CFL.ca Staff

CALGARY -- Drew Tate is focused on the future, not his injury-filled past.

Appearing on CFL.ca’s Mark Stephen’s radio show in Calgary on Monday night, the quarterback offered an update on his injured wrist that he suffered in the Stampeders’ Western Semi-Final win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in early November.

Tate on track to return
It’s all right. It’s coming back slowly. The guys I’m working with are doing a good job and we’re being smart about it. Hopefully, for this time period, it will get strengthened and we’ll come back stronger. - Drew Tate

The injury was a gut-wrenching blow to Tate, who at the time had just earned his way back into Calgary’s starting lineup after missing the majority of the season with a shoulder injury.

He was then forced to watch helplessly on the sidelines as the Kevin Glenn-led Stamps won the Western Final, only to lose to the home-town Argonauts in the 100th Grey Cup a week later.

Needless to say it was a season to forget for Drew Tate.

“It still stings but now that I’m back training, I’ve moved forward. It hung over me pretty much all of December and then . . . in January, it kind of went away. Now it’s back to work,” Tate told Stephen on QR77.

Now, however, all that Tate is focused on is being under centre when the Calgary Stampeders open their 2013 campaign.

His rehab process has been slow but effective, with Tate stating that he has mostly been doing range-of-motion work as well as simple exercises and drills.

Nonetheless, it’s all part of the process for a player that has unfortunately grown all too familiar with this type of practice.

“Yeah, it was unfortunate but that’s the way the game is played. We all know that going in. I don’t know who I made mad to (mess up) that karma but hopefully I got it all out of my system and I can start fresh in July 2013,” he confessed.

“It’s all right. It’s coming back slowly. The guys I’m working with are doing a good job and we’re being smart about it. Hopefully, for this time period, it will get strengthened and we’ll come back stronger,” he added.

2012 was supposed to be Tate’s year. It was supposed to be the year in which Tate took the next step in becoming an elite CFL quarterback that would ultimately lead the Stamps for years to come.

Instead, it saw him more often on the sidelines wearing a sling than on the field commanding an offence. As a result, there were some whispers labeling him as injury prone.

Fair or not, Tate refused to bite, stating that he won’t even use removing that label as motivation for success in 2013.

“I have enough motivation intrinsically; I don’t need anybody to tell me I’m injury-prone. My focus though is to have a healthy 2013, and a productive one at that,” he said.

To make matters more difficult for Tate, the Stampeders didn’t miss a beat in his absence, as veteran backup Kevin Glenn stepped in wonderfully, leading the Stamps to a 12-6 record and a berth in the Grey Cup.

There’s a common belief in sports that you don’t lose your starting job due to injury, an idea that Stamps head coach and GM John Hufnagel stayed true to last season, as he anointed Tate his starter for the Western Semi-Final.

Nevertheless, Tate says he still has to be on his toes.

“My biggest comparison is Wally Pipp. Do you know who Wally Pipp is? Wally Pipp was the first baseman for the Yankees. He took a day off and then Lou Gehrig jumped in and played 2,200 straight games,” he began.

"In this business, and especially when I got hurt early, you can lose your job to injury. You can lose your job on any day of the week. This is a performance-based entertainment system and you’ve got to produce. If you don’t, then you’re out.