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Brett Smith’s time as the Roughriders starting quarterback has come to an end, at least for now.
Interim head coach Bob Dyce announced on Tuesday that the team will be turning to veteran pivot Kevin Glenn on Saturday against the Ottawa Redblacks.
“He’s the head coach and I respect the decision. I guess my first thought was, how can be best the best teammate I can?” said Smith.
The 23-year-old admitted he was frustrated with the decision because as a player, you always want to play.
Smith won’t let that frustration get in the way of doing what he can to help Glenn and the rest of the team as they look to win their second game of the season this week.
After the Riders win in the Labour Day Classic, Smith said he knew this team belonged Darian Durant and Kevin Glenn, so perhaps he saw this decision coming.
“I just tried to have no preconceived notions of anything in regards to this. I just wanted to continue to keep pushing forward and do what I can as long as I’m in that starter and not try to guess or anything. You’ll drive yourself crazy doing that,” said Smith.
Dyce suggested that Smith would actually benefit from time as the team’s backup quarterback. Smith now has the opportunity to sit and watch Glenn operate the offence for a few weeks.
Smith plans on making the most of that opportunity, just like he did learning from Glenn the last six weeks.
As he recovered from injury, Glenn acted like the team’s quarterbacks coach as he worked with Smith and the other young gunslingers.
“I’m a give first type of person. My biggest thing was to help the guys. We have some young guys that were behind me. My first instinct was to help them,” said Glenn.
“I had a lot of help when I was first coming out. To try to give back was the first thing I thought of.”
Glenn admits the experience was a bit of a test run to see if he would like to be a coach after he retires.
Glenn will also be able to help Smith through this experience off the field, as returning to the bench is something Glenn has done a fair bit in his career.
“I was in Calgary, I played a whole season for a guy who was our starter. When he came back off of injury, they reinserted him and we were all ready to go,” said Glenn.
“At the quarterback position, you got to have a different mindset. We’re different because we know only one guy can play. Our biggest thing in that meeting room is we’re going to support whichever guy goes out there to play,” said Glenn.
As Smith’s first experience as a starting professional quarterback comes to an end, and he awaits the next one, Smith does feel he’s better off for the experience.
“I think I’m just more confident. It’s not a situation where I’m thrown into the fire (I won’t be) surprised like I was back against Hamilton. I’ll know what to expect.”
