Year In Review Series: Ed Tait takes a look at the 2017 Blue Bombers season with his Top 10 stories of the year…

#3 – NICHOLS CEMENTS SPOT AS QB-1

He had clearly already won over the locker room, the entire coaching staff, and Winnipeg Blue Bombers management with his work ethic, his fiery leadership and the on-field results.

And, just so we’re clear, that’s all the confirmation Matt Nichols has ever wanted or needed.

Yet, when Nichols put his name on a new three-year contract last January there still seemed to be some lingering doubt about the move outside the Bomber complex, despite everything he had done to finish off the 2016 season and – as it would turn out – the spectacular follow-up numbers he would post in 2017.

We suppose that comes in part from the emotional scars those in Bomber Nation have experienced while watching many of the names that preceded Nichols as the Bombers starting quarterback struggle so mightily over recent years.

And so, what Nichols has done for this franchise – both before and since he re-signed on January 18th – goes far beyond all the passing yardage and touchdowns he’s amassed. The Bombers desperately needed wins when he replaced Willy in late July of 2016, and Nichols helped provide that, helping a team that was 1-4 to start the season go on an 10-3 run and qualify for the playoffs. He followed that up again in 2017 as the Bombers went 12-6 and hosted a playoff game for the first time since 2011.

But this is also about providing stability at the most important position on the football field.

“Matt’s a winner,” said Bombers GM Kyle Walters upon announcing the Nichols’ contract. “There’s something he brings… it’s hard to describe an intangible quality until you’re around a guy and see the way the guys rally around him. That leadership he brings, the guys love to play for him… he’s the leader of our football team and there’s a quiet confidence about him.”

“Matt’s our leader. I’ve never had a leader like that,” added right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick, echoing the sentiment of the entire locker room after a win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Banjo Bowl this past September. “I’m willing to go to battle with him on anything he does.

“Matt Nichols is one of my crushes on this team, the way he leads, his attitude… whatever Matt says, he means.”

The Bombers-Nichols marriage has been a game changer for the franchise, but also for the quarterback himself. He was a bonafide starter prospect when he first ventured north to the Canadian Football League to the Edmonton Eskimos in 2011. But a series of gruesome injuries coupled with the Esks trading for Mike Reilly and the emergence of James Franklin in 2015 ended in sending Nichols in a trade to the Bombers – desperate for QB help with Willy injured at the time – for a mid-round draft pick.

His signing last January offered the now 30-year-old Redding, California product the first real chance to open a training camp as the starting QB – and that has never been lost on the man, given all he’s been through in his career.

“This is going to be my eighth year (in the CFL) and it’s going to be my first opportunity to go in as the guy,” he said last January after signing his new deal. “There have been times in my career where you almost feel like you’re never going to get to this point. I’ve had tons of people doubt me over the years, but I’ve had even more people have my back and have their faith in me.

“There are way too many people on a list to thank who helped me get to this point. I know how hard it is to get here, I’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point. I’ve seen guys come and go over the years so I know how hard it is to keep a job like this.

“It’s just fuelling me even more,” Nichols added. “As soon as we’re done here I’m going to have a workout and get ready to go for this season. My focus is on this season and I’m excited to be in this position and couldn’t be happier that things turned out the way they did.”

Nichols posted career numbers in his 13 starts in 2016 and then promptly bested those this past season by throwing for 4,472 yards with 28 touchdowns against eight interceptions. Those numbers could have been even gaudier, if he hadn’t missed half a game and a half with hand and calf problems – two injuries he valiantly fought through in the team’s West Division Semi-Final playoff loss to the Edmonton Eskimos.

That defeat stuck in the craw of every Bomber, Nichols especially. Immediately afterward he vowed to get back into the film room to study his season and find areas to improve on – just as he did last winter in working to improve his TD-to-interception ratio and add more of a rushing element to his game.

Those that know the QB best will insist that’s why he has been so widely adopted as this team’s leader and why he continues to win over all those cynics and doubters with every snap. He’s got skills, absolutely, but it’s hardhat and lunch-pail approach to his craft that resonates through the room.

“I’ve had plenty of make-it/break-it moments in my career, where my career could be over if I don’t go in and perform well,” Nichols explained on the day he signed his new deal. “It doesn’t change with the fact that you’re a starter going into a season. You need to perform; you know how quickly things can change.

“Every year there are 30-40 quarterbacks coming out of the college level trying to take your job. It’s extremely hard to get to this position and just as hard to hang on to it. For me, it’s making sure I never get complacent and I feel like I’ve made a lot of growth over the past couple of years.

“Now it’s about bringing a championship to this city.”

This is the seventh in a series recapping the Top 10 Bomber stories of 2017.

Next: #2 – A Playoff Tilt at IGF