THE CANADIAN PRESS
THE CANADIAN PRESS
HAMILTON — Zach Collaros has resumed practising with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The third-year quarterback joined his teammates for their first workout at Tim Hortons Field after the club pulled Collaros off the six-game injured list. Collaros suffered a concussion in Hamilton’s 28-24 loss to the Edmonton Eskimos on July 4 and had been out since.
Ticats head coach/GM Kent Austin said while he’d ideally like Collaros to play Monday against the Toronto Argonauts, the six-foot-two, 216-pound quarterback will only do so if he’s cleared medically and can practise symptom-free.
“He’s at that point now where we need to practice him to see how he responds,” Austin said. “There really was no other choice.”
“Without doing that (taking Collaros off six-game injured list), then we won’t know. It’s just something we had to do.”
Collaros was Hamilton’s major off-season acquisition, signing as a free agent shortly after being released by the Argos. After Collaros joined the Ticats, they released veteran starter Henry Burris, who later joined the expansion Ottawa REDBLACKS.
Collaros started Hamilton’s season opener, a 31-10 road loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on July 29 before being injured the following week against Edmonton.
Austin said Collaros practised well and didn’t appear to suffer any setbacks.
“Of course, he’s not going to complain about anything,” Austin said. “He’s a very competitive guy, he wants to play.”
“The most important thing is he needs to practise hard and practise a lot to determine that. The good news is we had an extra day today so we’ll see how he responds . . . then we’ll make a plan going forward.”
Dan LeFevour replaced Jeremiah Masoli as Hamilton’s starting quarterback following Collaros’s departure. But he suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Ticats’ 30-20 home loss to the Calgary Stampeders on Aug. 16.
The Ticats (1-6) are scheduled to host the Argos (3-6) in the first-ever CFL game at Tim Hortons Field. If the contest can’t go Monday afternoon, then the contingency plans are to play it the following night, either at Tim Hortons Field or Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Austin, for one, was impressed with the new facility.
“It’s a really really nice venue,” he said. “Great field, it’s going to be a great atmosphere. We’re pretty excited.”
