Roughrider’s starting quarterback Zach Collaros has been placed on the six game injured list, according to head coach Craig Dickenson.
Collaros left the Riders season opener in the first quarter after sustaining a hit to the head from Hamilton linebacker Simoni Lawrence. Dickenson said he is being careful with his starting quarterback.
“He's fine, we've talked to him and all that good stuff but we're just going to err on the side of caution,” said Dickenson. “We'll let his status kind of sort itself out in the next few weeks.”
Dickenson did not give a timeline for Collaros’ return, but said his starting pivot could come back earlier than six weeks.
With his starting quarterback’s health up in the air, Rider’s offensive lineman Thaddeus Coleman took time after practice to sound off about Lawrence’s controversial hit.
“I don't want to call him a dirty player, but he knows when the quarterback is giving themselves up he's not supposed to do that,” said Coleman. “It's not his first time doing it, and probably won't be his last time doing it until they set the tone to players not just him, players around the league like, you can't do this.”
The league had a hearing with Lawrence about the hit on Saturday and will reveal the verdict on Monday.
Rider’s defensive tackle Micah Johnson emphasized that defensive players need to respect quarterbacks when they slide to give themselves up.
“He’s got to let up right there. It's a quarterback slide and it's not like it was a running back with the ball, you know what his intentions are when he slides and he's giving up his body. There isn’t anything to talk about, [he] shouldn’t be anywhere near him,” said Johnson.
Heading into a week two matchup against Ottawa, Dickenson said Isaac Harker and Cody Fajardo will battle this week in practice to see who starts at quarterback, but he expects them both to get snaps on Thursday.
Fajardo is excited to have a shot at the starting job, but said players need to get away from the kind of hits that sidelined Collaros.
“As a quarterback when you give yourself up like that, you're just kind of defenseless,” said Fajardo. “Zach with his history, it's a really tough situation for the league, for the players, but we have to find a way to cut that out.”
The Riders also announced the signing of 27-year-old quarterback Bryan Bennett on Sunday morning, adding a third quarterback to fill in on the roster as Collaros recovers.
With files from CTV’s Claire Hanna
