Jeremiah Masoli has suffered season-ending injuries in back-to-back seasons for the Ottawa Redblacks, leaving the team in quarterback purgatory.
The club has shuffled a number of other passers through the lineup during that time, though none have found sustainable success. Caleb Evans and Nick Arbuckle faltered, Dustin Crum showed his youth, and Tyrie Adams tore his ACL during his lone start.
It’s unclear what Ottawa will do with its quarterback situation heading into 2024, particularly with Masoli being owed a $100,000 roster bonus on Monday, Jan. 15. However, in the meantime, head coach Bob Dyce provided health updates on Masoli and Adams via videoconference with the media on Monday.
“I really don’t like to get into hypothesizing when guys are gonna be back. We had a situation with Jeremiah last year where we might have thought he might have been back a little bit earlier but you don’t know. These things sometimes take a little curve and things like that. Tyrie, possibly training camp? I don’t know that Jeremiah will. Maybe he is back for the opening of training camp but I don’t want to put a specific date on it.”
In November, Masoli indicated that he expects to return to 100 percent sometime in July or August. He also made it clear that he fully intends to continue his playing career despite his recent injury problems, which Dyce reiterated.
“Jeremiah’s an extremely competitive man and he has a great fire to go out on his terms as a high-level player and you would expect no less from Jeremiah. My two years with him, it’s regrettable he hasn’t been on the field as much as you would like but you could see the leadership skills and the desire,” said Dyce.
“At the end of the day, we’ll always have the outlook of the whole team to think about and we want to be successful and we want to win right now. It’s regrettable Jeremiah has been injured for the past two years and had some tough situations. We’ll see what happens with regards to that but I know he wants to go out and play and still has full confidence in himself. If you knew him, you would expect no less.”
Dyce seemed more cautiously optimistic regarding Adams’ rehabilitation, though he was sure to temper expectations. Many fans in Ottawa expected Masoli to be ready for the start of the 2023 season and were disappointed when he missed the first four games of the year after learning his recovery was slowed by a surgical infection.
“When Tyrie left, he was well ahead of schedule and things have progressed and stayed on that same pace, so I can’t sit here and say right now that he will be 100 percent for the opening of training camp, but we’ll see,” said Dyce.
“I wouldn’t be surprised but anytime there’s a major surgery like this, you can have a little hiccup. But Tyrie is doing very well in his rehab and if you would have seen him walk out of our building, you wouldn’t even have known he’d had major knee surgery.”
The Winnipeg native was also complimentary of Dustin Crum, who started 14 games for the Redblacks as a rookie this past season. He threw for 3,109 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions and ran the ball for 741 yards and nine touchdowns. He went 3-11 as a starter, tying him with Dominique Davis, Caleb Evans, and Nick Arbuckle for the most wins of any Redblacks quarterback since 2019.
“I’m very excited about Dustin and I’m excited to see his progress going into year two. When you look at where he started as the fourth string coming out of training camp and then having to start 14 games when all he probably thought he was going to do was the majority of scout reps, the way he handled that was outstanding. I think Dustin’s gonna play in this league and be a starter in this league for a long time,” said Dyce.
“He showed the leadership skills and he showed the competitive nature that you want out of your quarterback. Obviously, being thrown in there and kind of learning on the fly — as expected — had its ups and downs but I anticipate great growth from Dustin. Under the tutelage of (new offensive coordinator) Tommy (Condell), I think he’s gonna help his understanding of the game and grow. I’m really excited for what the future has for Dustin.”
Masoli, Adams, and Crum are all currently under contract through 2024, while Nick Arbuckle is a pending free agent. Tyrrell Pigrome and Jake Dunniway, both of whom filled depth roles last year, are also signed for the upcoming season.
