Jun
Lulay sticks, Leo transactions
Courtesy Vancouver Province:
There is a component to Travis Lulay’s job that does not change regardless of the size of the field, shape of ball or national anthem played before the game. It seems simple: If the receiver is open you throw to him. Just try putting it into practice.
What the 25-year-old quarterback from suburban Salem, Ore., did during his two preseason stints with the B.C. Lions is not supposed to happen.
Quarterbacks with a four-down upbringing usually go into convulsions the first time they see the offensive motion that is part of the CFL game. They call timeouts before breaking the huddle and take time-count penalties when they get over centre.
But all Lulay did was make the Lions coaches smirk, look at each other and wonder if they truly have stumbled into another find.
On a list of most pleasant discoveries from training camp, the well-spoken redhead was clearly at the top. The reward was not being told he was cut when the Lions gathered their flock of rookies Wednesday at the Surrey compound.
That misfortune fell to 11 others (see chart) but not Lulay nor Zac Champion. The promise of the two quarterbacks prompted coach Wally Buono to say Wednesday that both will be on the club’s final 46-man roster.
Partly due to playing a similar wide-open style in college at Montana State, Lulay arguably has looked more comfortable at this stage than any other grass-green quarterback ever discovered since Wally Buono’s arrival. He threw two touchdown passes in six possessions and had chances for two others on the final play of each exhibition game.
Lulay takes the compliment, though he is compelled to present some facts. “I do have some pro experience, you know,” he said politely. But it’s hard to pinpoint where that actually took place.
He first signed with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks in 2006 but was cut at the end of training camp. Seattle allocated him to NFL Europe in 2007 but he never finished his season with the Berlin Thunder due to a shoulder injury.
A trial with the New Orleans Saints last year lasted just two months and his NFL career seemed over. But he was having dinner at a steakhouse in Missoula, Mont., one night last fall, when the Seahawks called again. By the following afternoon, he was running scout-team drills in Seattle.
Somewhere in there during his eight-game career as a pro pivot he developed an ability to see the field and decide quickly where the ball should be headed, which also includes while on the run.
Lulay scrambled for success during the Lions preseason in a manner not unlike Casey Printers, and it was no fluke either based on his ability to do the same thing at college.
Lulay ran for 1,446 yards during his four years at Montana State. Printers, by comparison, has 1,334 yards in five seasons of his currently stalled CFL career.
“Sometimes you feel a little robotic in games south of the border,” said Lulay. “The field being bigger [in the CFL] lends itself to a guy being a little more creative. The formations, motions and extra guy are different, but a lot of the passing concepts are similar. You have to break it down to what you need to see on a given play.”
If the early prognosis suggests that Lulay is a fit with the Lions and that he has finally found the right team at the right time, it didn’t hurt him to try and make a fast impression with his teammates.
Rather than being forced into taking part in an annual training camp ritual, he volunteered to sing in front of veterans before one meeting recently. Lulay then went on the field and won a few more friends.
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ROSTER ROULETTE
Current roster: 54
Cuts: WR Otis Amey, TB Damian Sims, DB Trestin George, DLs Caesar Rayford, Kyle Mitchell, Melik Brown, OL Darren Marquez, ST Josh Bean, ST Mike McEachern, LS David Mills, OL Matt Morencie.
To nine-game injured list: LG Jon Hameister-Reis.
New Lions: DBs William Heyward, Darren Toney, LBs Courtney Smith, James Yurichuk, DTs Jonathan Williams, Gary Butler, WR Emmanuel Arceneaux, TBs Martell Mallett, Emmanuel Marc, K/P Sean Whyte.
Offered practice roster spot: TB Andrew Harris, WR Matt Carter, S Tang Bacheyie, WR Terence Scott, TB Damian Sims, OL Bobby Singh.
