Bo Levi Mitchell ditched his walking boot Monday and took part in his first practice at Hamilton Tiger-Cats training camp.
After missing Sunday’s first day of camp at McMaster University, the veteran quarterback said he will “absolutely” be “100 per cent” ready for the start of the Canadian Football League season.
“It was good to get out here with the boys,” Mitchell said while answering questions as it rained lightly at Ron Joyce Stadium. “I felt good throwing the ball. Made some good reads. Just got to get the footwork underneath me a little more. But, yeah, it felt great.”
The 34-year-old Mitchell shared that he hurt his right leg, the same one that was broken in a game last summer in Ottawa, during a workout three weeks ago.
That injury, as well as an abductor injury in Hamilton’s second game of the regular season last year, limited him to just six games in 2023.
Mitchell competed 59 per cent of his passes last season for 1,031 yards, six touchdowns and 10 interceptions in his first season with the Cats.
“I wasn’t doing anything stupid,” Mitchell said of his workout, calling the timing of the injury unfortunate. “Something just happened during a workout, it didn’t feel great and lingered on. It just happened to come up three weeks before camp started.”
But Mitchell knows that training camp is not exactly a sprint, especially for a veteran who is working his way back from an injury.
“I’m just going to keep continuing to ramp it up.”
Head coach Scott Milanovich is hopeful that Mitchell’s injury woes are behind him.
“We have a plan to give him more every single day but we’re going to have to get some feedback from him and how it’s feeling,” Milanovich said. “We just don’t want to have any more setbacks.”
Mitchell and the Ticats will host Ottawa in their first pre-season game at Tim Hortons Field on May 25. Hamilton’s first game of the regular season will be against Mitchell’s former team, the Stampeders, on June 7 in Calgary.