“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success” – Napoleon Hill
The three P’s didn’t work out too well for Logan Kilgore, who finally gave up on the dream last year.
After patiently waiting for several years to play quarterback at the pro level, Kilgore was ready to move on. He helped coach his junior college football team in Bakersfield, Calif., last season and was looking for coaching opportunities this past winter when the Eskimos invited the 29-year-old pivot to this year’s training camp.
Kilgore won the backup job and then waited for another 11 games before finally getting a chance to play quarterback in a CFL game for the first time since Oct. 2, 2016, when starter Trevor Harris had to come out of Edmonton’s last game against the Calgary Stampeders on Sept. 7.
“You never want that scenario to happen,” said Kilgore, whose only previous appearances on the field this season were to spot the ball on field goals and converts for kicker Sean Whyte. “With that being said, you’ve got to be ready, and that’s part of the job (as the backup QB). That’s why I take the (repetitions in practice) seriously. That’s why we’re in here all the hours of the day. You’ve got to prepare yourself mentally (to play) for 11 weeks and, in the 12th week, maybe it’s your turn to go in. You’ve got to be ready to go in.”
Now he needs to be patient and prepared to play once again when the 6-6 Eskimos play host to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 9-3, at 7:30 p.m. Friday at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.
The Eskimos are evaluating Harris, who has been dealing with an upper-body injury for a few weeks, on a day-to-day basis.
“Ultimately, we know rest is what’s going to heal this,” said Head Coach Jason Maas. “We’re trying to afford him as much opportunity as possible.”
That means Kilgore is likely to get a lot of work in practice before this week’s game.
“I think it helps everybody,” Maas said. “When you hear the cadence from the next quarterback, it also helps the O-line, helps the running back, helps the (receivers), helps the operation. With him being able to call the plays and get all the reps, that’s huge. The reason our starters get the majority of our reps is so they get comfortable with the game plan in and out.
“When you’re facing a team like Hamilton, which does some really good things in their secondary and the front seven, all those reps are necessary,” Maas continued. “If Trevor isn’t going to be able to play, it’s nice to know Logan will be out there and ready to play and already has a game under his belt.”
Maas was impressed with what Kilgore accomplished against the Stampeders considering that he had only 20 reps in the Eskimos’ lone practice during a short week between games in their annual mid-season home-and-home series with Calgary.
“To be able to do what he did (in that situation) was very good,” Maas said. “He wasn’t expected to play in the game, so even though we always say the quarterbacks are prepared to play, it’s a lot different when your number gets called. But I loved his poise, and I liked a lot of the things he did on the field. He was very precise with his decision-making. He let the ball rip when it was there. He threw the ball well.
“Communication in the huddle, communication doing our offence, that’s the things we can be better at,” Maas added. “But that’s first time in there with live bullets flying. You’ve got to call it outright, call it out well and move people around.”
For his part, Kilgore, a native of Rocklin, Calif., said he’ll be preparing the same way this week as he always does.
“If my number is called, then I’ve got to be ready to go,” he said.
Kilgore said he tries to mimic Harris’s cadence as much as he can but realizes there will be small differences here and there. Fortunately, the veteran presence on the offensive line, at receiver and running back can help minimize any issues for an offence that relies upon a lot of pre-snap movement.
He also has a better understanding of the game – and why certain plays are called at certain times – from his brief coaching experience last year.
“Earlier in my career, you’re trying to memorize plays, and you’re trying to see concepts, and you’re trying to relate them into formations and things like that,” he said. “It’s a little bit more difficult to peel back the layers and see why are we calling this play?
“From the coaching aspect, you see different coverages, and then you’re calling a play because of that, not just hearing a play and coming into the huddle and diagnosing it and trying to memorize where everyone is going. That did help.”
In a flashback to the days when the recently retired Ricky Ray wore No. 15 for the Eskimos, Kilgore completed his first nine passes against Calgary for 105 yards. He finished with 21 completions on 28 pass attempts for 242 yards with one interception while rushing four times for five yards, including the first touchdown of his five-year CFL career on a one-yard plunge late in the game.
Kilgore last played quarterback for seven games with the Toronto Argonauts in 2016, posting back-to-back 300-yard passing games against the Ottawa RedBlacks and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Otherwise, he spent one game on Toronto’s game roster in 2014, the 2015 season on the Argos’ practice roster and six games as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats backup QB in 2017.
Despite his lack of recent playing time, Kilgore didn’t feel like he had any issues adapting to game speed against the Stampeders because of how fast the Edmonton defence plays every day during practice.
“I really think it helps us in the game,” he said. “To be honest with you, we fly around in practice, and they give us great looks. Nothing’s easy there.”
Kilgore also said that Maas’s game plan made it easy for him to step into the lineup in mid-game.
“There were a few throws in the third quarter that I feel sailed on me a little bit,” he said. “I wish I could have those ones back, for sure.
“But the (offensive line) did a great job all night. We had some guys in the right spots, we completed a lot of balls and were able to move the ball somewhat. Honestly, I felt calm. I felt great. We’re surrounded by a lot of talent on this team. You’ve seen the way we’ve been able to move the ball all year long.
“My mission was just to try to keep everybody calm and execute the offence. Early on, it felt like we were able to move the ball right down there and get a field goal. We would have liked to punch that in, but at the end of the day, we got some points on the board. And then those two drives to start the second half – just great calls and I missed a couple of throws (on deep passes to wide receiver DaVaris Daniels).”