Arthur Ward/CFL.ca
HAMILTON — After missing two weeks of game action, Tiger-Cats receiver Luke Tasker is ready to return to the field in Week 8.
Tasker was plagued with what he called a “lower body tear” that required three weeks – two games and a bye week – of rehab before he was back to game shape. The pass-catcher was dealing with the injury to start the season but aggravated it during Week 4’s contest in Saskatchewan against the Roughriders.
“It started small, very early on in the season,” Tasker said after practice on Monday. “I’ve played with these kinds of things before. Every injury is different. Sometimes you can work one back to health in the middle of the season. This one was certainly not that way. It was getting worse and worse. In our game in Sask before the bye week I kind of knew that we were going to have to do something about this.”
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Tasker has missed the last two weeks of action with a lower body injury (Adam Gagnon/CFL.ca)
Rashad Lawrence filled in Tasker’s spot while the veteran receiver took time off to heal. The Ticats rookie caught six passes for 38 yards in Week 6 against the Riders and caught two passes – including a spectacular one-handed grab – for 18 yards last week.
“Rashad (Lawrence) played well,” said Tasker. “He played really good and he’s going to play really good for us this year whenever he gets in, in whatever capacity.”
Despite Lawrence playing well, there is no substitute for the chemistry that Tasker and Jeremiah Masoli have built over the last few years. The Tiger-Cats offence, along with the five-foot-11, 189-pound receiver himself, are all looking forward to getting the connection back together as they eye a win in Montreal.
“(Masoli) and I have played together with multiple offences,” Tasker said. “Against all kinds of defences, all kinds of games, tough games and great wins and great losses. We are on the same page often.”
“I know Jeremiah looks for him,” head coach June Jones said. “Task does the right things. You don’t have those errors. But when you put new guys in who haven’t played you are basically putting in rookies.”
Backup quarterback Dane Evans also filled in for Tasker while he was rehabbing his injury, moving in as Lirim Hajrullahu’s holder for field goals.
“We’re going to have a contest who’s can get the fastest perfect hold,” Tasker laughed, when asked if he’d take back holder duties. “That’s up to Lirim. He can do whatever he wants. I’ll practice like I’m going to be back.
“When I came back from injury earlier in my career, that was with (Justin) Medlock, and he kept Coatsey (Matt Coates) out there. Sometimes they don’t want to go with so much switching back and forth. That’ll be up to him. I don’t care either way.”
Slowly working himself back into things this week is key for Tasker before he hits the field on Saturday against the Montreal Alouettes.
“Practice wise, yes,” he said, explaining if he has to ease back into things. “Just going to make sure I keep it under control in practice a little bit. Not get overly excited. I kind of got fresh legs coming back and you don’t want to go crazy. But once it’s game time, it’s game time. You can’t really play holding back anymore.”
