American QB adjusting to 3-down game
Running in open field on a secondand-eight play on Labour Day, Windsor Lancers quarterback Jalen Brady knew he was nearing the first-down marker but was also aware of the ornery bunch of Guelph Gryphons defenders closing down on him fast, so his selfpreservation skills kicked in and he did a hook slide for a six-yard gain.
Getting up and dusting himself off, Brady was at first shocked to see Windsor’s punt team headed on to the field but then it dawned on him. He’s not in Michigan anymore. “He did that against Western (in the season opener) as well,” Windsor coach Joe D’Amore said of Brady occasionally forgetting in the heat of the moment that he’s now playing three-down football. “He’s still kind of learning that.” Early into his OUA football career, it’s about the only flaw evident in Brady’s transition to Canadian football after a life lived in the fourdown game.
“He’s very smooth there,” D’Amore said. “He’s very comfortable. You could tell he’s been playing quarterback for a long time, since he was a kid.
“That’s the difference sometimes in the American kids. They start from when they are five. They grow up in the pocket, so to speak, and they’re comfortable there.”
Leading 1-1 Windsor to a 33-29 victory over the Gryphons, at the time the No. 6-ranked team in the CIS, Brady completed 18 of 28 passes for 249 yards and a touchdown. He also ran 10 times for 37 yards.
From Lansing, Mich., after a solid high school career in Southfield, Brady was pursued by several NCAA schools and finally settled on Northern Michigan. But his decision to transfer to Windsor was all about family.
“My aunt Rose, she passed away a few years ago and she always wanted me and my brother Jordan Kelly to play together,” Brady explained.
Kelly is a first-year Lancers defensive back from Gilbert, Ariz.
“Once the opportunity came, my brother and I came here and I said, ‘This is where I’m going to be,’ ” Brady said. “The coaches are great.
“It just came together and we came here to play.”
Brady is the first to admit that the adjustment hasn’t been as smooth as glass. The defensive schemes, the reads, are entirely different in Canada to what he’s accustomed to in American ball.
“I’m still getting used to it,” Brady said. “(A 78-6 season-opening loss at) Western was a wake-up call for me with the field being so wide.
“In practice it’s just about repping. Throwing from the field to the opposite hash. Throwing from the opposite hash to the other side of the field. “Just getting comfortable.” The Lancers, who play Saturday at York against the Lions (1-1), believe Brady’s learning curve is proving to be a rapid one, though.
“I think he’s only going to get better,” D’Amore said. “He’s still young in the sense of understanding where you are on the field and when to take chances and when to just cover up.
“I think he’s going to start throwing the ball downfield more, taking more chances. Right now he’s being very conservative. He’s got a high completion percentage, which is not a bad thing. Sooner or later we’re going to have to start pushing the ball downfield more to open up the run game a bit.”
Brady and Kelly are two of five American-born players on the Windsor roster this season and all are contributing in different fashion. Kelly had a tackle in the Guelph win. Defensive back Lekan Idowu from Houston scored on a 62-yard pick six. First-year receiver Gjervon Williams from Detroit’s Cass Tech caught four passes for 63 yards. Wideout Cassell Jones from Lansing, Mich., caught two passes and returned three punts.
“It’s a different recruiting tool for us,” D’Amore said. “The one thing about the Americans we have, they’re very team oriented.
“In the past, maybe some of them have been kind of selfish, coming here, looking for their own selfdevelopment, but these guys have been team all the way since they’ve been here. We’re hoping down the road we can add some more guys, guys that want to buy in.” Guys like Brady. “He was very excited about coming here,” D’Amore said. “He was all in from the get go.
“We’re going to just keep getting better as he gets better.”
After all, the last football team to get a quarterback named Brady from Michigan has done OK.