By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on November 14, 2024.

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With Toronto quarterback Chad Kelly fracturing his ankle late in the third quarter of the Eastern final, the 111th Gray Cup against Winnipeg will be played between David and Goliath. But I know David, aka Nick Arbuckle, so don’t put the Good Ship Argonaut in dry dock yet. The man who held off the defending champions, the Alouettes, signed with Calgary in 2017 to support Canadian star Bo Levi Mitchell. Little media attention is paid to backup quarterbacks, except in Saskatchewan where, according to the late Ron Lancaster, the fan favorite was usually “the other guy.” This wasn’t true in Calgary because very few people knew the other guy. When you enter the locker room after a game, to your left are the quarterbacks. There would be a big media scrum surrounding Mitchell with no one noticing the slight guy sitting next to him, his presence obscured by TV cameras and microphones. When the pack was full and left, I would sit and visit Nick Arbuckle. Twenty-four years old at the time, the unassuming product of Camarillo, Calif., who played football at Georgia State, spoke about the steep learning curve of Canadian football and how lucky he was to being trained by Bo Levi Mitchell and head coach Dave Dickenson. , a future Hall of Fame quarterback. Turns out he was a history buff who loved reading and discussing my book, Go Stamps Go. The only real action he saw in the first couple of years was as a short-field guy. He became the best third-and-thumb player in the CFL, arguably the most skilled in all of North American football. It was no coincidence. He studied hours of film to learn the tendencies of opposing defenses. It perplexed me that he was rarely used in that capacity when he went to other teams. I thought he would shine as a starter if given the chance. In 2019, Mitchell was injured after the second game. Arbuckle came on and won four of seven games, keeping his team in contention until the big guy returned. COVID canceled the 2020 season. Shortly after the 2021 New Year, he was traded to Ottawa. But a few days later, the Redblacks signed veteran starter Matt Nichols who had been cut by Toronto. He had two wins, played well but was replaced by McLeod Bethel-Thompson. The Argos traded him to Edmonton for the trading rights of Chad Kelly. He started five times for the Elks, played well, was benched in favor of Tre Ford and returned to Ottawa where he started most of the season. The team was terrible. An unsigned free agent when training camps opened, he considered retiring. When Chad Kelly was suspended for nine games, the Argos came calling. Their head coach was Ryan Dinwiddie, who had been his quarterback coach in Calgary and believed in him. Every time he came back to Calgary, I watched him in the visiting locker room. We usually shared a fist bump and a hug. He always had a smile, never lost hope that his big day would arrive. It’s hard to keep hope alive when you move from one team to another, even if you’ve won a lot of money. It’s harder on the family, especially the wife who continually has to start a new home in strange cities in a foreign country. But it’s a journey that Nick and his wife Zakiyyah and their daughter, Aaliyah, three, and their one-year-old daughter Ariyah, have embraced. The Arbuckles have thoroughly enjoyed living in Ottawa and will likely retire there when Nick’s playing days are over. This is the Man of the Hour’s seventh year in the league. He is very intelligent, studying the game. He knows the Bombers well and has had some success against them. In 2017, the Calgary Stampeders depth chart had Bo Levi Mitchell as the starting quarterback with Nick Arbuckle #2. Tonight, Ti-Cat Mitchell is in the running for his third MVP award. On Sunday, his former number 2 will start the 111th Gray Cup. It’s great to see old friends doing well, even though McMahon’s sobs can be heard all over southern Alberta. I know the money will be put on the Winnipeg Goliaths, but… Graham Kelly has covered the CFL for the Medicine Hat News for 52 years. Comments on this column can be emailed to [email protected]. 27
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