Johany Jutras
CALGARY — From the Olympians he saw working out during his off-season training to some of the best quarterbacks that ever played, Bo Levi Mitchell is inspired by the greats.
The Calgary Stampeders’ starting quarterback had a busy off-season, getting married and adding a new puppy to the family to start off 2016 — by the end of it all still reaching his goal of dropping 20 pounds.
With a new CFL season upon us, Mitchell’s third as the Stamps’ starting quarterback, the 26-year-old Katy, Texas native has plenty of motivation. It starts with where he worked out, at Canadian Olympic Park in Calgary.
“It’s just different training next to Olympians,” said Mitchell, who said he spotted Canadian Olympic wrestler Erica Wiebe and two-time Olympic bobsledder and former CFL player Jesse Lumsden among others.
Some days it’s hard to motivate yourself at the gym, Mitchell added, but not after watching the world’s best athletes do it.
“You look over and see some Olympians lift and it motivates you right away,” he said. “Four of the decathletes were there and they train like crazy. And there’s a weightlifter, and this dude – he’ll work out for six straight hours. It’s insane. He’ll be on power clean for three hours and I’ll look at him and be like ‘how is he still going’.”
A leaner and 20 pounds lighter Bo Levi Mitchell looks on at Stamps camp (Stampeders.com)
It helped Mitchell keep going. Already a Grey Cup winner and Grey Cup Most Valuable Player, he’s always dedicated his time to staying in top shape. Earlier in his career, though, then-offensive coordinator Dave Dickenson told him he needed to gain weight to take the hits.
This off-season as Mitchell trained in Calgary with linebacker Deron Mayo, receiver Anthony Parker and former teammate, now Saskatchewan Roughrider Matt Walter, there was a renewed focus on fitness.
“I just felt last year I didn’t feel as mobile,” said Mitchell, who played at 195 to 200 pounds in college before reaching 208 his rookie season and then being asked to bulk up.
Mitchell said his weight never got out of control — he didn’t look like NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, he quipped — but he wasn’t as fit as he wanted to be.
“I wanted to change that and make sure that when it comes down to the fourth quarter, I’m not the guy that’s huffing and puffing,” he said. “I never felt that way, but at the same time I wanted to be a different animal this year.”
While some motivation came from Olympic athletes, it started with digging up tapes and watching old film of some of the best quarterbacks in CFL history – film Mitchell had no idea he could even access.
As he watched Doug Flutie and Warren Moon, who started throwing touchdown passes before he was even born, Mitchell came to a realization.
“If you look in the league over the past 10 years, the successful quarterbacks that are just strictly pocket passers are probably Calvillo and Ray, and those are two special guys,” said Mitchell. “In this league you’ve got to be mobile, you’ve got to be able to move around.
“Those are the quarterbacks that are having success right now and that’s just the way the CFL really is.”
Flutie of course could move around with the best of them. Mitchell flashed that kind of ability early in his career but last year saw his rushing attempts diminish from 35 in 2014 to 19 in 2015. He relied less on his legs and more on his arm.
“I wanted to change that and make sure that when it comes down to the fourth quarter, I’m not the guy that’s huffing and puffing.”
Bo Levi Mitchell
“Flutie, he was a guy that you don’t even understand some of the plays he made,” said Mitchell. “Sometimes he would just be running, three guys converging on him and he’d almost no-look just shovel it to his receiver and he’s taking it 15 yards downfield.
“That’s one of those Doug Flutie plays.”
Moon was another one he enjoyed watching – a quarterback he said could really push the ball downfield. And then of course there was his current head coach in Dickenson, also a former CFL great.
“I can see why he is the way he is coaching,” said Mitchell. “He’s a mastermind. You can tell the guy always knew exactly where he wanted to go with the ball.
“Didn’t have to have the big arm, just as soon as he got the ball in his hands he knew exactly where he wanted to go and he just put it there.”
Mitchell would’ve been 10 the last time Moon threw a pass, but going back and watching those three players has allowed him to raise the bar even higher.
“It’s just one of those things I found out I had access to and I definitely wanted to take advantage of,” said Mitchell.
“I’ve always been told to stand on the shoulders of those that came before you, so why not find those guys and find out what they did to be so great in this league?”
