In his first year as the Saskatchewan Roughriders‘ starting quarterback Zach Collaros never really found his groove and it appeared his time with the Riders could be up.
But when the Riders failed to land a marquee free agent in the off-season they decided to re-sign Collaros.
He’s ready to go back to work after plenty of time to prepare for the 2019 CFL season.
“It’s six more months in the playbook. It’s another practice with Naaman (Roosevelt), another practice with Kyran (Moore), and so on and so forth” Collaros said Monday at the Riders training camp in Saskatoon.
“It’s always good the more continuity you can get and the more experience you can gain with your teammates I think the better you can play.”
Collaros’ first season in Saskatchewan was a bumpy ride. The veteran QB struggled to find the end zone and he was sidelined twice with concussions.
The second one forced him to miss the West semifinal which the Riders ultimately lost.
Collaros expects more from the Rider offence, starting with himself, in his second year as the team’s starting QB.
“That just comes with the familiarity. You think that you should be better because you’ve been in it and I’m always going to have high expectations and expect the same from everybody around,” Collaros said.
It’s not just the Collaros, though, calling for improvement.
Offensive co-ordinator Stephen McAdoo doesn’t mince words when it comes to his unit’s performance in 2018.
“We weren’t good enough, you know. That’s easy, that’s easy to say,” McAdoo said.
“We weren’t good enough and I think everybody out here has a bad taste in their mouth and we’ve got something to come out on this field to prove.”
The Riders have given Collaros some new weapons to work with this season, but the buck stops with the QB. The hope is that an increased comfort level will lead to an increase in production.
“With him being in his second year there’s little things here and there that he understands that I want and we’ll just be that much better,” McAdoo said.
“He can adjust to whatever you bring to him, we just got to have 12 guys executing out on the field.”
Collaros said he is more at ease being back for a second year.
“Definitely more comfortable just being in the same locker room, being around the same coaching staff, for the most part the same players and just having some familiar surroundings,” Collaros said.
“It’s good to be back here.”
Training camp continues Tuesday in Saskatoon leading up to Green & White Day at SMF Field on Saturday afternoon.