Looking at Jason Boltus' numbers at the NFL Combine, I see an Adam Tafralis type athlete. Boltus ran a 4.83 (5th best), bench press 26 reps(1st), vertical jump 31.5" (7th), broad jump 9'3" (5th), 3 cone drill 7.00 sec. (4th), 20 yard shuttle 4.47 sec. (11th).
Keeping in mind that there were 20 quarterbacks at the combine, the 6'3" 225 Hartwick College signal caller must have raised a few eyebrows with his performances. His video on the NFL website shows a strong arm and a tight spiral. Being from a small college, maybe the CFL game is perfect for his needs and maybe ours.This could be an interesting story to follow. Thanks to Ron for his fine contributions as usual.
My thinking is that Meyer is now going to be chopped, pre-camp. Meyer apparently worked out for the Ticats at their LA free agent camp this past weekend. But if he really impressed Bellefuelle at that juncture, why would the Ticats now also sign Boltus?
By the way, Boltus' bench press numbers are off the charts for a QB. This is a big, strong kid.
Obie is turning the competition for the 3 and 4 QB spots into a war.
Porter and Glenn are assured of making it barring injury. After that, I have no idea. Boltus, Betts, Meyer, Clement, Tafralis.... who knows what any of them can really do? I guess that's what training camp is for.
Jason Boltus played NCAA Division III football and has less polish and experience than the quarterbacks he would be competing with if he signs with the Ticats. That said, his 134 TD passes and over 13,000 passing yards during his four year college career are impressive.
Boltus started with Albany in 1-AA, but they changed coaches and went to a more run-oriented offence, so he transferred to Hartwick to avoid sitting out a year. He had a lot of NFL teams interested at draft time, and there were lots of questions why he didn't get selected OR signed as a free-agent.
He looks a lot like Porter in terms of size and arm strength, and he has some legs, so he would be a good pick-up...agree that he will take some work, but could be a reasonable practice roster guy.
Maybe one quarterback will be released prior to training camp but the best option may be to bring the three quarterbacks who have never played in the CFL (Josh Betts, Eric Meyer and Jason Boltus) to the rookie camp on June 3rd and see how they perform in head-to-head competition. The best one or two quarterbacks in rookie camp would then join Quinton Porter, Kevin Glenn and Adam Tafralis at the regular training camp commencing on June 7th.
What I find funny is that you hear these young QBs say that they will sign in the CFL to get experience.
Guess what everyone.
Porter is one.
Glenn is two.
The rest will fight for 3rd string.
Hardly a lot of experience to be collected.
Wonder why he couldn't even get a tryout with an NFL team, seems to have some talent in his favor. Lets hope the NFL has over looked him for now. A young QB can ride the pines and hope for a chance to get into a game and impress someone. Often getting into a game is only one hit away.
He has the arm strength, did well at the combine, it can only mean that he is not an accurate passer and doesnt read defences fast enough and those are the 2 most important things at the pro level the next being pocket awareness.