New franchise quarterback Cody Fajardo will not be under centre when the Montreal Alouettes open their preseason against the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday.
“You won’t see Cody, you won’t see a ton of our veterans. We’re going to keep a lot of guys home, we’re going to bring a lot of our young guys to play, guys that have no CFL experience. They need the work, they need the experience of a CFL game,” head coach Jason Maas told the media in Montreal.
“The veterans that are here most likely aren’t going. There’s a few of them that we want to go because they may be playing different positions this year and we want to test them out and make sure they’re suitable to that and give them an extra game-like opportunity but someone like Cody absolutely will not play.”
Maas was complimentary of how the team’s other three quarterbacks have performed during training camp thus far. Caleb Evans threw for 2,580 yards, nine touchdowns, and 16 interceptions over the past two seasons with the Redblacks, while Davis Alexander dressed for 13 games with Montreal in a depth role in 2022. Mike Glass III, a former standout at Eastern Michigan University, has no previous CFL experience.
“They’ve all done a very good job all throughout camp. There’s things that each of them need to improve upon but ultimately when they’re under the lights and under the pressure of preseason is when they need to perform and then we’ll make our decisions based off of that,” said Maas.
“At the end of the day, they’re all going to have an opportunity to prove to us that they are worthy of that second job. Cody has solidified the first job, that’s non-negotiable in our eyes, but that second job? Absolutely. A guy can win it, they all know that, and that’s why they’re competing and doing the daily work that they’re doing.”
The Als will play their first preseason game on Friday, May 26 when they visit the Ottawa Redblacks at TD Place Stadium. The club’s second preseason game will take place on Friday, June 2 when they host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
