Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca
James Franklin stood in the area of his locker stall on Thursday night, holding a small court with a handful of reporters in Guelph.
Behind him and the scrum stood James Wilder Jr., the Toronto Argonauts’ star running back. iPhone drawn, an Instagram story was unfolding.
The area Franklin occupied had shifted as he spoke and eventually the stall to his right had become inaccessible. As Wilder gleefully pointed out, that stall belonged to Ricky Ray. Wilder turned the phone behind him to a shirtless Ray, who squirmed when he got into the picture.
It will mark the only time this season that Franklin, considered the brightest rising star in the league almost since he got onto the CFL’s horizon in 2015, will supplant the legendary quarterback in any capacity.
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“Obviously the goal is to be the one, but that’s definitely not happening,” Franklin would say in the scrum.
Argos head coach Marc Trestman made it clear throughout the off-season, from the second that Ray decided he’d be returning for his 17th season in early February, that Ray would be the starter this year and that nothing could change that.
And with that, with Franklin acquired almost two months prior from Edmonton then signed to a two-year deal, it was widely assumed that Franklin would be the team’s backup until Ray retired.
That No. 2 job, it turns out, is not as etched in stone as the No. 1 job.
“We’re going to look at the tape, we’ll put everything together out of camp,” Trestman said of all of the position battles over the past three weeks, including his quarterbacks.
“We’re not going to let one three-hour period make that decision for us. It’s part of that decision, certainly but it’s not all of it. A lot goes into these things and a lot of time talking about the guys each and every day and we’re going to do it again (Friday and through the weekend).”
His second pre-season game complete — a less-than-impressive 9-14, 72-yard, one touchdown performance — Franklin doesn’t know just how far he stands behind Ray. Nor does McLeod Bethel-Thompson. The two flip-flopped starts in the pre-season games, with Franklin getting the nod on Thursday night.
“Whatever they decide after that you have to be good with, be respectful and make sure you’re not trying to be selfish and make it about you,” Franklin said.
If Franklin’s not thinking it — he said all of the team-first, not-about-me things a coach would hope he’d say in this situation — anyone that’s followed his CFL career will be. The most coveted backup QB in the league over the last few years, who could have tested free-agency waters in February to explore being a starter on another team, could end up a third-stringer on his new team.
Will he be OK with that?
“Yeah, yes sir,” Franklin said to the question on Thursday night.
“That’s what I think is really funny about the hype is, I haven’t said anything like I’m going to be the next great (anything).
“So many people have speculated just because when I have gotten in I was fortunate enough that things have gone well and I did well. So, it is very exciting and it’s great that a lot of fans or a lot of people think that.
“I know the kind of player I want to be. I know the kind of player I’m trying to be. Hopefully one day if I can be a starter I hope I can be successful but there’s no way to predict that. If I do end up being a three I just have to be patient and not get frustrated about it because it’s not going to change anything.”
Thursday night’s game provided very little overwhelming evidence of which way Trestman might lean on the backup job. Franklin’s longest completion was 17 yards, though the rounded edges of the Guelph Gryphons’ end zone likely cost him a touchdown completion in the first quarter. Franklin also had a ball slip out of his hands that should have been intercepted, but somehow bounced off of a REDBLACKS’ defender and onto the turf.
Bethel-Thompson’s longest play was a 63-yard touchdown pass to former Gryphon receiver Alex Charette. He finished the night making 5-9 passes for 90 yards with a pair of interceptions to go with the touchdown.
Both quarterbacks had a simple playbook to work with, Trestman said, and one that was handoff-heavy.
“A very, very pared down, very simple game plan for us,” Trestman said.
“Part of it was we wanted to be able to find out some things about our running game and our offensive linemen to be able to get a good look. It’s particular guys to run particular plays just to see how they would do at the point of attack.
“James has had plenty of opportunities in practice. He’s gotten plenty of reps and so has McLeod. Whether he got five more passes or five more runs really in our case wouldn’t be indicative of everything we think he could be.”
As of Thursday night, Trestman said he had no definitive answers on who was ahead, or closest to being behind Ray.
“I really can’t answer that right now,” Trestman said. “I don’t think they hurt it. I don’t know how much they helped it.”
Franklin’s career has been built on patience. In Edmonton, playing behind MOP Mike Reilly, Franklin did less than the average backup, since Reilly handles his own short-yardage and has stayed in through many lopsided games (if you ever want to see Twitter angst, watch how fast Esks fans type out their worst fears in the late stages of a big Edmonton win or loss). He waited through three years of wait-for-2018 and now that it’s finally here, it’s very possible that he could end up taking a step back.
“Patience is not easy but I mean, that’s the only thing you can do is wait,” he said on Thursday.
Toronto could prove to be the greatest test of Franklin’s career yet, though not in the way he thought it would.
