CALGARY – No matter what happens on Grey Cup Sunday, there will be a next week for Zach Collaros. There will be a chance to return home to Ontario and turn his brain off from studying the Winnipeg Blue Bombers playbook, to step away from the hours upon hours of breaking down film of the next opponent.
Over the next few weeks and months, there will also be a new Canadian Football League contract to sign and the opportunity to continue his career resurgence somewhere during the 2020 season.
In the meantime, it really is all about writing one more chapter to this improbable, unlikely, incredulous story the Bombers quarterback has already penned.
And make no mistake, while the big-picture storyline surrounding the 107thGrey Cup is the long-standing championship droughts of the Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the most compelling personal tale in this game revolves around Collaros.
“I know it’s a good story,” began Collaros in a one-on-one chat with bluebombers.com this week. “But – and I mean this when I say this – I really don’t want to make it about me. We’re playing a game and I know a lot of people are going to watch it and get encouragement from it and I appreciate that, too. But I’m trying to keep it all in perspective. I’ve never been one to think that what I do is really that special.
“Obviously, if you look at this from afar there have been some adverse situations that have happened this year.”
Collaros’ voice trailed off for a moment, as if he was recalling in detail those ‘adverse situations’ all over again but choosing not to express them. We will here, just for context…
Collaros entered free agency this past winter uncertain about his future with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, despite helping guide the team to a 10-4 record last year in games he started. But the Riders went hard at Bo Levi Mitchell in free agency and only after Mitchell opted to return to the Calgary Stampeders, circled back to re-sign Collaros.
He opened the 2019 campaign as the Riders’ starter, but never even finished the first possession of the first game after a vicious headshot sent him to the sidelines. It would also be not only his last snap with the Riders, who traded him to the Toronto Argonauts in August, but his last snap until he started the Bombers final regular season game – just 16 days after the club acquired him literally seconds before business closed on the CFL trade deadline.
Since then he has guided the Bombers to three straight wins – the first one in Calgary at IG Field, the last two on the road in Calgary and in Saskatchewan, eliminating the team that traded him, and getting the Bombers to the Grey Cup for the first time since 2011.
Conceding that Collaros didn’t want to make it about him, we suggested that not only does all this still make for a heckuva story, but he must be proud for how he has been able to adapt and overcome, fit in and lead.
“I don’t know if ‘proud’ is the right word, but I am appreciative,” he said. “A lot of it stems from how I was raised, at least in terms of a fitting-in standpoint and getting along with people. I was raised that way and with the great coaches and mentors I’ve had it’s been instilled in me that this is what you do to get to where you want to be, whether it’s learning a playbook or just treating someone the right way.
“It’s just fortitude, man. You’ve just got to overcome. You can’t dwell on things and when you’re given an opportunity like this you just try to run with it. I’m just living in the moment. I ask as many questions as I can, get as many reps as I can and watch as much tape as I can. I talk ball with the guys and learn some things about them off the field, too.
“As the quarterback, people see you on TV and there are good things and bad things to that. When I first walked into the locker room, at least some of those guys that didn’t know me had an idea of who I was. They could at least put a face to a name. Plus, I’ve played against Andrew (Harris) and Biggie (Adam Bighill), Jake (Thomas), Mikey Miller and Paddy (Neufeld) and a bunch of other guys. So there’s a mutual respect because we’ve all been playing together for a long time.
“I just want to be a good teammate,” he added. “To me, the best people in the locker room are the best teammates. People have to like you for them to trust you to come in there and do things. That’s my opinion.”
Collaros said he has lived a simple existence since his arrival in Winnipeg six weeks ago. He’s still set up in a hotel close to the stadium – the staff there all know his name by now – and he makes the three-minute drive to and from IG Field. He’s had supper with Andrew Harris and his wife, as well as former teammate Chad Rempel’s house a couple of times to eat, and watch NFL games on a Sunday or Monday night.
Most of all, it’s been about taking advantage of this opportunity and riding this wave.
“For me it’s really been all about trying to learn quickly what we’re doing offensively,” he said. “It’s a quick drive to the stadium and I sleep at the hotel. I eat the same thing for dinner every night. I usually try to get things done by 9:30 and then watch something on Netflix or HBO. And then I make a few calls home to my family and friends.
“I’m a pretty simple person. I drove to a park the other day, right around the university, and it was closed. I was just looking for a place to walk. I was trying to get acclimated to the weather before the Calgary game and thought I would just walk around in a T-shirt. It was closed, so I thought, ‘OK, I’d better give up that idea.’”
Collaros chuckled here after relaying that story, and it was a reaction that spoke not only of his confidence, but of his current comfort level. This might be a short-lived marriage with the Bombers and next season he might be lining up opposite many of the same players he will share a locker room with on Sunday.
But that’s not what he’s thinking about right now. It’s about here. It’s about now.
“I really try not to think about anything else, honestly,” he said. “None of my friends and family have asked me about the future, either. And we’re not talking about it here because we’re focused on winning a game and that’s it. I try not to read any articles, I try not to read social media.
“Again, it’s about living in the moment. We were too close in 2014 when I was in the Grey Cup with Hamilton. I can tell you a lot of us weren’t thinking that way then because we were so damn young. Now you realize just how hard it is to get here and you don’t want to let the opportunity slip away.”
