Photo Credit: Arthur Ward/CFL
REGINA — The Canadian Football League Combine — an event chock-full of testing, interviews and one-on-one drills — is all about a prospect doing his damnedest to make a positive and lasting impression on GMs and head coaches.
And there’s a pathway to that for University of Manitoba Bisons quarterback Jackson Tachinski today as the event reaches the shoulder-pads-and-helmets-on stage as one of the more-intriguing storylines of the CFL Combine.
The Canada West Player of the Year in 2024 for his work behind centre, Tachinski’s workload through the sessions on Saturday and Sunday will be just 25 percent as a quarterback and 75 percent as a receiver.
Yes, receiver.
If only there was a way for him to throw a pass to himself…
“A few weeks ago before the regional combine in Waterloo I was told some CFL people wanted me to take some reps at receiver,” began Tachinski in conversation with bluebombers.com here in Regina. “I was for it right away. I never want to back down from a challenge and I know it’s a challenge because I’ve never really done it before. I’m ready to go, ready to do whatever the coaches want and if this can help put me in the best light, I’m ready to do it.
“I don’t really have much of an ego that wouldn’t be open-minded about this and only want to play QB. I know I’m a really good quarterback but I know I could be really good at other positions. I just wanted to accept this challenge and go full into it. I know this is an opportunity that not a lot of people get and if they want to see me at receiver I wanted to put my best foot forward.
“I just want to show these teams that if you put me in a position where I’m really comfortable, like quarterback, or you put me in a position I haven’t really done, like receiver, I’m all in.”
A gifted athlete who also starred at basketball — he was recruited by the Bisons as a two-sport star — Tachinski flashed so well in Waterloo CFL types asked to see more at the national combine. And so here we are with a big moment for the young Bisons star.
“It sums him up — he’s a football player,” said Blue Bombers GM Kyle Walters. “Jackson is a football player, he’s a winner and he’ll do whatever he can to help his team succeed. We saw that through his whole university career where he was just making plays and putting his body on the line to get a first down.
“I think he’s realizing now this is about, ‘the more you can do.’ It’s no different than offensive guards or tackles learning to snap, or a big defensive tackle showing he could also play guard. At this point some of the smart players show, ‘Hey, I can do more than just one thing.'”
Tachinski helped lead the Bisons to a 7-1 record last year and is familiar to the Blue Bombers as a participant in the CFL’s Canadian QB Internship Program during a couple of rookie camps, including last year.
Now that’s being eyeballed as a receiver, he’s been cramming for this like he would for a final exam. He’s watched countless hours of film before and since the combine in Waterloo, has been getting reps on turf in Winnipeg with the likes of Kenny Lawler, Bisons teammate AK Gassama — a Blue Bombers draft pick last year — and even reached out to the most famous CFL example of the QB-to-receiver transition in Brad Sinopoli.
A Hec Crighton Trophy winner as the top player in Canadian college football during his days at the University of Ottawa, Sinopoli was drafted by the Calgary Stampeders as a QB and made the squad as a third-string pivot. He made the switch to receiver in his third pro season and then blossomed after signing with the Ottawa RedBlacks, posting four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and twice being named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian.
Tachinski, having done his homework, sought out Sinopoli for advice.
“The second I was told I was going to do some receiver I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to learn some stuff quickly,'” said Tachinski. “So, I DM’d him and then actually ended up calling him and he gave me a lot of tips as to what I’m going to experience as a first time receiver around a bunch of pros, the different feelings he felt making that transition from quarterback and how the different skills from being a quarterback really helped him.
“He’s a living example of the transition from quarterback to receiver. Being able to know what the quarterback is thinking and not just thinking as receiver is important. Being able to read a defence — knowing what to attack, what’s zone, how to attack man coverage — is also helpful.”
Tachinski, whose brother Xander attended Blue Bombers camp in 2016-17 as a member of the Winnipeg Rifles, has slotback written all over him at 6-3, 215 pounds and his basketball skills translate in terms of high-pointing a ball and gaining inside leverage on defensive backs. And, looking back now, he also saw first-hand how to use the ‘Waggle’ to his advantage a few years ago at Blue Bombers rookie camp.
“I was at Bomber camp during Dalton Schoen’s first camp and became appreciative of the pre-snap Waggle while watching him and how he used it,” he said. “That’s something I’d have to use myself, being a bigger guy, to get that speed at the start to help me.
“I know I’m not as experienced as the other receivers. But I’ve gone into this knowing I’m a good athlete and I can hang with them. I just want to show I can work hard and learn. This is why I’m here. This is why we’re all here — to make an impression.”
