Adam Gagnon
Esks.com Staff
EDMONTON — Quarterback Jonathan Crompton admits he didn’t know much about the history of the Edmonton Eskimos prior to his first training camp – but, he’s learning.
“I knew about Warren Moon and that’s pretty much it,” says Crompton.
“After spending my first season and most of the off-season here, I’ve learned a lot about the history of this franchise. It really makes you want to strive to bring that success back to this organization. This city deserves it.”
The Esks have a history of developing a strong stable of quarterbacks.
Moon was able to succeed Tom Wilkinson; Matt Dunigan was able to take over for Moon after a year of being his understudy. The long line of great Eskimos QBs continued with greats like Damon Allen and Tracy Ham.
For the better part of three decades, Eskimos’ quarterbacks pushed to support one another to be successful.
“We have a strong core group of quarterbacks. We’re all fighting for that No.1 job, we all know that. But at the end of the day, we all have everyone’s best interests at heart,” says Crompton.
“Competition makes you stronger. We’re going to push each other to the limit and whoever’s name is called, we’re going to support them, because it’s about the team. We all have a role to play.”
Crompton earned the back-up role last season behind Mike Reilly. In eight appearances, Crompton completed 30-of- 58 passes for 451 yards with five touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and five interceptions.
It was a year of learning.
“There isn’t just one thing that I focused on this off-season. I’m working on everything. I don’t think anyone has ever perfected one craft. You have to work on everything. That’s my mentality,” says Crompton.
Before joining the Canadian Football League, Crompton spent time in the NFL with the San Diego Chargers, Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots.
“I want to pick everyone else’s brain. I enjoy when people try to pick my brain, because it teaches me what I do and don’t know and there will always be more for me to learn about this game.”
