Argos have QB mystery


Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Ken Dorsey throws a pass in this 2008 photo. The Toronto Argonauts signed a pair of former NFL players yesterday and announced that Mike Hagen has joined the club as its director of player personnel.

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They finished at the bottom of the Canadian Football League last season at 3-15 and the most troubling spot was their league worst offence. They have a new owner in David Braley, a new head coach in Jim Barker and plenty of new players as they prepare for the 2010 season.

“It’s been a busy couple of months trying to put the coaching staff together and helping (general manager) Adam (Rita) with (player) personnel,” said Barker. “Here when you’ve won seven games in two years, it’s important to change the culture so we’re excited about that.

“I know the first question is going to be about the quarterback situation. We’re actually going to be bringing five quarterbacks to training camp and while that might seem excessive I just believe it’s the right thing to do with the group that we have.”

Toronto, which held its season preview teleconference with the media yesterday, opens rookie camp next Wednesday. The Argonauts will be the official home team when they face the Edmonton Eskimos on Sept. 26 in Moncton, the league’s first-ever regular season game in Atlantic Canada.

It’s a mystery who the Argonauts’ starting quarterback will be when they open the regular season on the road against the Calgary Stampeders on July 1. Battling for the job are Danny Brannagan, Dalton Bell, Ken Dorsey, Gibran Hamdan and Cleo Lemon. None of them have CFL experience.

Dorsey, Hamdan and Lemon all have National Football League experience. Bell was acquired in a trade from the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Brannagan, the lone Canadian in the group, led the Queen’s Gaels to their first Canadian university football championship last season. He was named Most Valuable Player in the Vanier Cup and later signed with the Argonauts as a free agent.

The native of Burlington, Ont. had a five-year career at Queen’s and he’s the leading passer in that university’s history. He had a 62.14 per cent completion rate last season and led Canadian university football with 24 touchdown passes.

Toronto has a 7-29 record over the past two seasons. Any chance of Brannagan being the club’s starting quarterback this campaign? Any pressure with him being a Canadian to mould him into a star to help market the club?

“We signed Danny Brannagan to compete to be the quarterback, not to be the Canadian quarterback,” said Barker. “He’s going to do that until he shows that he’s no longer in the competition.

“He brings a lot to the table in terms of his moxy and his understanding of the game. I don’t feel it as any pressure because when he’s ready to play and right to play then he will.

“I know he has to get snaps in order to be able to see what he can do, but he’s going to have to earn that based on how he performs in training camp. He’ll earn snaps. Nobody’s going to be given snaps because of their nationality.”

Toronto’s head coach made it clear that it’s a wide-open, five-man battle for the starting quarterback job entering training camp.

“Any coach wants to have somebody establish himself as a starter,” said Barker. “The preference is to have somebody step forward, take control of the football team and show that he’s ready to lead and go forward and everybody lives happily ever after.

“We’re excited about these guys coming in and competing (for the starting quarterback job). It will be something that will be fun to watch from your perspective.”

There will be a sellout crowd of 20,000 on hand for Toronto’s late regular season game at the new Stade Moncton 2010 Stadium. The Argonauts may have a playoff berth locked up or be out of the race by the time they come here for the historic game that’s dubbed Touchdown Atlantic.

What’s a realistic goal for the Argonauts this season? Six wins? Eight wins? A .500 record? A playoff berth? “The realistic goal, and what we expect, is to compete to win every game,” said Barker, who avoided being specific in answering the question. “If when we line up on July 1 (for our regular season opener), we aren’t competitive to play the Calgary Stampeders then we haven’t been successful. We expect when we come out of the gate to be able to compete each week. I believe we’ll be a team that will be ready to compete.”

Toronto has been busy overhauling its roster in the off-season.

The Argonauts made key trades to bring in wide receiver Jeremaine Copeland from Calgary and punter/kicker Jamie Boreham from the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Linebacker Dwaine Carpenter, who’s entering his fourth CFL season, was signed after being released by Calgary. Free agent additions included quarterback Cleo Lemon, running back Decori Birmingham, defensive tackle Terrence Reese, offensive lineman Cedric Gagne-Marcoux, defensive backs Jeremy Unertl and Reggie Sullivan and linebackers Stewart Franks and Greg Blue.

The Argonauts have also signed six players they selected in the 2010 CFL Canadian draft. They are offensive tackle Joe Eppele, wide receiver Spencer Watt, kick returner/wide receiver Steve Turner, defensive back/kicker Grant Shaw, offensive lineman Michael Warner and linebacker Conor Elliott.

Eppele was the second overall pick in the draft. Shaw, Watt and Turner were claimed in the second, third and fourth rounds.

Turner is the fastest man in CFL Evaluation Camp history. The Bishop’s University graduate turned in a world class time of 4.3 seconds in the 40-yard sprint and then managed an outstanding 43.5 inches in the vertical jump test.

“It’s been an awesome off-season for us in football operations,” said Toronto general manager Adam Rita. “It’s pretty much a three-phase thing — re-sign your players that you think can help you get back on a winning track, free agency and the draft.

“I thought our draft was very, very good. I think those kids will help us quicker than we think and be a positive influence on our team.”

Toronto has made significant player personnel changes on offence and defence and hired a new head coach after two consecutive poor seasons. Why has the club decided to keep Rita as general manager?

“We thought we made the changes we had to here and that’s what we’ve done,” said Argonauts president and CEO Bob Nicholson. “I’m satisfied with the moves we’ve made and I’m confident we’ve got a good organization moving forward.”

* Neil Hodge is a Times & Transcript sports reporter.

Advocating for football prospects one story at a time.

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