Milanovich on Mitchell's benching: 'Bo has handled it tremendously well'
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If the 2-7 Hamilton Tigers-Cats are going to turn their season around it will likely be with Taylor Powell leading the way.
The 25-year-old quarterback will get the start ahead of veteran Bo Levi Mitchell on Saturday against the Edmonton Elks.
Mitchell was benched in favour of Powell in the first half of Saturday's loss to the Montreal Alouettes. The 34-year-old pivot, who signed a three-year contract with the Ticats ahead of the 2023 season, took to Instagram on Wednesday to poke fun at his demotion. Mitchell posted a picture of his daughters' lemonade stand with the caption, "when you lose your job and your girls start a lemonade stand to help out."
Tiger-Cats head coach Scott Milanovich praised Mitchell's handling of the demotion on Thursday, noting he wished the season had played out differently.
"I have a ton of respect for Bo and he tried everything he could to get it the way I wanted it and it just didn't work out," head coach Scott Milanovich said. "I feel badly for him and I hoped it would work out differently. I have been on the other of it [getting pulled] and most of the guys in here have at some point. I discussed it briefly with the group. It's a tight quarterback room and they're always pulling for each other. But it's hard. I don't know what Bo mean by it [the Instagram post] but I did see it as well.
"All those things are difficult - his family starts hearing things and his girls start hearing things. That's kinda the bad part of this business. It's inevitable in everybody's career that it's going to happen. I think we all wish it didn't happen this year. I'm also in charge of doing what's best of the business."
Mitchell struggled with injuries during his first season in Hamilton last year, throwing for 1,031 yards with nine touchdowns and six interceptions. The two-time Grey Cup champion and the two-time CFL Most Outstanding Player has thrown for 2,522 yards with 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions over nine games this season.
Powell in the spotlight for Tiger-Cats
Powell looked solid in his first real look of the season, completing 30 his 38 pass attempts for 319 yards and touchdowns.
The Eastern Michigan product made his CFL debut in 2023, throwing for 2,283 yards with 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions over 16 appearances.
"He's always been accurate. The reps he got last year were invaluable just from an understanding of CFL coverage and the mechanisms, getting motions, calling plays, understanding hot [reads], getting the looks - all those things were invaluable," head coach Scott Milanovich told the media on Wednesday. "And then this year we got to put in an offence that I'm familiar with and hit it from the start through training camp. He's just that much quicker getting on to the next progression. He's in early, I don't know what time he's in here, 5am or 5:30am, he's always studying and always getting extra work. From the professional stand point that was never an issue with him. He now has a better understanding of what to study and what to look at, he has a better understanding of what I'm looking at. Just a higher percentage chance that we're going to be on the same page come game day."