best who ever played’
That’s the plain-spoken verdict of Saskatchewan coach Ken Miller
Join Cam Cole and other Postmedia News writers for a Grey Cup live chat on Friday at 9 a.m. Pacific time, here at vancouversun.com
EDMONTON — The, uh, science behind the Darian Durant Project goes as follows:
“We had played musical chairs in 2008 with our quarterbacks — Michael Bishop and Marcus Crandell, then Darian,” said Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Ken Miller, perhaps understandably forgetting Steven Jyles.
“So when it went into last year, I wanted to make up my mind about who our quarterback was going to be, and settled on Darian — and from that point on, he was our quarterback, or I wasn't going to be the coach, you know … one way or the other.”
He laughs about it now, but it was no sure thing.
“It's always a leap of faith when you put your trust in somebody who hasn't been proven yet,” said Miller.
“I saw those intangibles — and the tangibles — and decided that's where I wanted to hang my hat. You know, in Regina, the most popular quarterback for a long, long time has been the other one. Didn't matter who the other one was.
“So I just said, 'We're not going to do that any more.' We're going to name a quarterback, and I'm going to live or die with that quarterback.”
So, brilliant move, or stroke of luck?
“It has to be brilliant,” Miller said, chuckling. “He's playin' and I'm coachin'.”
The good people of Rider Nation don't need to be reminded, but in the same period of time Anthony Calvillo has been slinging passes for Saskatchewan's Grey Cup opponents, the Montreal Alouettes, there had been nine different principal quarterbacks starting in Regina — and a whole raft of others who played a little, or for a while, or just passed through the portals.
Not to traumatize the faithful with old nightmares, but besides the well-known names like Reggie Slack, Henry Burris, Nealon Greene, Crandell, Kerry Joseph, Kevin Glenn and Bishop, the official Roughrider player personnel log from this period also shows the presence of — in descending order from “I remember him” to “Who?” — Steve Sarkisian, Marvin Graves, Heath Rylance, Rocky Butler, Keith Smith, Mike Cawley, John Rayborn, Dennis Gile, Chad Friehauf, Jonathan Beasley, Jim Ballard and, of course, Neo Aoga and Alli Abrew.
That's some dog's breakfast — no offence to my dog, Radar.
And then came Durant. Suddenly, as they say in the Telus ads, the future looks friendly.
Calvillo is 38 now, and though his game looks age-proof, he's theoretically in the late autumn of his career. Calgary's Henry Burris is 35, and his aura is liberally dented. After that, there's 31-year-old Ricky Ray in Edmonton, with an arm some say has lost its zip, and the hot-and-cold Glenn, also 31, in Hamilton and then …
The door is ajar. Someone's going to be the Canadian Football League's next great quarterback, and though it could be the Lions' fast-rising Travis Lulay, the safer bet is the 28-year-old Durant, who will lead the Riders into their second straight Grey Cup game Sunday.
“He's going to be one of the best who ever played,” Miller said, quite matter-of-factly, Thursday morning.
“A couple of months ago, talking to the team, I asked them who their reference group was. And I don't call players out individually very often, but I called Darian out, and said Darian's reference group should be somebody like Joe Montana — as far as the intangibles and physical abilities, they're very close. His reference group should be among the best to play the game.”
Miller is 69 years old, a longtime high school biology teacher, and not given to rash statements. But really. Joe Montana?
Durant himself is no shrinking violet, but he might not go that far.
“You know what, that's really for you guys to decide,” said the CFL's passing yards leader this season, with 5,542. “All I can do is keep getting better and hope you guys put me on that pedestal. I'll let my play speak for itself. But I do feel like I'm one of the top players in this league. Where I rank, I don't know.”
Durant was well aware of the checkered history of the Riders' quarterbacking position when he made the decision to sit in the same cursed locker as many of his short-lived predecessors.
“I thought about it, but I'm not a real believer in luck,” he said. “I feel you make happen what you want to happen, and I think I'm doing a good job of changing that culture, changing how that locker is looked at.”
The wait, for Durant, while Miller was shuffling the deck chairs, was both frustrating and necessary, he said.
“In the quarterback position you have to have patience,” Durant said. “And you know, we were winning. Kerry Joseph took us to the Grey Cup, and Marcus did a great job, also. So I knew that I had to wait my turn and learn as much as I could, because sometimes when you go out there before you're ready and you don't perform, you get sent home — and I didn't want that to happen.”
For some of the same reasons, he says, he's not looking for an escape hatch when his next opportunity comes up to explore National Football League possibilities.
At 5-11, he's probably too short, anyway, even though Doug Flutie made it at 5-9 (and three-quarters).
“You do think what-if sometimes. Financially, of course, I wish I'd been a couple of inches taller,” said Durant, whose three brothers are all over six feet. “I feel I would be starting in the NFL right now.
“But I'm happy where I am. I love my teammates, I love where I play, I love the fans. I'm 28. I'm not saying I'm old, but I've been around this league long enough to have seen guys go down there and just be camp bodies, and also my brother [Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Justin Durant] gives me a heads-up on how things get run there.
“If it's not broke, don't fix it. I'm in a great situation here, and I don't want to leave this organization and these guys for a hope.”
Calvillo stayed, and he's going straight to the Hall of Fame, the first day he's eligible. But the Alouettes star was 30 years old before he won his first Grey Cup. Durant doesn't want to wait that long to get started building his resume.
“You have to win,” he acknowledged. “Numbers don't mean anything without championships. That's my goal. Once we get that Grey Cup, then we'll talk legacy.”
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