Photograph by: Ric Ernst, PNG
By Mike Beamish, Vancouver Sun
KAMLOOPS – Last year’s up and coming quarterback is now down and out for the B.C. Lions.
Second-year player Travis Partridge, who last season looked like he might be a keeper, was one of eight players released Sunday by head coach Jeff Tedford as the Canadian Football League team pared its training camp roster to the mandated limit of 65 (excluding non-counters).
Nickelback Torri Williams, who dressed for 16 games last season, and defensive back Derrick Morgan, running back Brendan Bigelow, offensive linemen John Estes and Kaycee Ike, defensive lineman Alex King and receiver Reggie Jordan were also let go. Jordan, a late addition to camp, played college football with Partridge at Missouri Western.
In a pitched battle with rookies Jon Jennings and Greg McGhee for a roster spot, Partridge is another classic example of a young quarterback unable to keep pace with the development timeline set out for him. Chris Hart (2014) and Corey Leonard (2012) were other developing quarterbacks of recent vintage who didn’t last past their second Lions’ training camp.
The turnover of head coaches from Mike Benevides to Tedford and changes in offensive philosophy also didn’t work to his advantage, although Partridge insisted he didn’t feel extra pressure, being a holdover player forced to prove himself again under a new regime.
“I don’t think there’s any added pressure because there’s a new coaching staff,” he said. “It’s a new system, but I know about (CFL) defences a little more (as a second-player player).”
Partridge dressed for 14 games last season as the team’s third quarterback and saved his best for last, throwing for two touchdown passes after relieving starter Kevin Glenn in a 53-17 East Division semi-final blowout loss to the Montreal Alouettes.
Unfortunately, he was unable to build on that modest success in his second camp, with Jennings and McGhee, two of Tedford’s recruits, looking more the part of what the noted quarterback guru wanted.
Though the Lions failed to score a touchdown in Friday’s 20-6 preseason defeat in Calgary, Jennings put up decent, if not spectacular numbers, showed poise, defensive recognition and the ability to handle and elude the kind of pressure he’ll face in the CFL. He completed five of 11 passes for 116 yards, one of them a 62-yard pass to Terence Jeffers-Harris, a late addition who has stood out in camp.
“Some good things happened, and some not-so-good things happened,” Jennings explained. “But it’s all learning material. I was glad to go out there and show I could make a couple of plays. But there’s some things I need to work on as well.”
Partridge completed two of four passes for a cumulative three yards against the Stampeders. He was intercepted on his second play from scrimmage, evidence that he was forcing the ball and likely aware of falling behind Jennings and McGhee. Interceptions had also bedeviled Partridge in training camp.
Jennings, just 22, graduated from Saginaw Valley State in 2013 as the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s player of the year, throwing for 31 touchdowns and running for 12 more. Those eye-popping stats earned him invites to mini-camps with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions and a workout with the Green Bay Packers.
“I had a blessed career in Saginaw,” Jennings said. “I didn’t have any injuries. None. Not like high school.”
Jennings grew up in Columbus, Ohio and went to Westerville South, the same school that produced former Lions receiver Nick Moore, now with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and his older brother, Lance Moore, an NFL veteran receiver who has moved on to Detroit.
He broke his ankle and elbow in his sophomore year of high school, played safety in his junior year and fractured his collarbone as a senior quarterback, completing just half a season. That spotty participation record partly explains why Jennings ended up at an NCAA Division II school, where he excelled.
During his 43-game career with the Cardinals, he threw for 10,710 yards and 96 touchdowns.
With the Lions, Jennings is seen as more than just a developmental quarterback. Tedford has declared the backup position behind Travis Lulay to be “wide open.” In addition, Lulay’s history of shoulder troubles could transform his backup pivot into the starter, as it did last season with Glenn.
“It’s very interesting,” Jennings agreed. “I’ve always prided myself on being ready for the next opportunity. I’m just trying to be ready to help this team any way I can.”
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