Elks’ Ford stayed ready for shot to start

After having no choice but to sit and watch his team go winless over the first eight weeks of the season, Tre Ford says he is determined to make the most of his chance to be the No. 1 quarterback for the Edmonton Elks.

The 26-year-old out of the University of Waterloo is in his third year with the team, but has only seen spot duty as the club’s starter despite a solid record behind centre.

He led the Elks to their only four wins last year, but entered this season as the backup after the club brought in veteran pivot McLeod Bethel-Thompson to start.

“It is obviously frustrating when you are expecting to come in and start,” Ford said this week. “Then you find out you were replaced…as for staying ready, I just continue to prepare the same – as if I’m the starter. That way I always stay ready and don’t have to get ready.”

Ford led the Elks to a thrilling 42-31 win in Saskatchewan in Week 9, the team’s first victory of the year. He passed for 252 yards and two touchdowns and also rushed for 46 yards, including a couple of plays where receiver Geno Lewis said Ford “went into video-game mode.”

“It's definitely a confidence booster for myself and our offence and team in general, to be able to go put up 42 points on them in their own house,” Ford said.

Despite the stellar performance, Ford was in self-critique mode, trying to pinpoint the little things he could have done better as Edmonton (1-7) prepares to host the BC Lions (5-3) on Sunday.

“Maybe sticking on a route too long instead of going to the next one,” he said, of what he wants to improve. “Sometimes, it's the other way. It's, ‘Oh, I got off this too fast.’…Early on in the game, I pulled a little [run-pass option], and I missed the throw a little bit. I had a weird grip on the ball. I should have taken an extra half second to get a good grip on the ball and throw it to [Elks receiver Kurleigh Gittens Jr.].”

Lewis, who has been with the Elks the past two years, has seen Ford’s evolution.

“He's seeing the field in a slow manner,” Lewis said, referring to Ford reading defences more thoroughly instead of using his legs right away. He also added that Ford’s preparation is “completely different” to last season.

“I also give a lot of credit to that with him having [Bethel-Thompson],” Lewis said.

Ford also spoke about the impact of being teammates with Bethel-Thompson, who has been willing to teach Ford despite no longer being the starter.

“There’s been X’s and O’s things that schematically, questions when I have – whether it's reads on certain plays, whatever it is, X’s and O’s or football,” Ford said of their dynamic in the quarterback room. 

Ford said the biggest thing he’s learned from Bethel-Thompson has been when to improvise and when to stick to the gameplan.

“It is the offensive coordinator’s offence, but at the same time, your offensive coordinator can't be on the field,” Ford explained.

Ford said he believes there are some misperceptions about the type of player he is. The Niagara Falls, Ont., native made it clear that despite his scrambling and running ability, he views himself as a pocket passer and not a gadget-type quarterback. 

“I feel like I can make all the throws, and I feel like I can make the reads,” Ford said. “A lot of other pocket-passing quarterbacks in the league, when [the pocket breaks down], that play turns into a sack, right? And boom. Now you're in second and long…I run around, maybe we're able to get the first down, or at least get eight, nine yards and then you're in second and short. And then, I make three, four people miss in the backfield.

“Everybody sees that play, because it goes on TSN highlights or CFL highlights [and say], ‘All he does is run.’ I'm like, ‘Yeah, you can say what you want, but any other quarterback would have been a sack.’”

Before he was named the starter this season, Ford had a conversation with former Elks head coach and general manager Chris Jones where he said he wanted the chance to throw the ball more from the pocket instead of just use his legs. TSN has referenced the conversation on broadcasts this year. Ford brushed it off as a quick, cordial chat, but a perception came out in the media and online that he wasn’t a team-first player. Jones was fired on July 15 after the club lost its first five games of the year. 

Interim head coach Jarius Jackson, who was the offensive coordinator at the time of that conversation, has publicly commended Ford’s ability to throw the ball. 

“I saw a lot of improvement out of him with his pocket awareness and keeping his eyes down the field,” Jackson said of Ford’s play last week.

Ford’s old Waterloo Warriors coaches strongly dispute any notion that he’s not a team guy. Ford was the 2021 Hec Creighton winner as the country’s top U Sports football player.

Warriors head coach Chris Bertoia said that Ford is the type of guy who in college, “would play beer pong at team parties with water, then stay until 2 a.m. to make sure everyone got home safely.”

“He gave my wife a jersey that he signed and autographed saying thank you to her for letting me be a father figure and mentor to him, and thank you for all the sacrifices you do as a coach's wife,” Bertoia said. “That puts it in a little nutshell as to what kind of guy he is.”

The biggest challenge the Warriors coaching staff said they had with Ford was convincing him that he didn’t have to do it all on every play. 

“Early on, he played like a linebacker, so he would drop his shoulder on guys,” said Tony Chris, a long-time member of the Warriors coaching staff. 

“We're going, ‘Our whole franchise just dropped his shoulder on a 220-pound linebacker. You can't do that. Get out of bounds.’ It was so hard to convince him, because he wanted to be that guy, and he wanted to show the offensive line that he was a tough guy.”

Those who know Ford’s ability well say he is only scratching the surface of what he can be in the CFL. Chris compared him to the WNBA’s Caitlin Clark as athletes who can get people to come to games because of how exciting they are to watch.

“The CFL needs that,” Chris said. “He can be that kind of a guy, him and Nathan Rourke. They can energize the whole league and get people in the stands again.”

Lewis said that once his quarterback’s arm catch up with his feet, the possibilities will be limitless.

“You want Tre to get to the point where he's just as scary with his legs as he is with his arm,” Lewis said. “If he gets to that position, the sky’s the limit for him because of what he brings to the table and the kind of athlete he is.”