he said. “Our D-line and our defence are very angry and very active this year. We’ve all got this competition thing where we want to make a play every chance we get. If we’re in for two plays, man, I’ve got to make one play out of those two plays.
“Going into (Sunday’s) game, it was moreso get a feel for what it is going to be for the regular season. But deep down inside, each man on that defence wanted to set the tone wanted to make an impact play to let the rest of the league know this is how it’s going to become season time.
“Everything was moving fast. A lot was going on. Guys who had short series like myself and Almondo, we wanted to take advantage of our short playing time that we had and try to put some great stuff out there, and I think for the most part we all did.”