Bo Levi Mitchell takes aim at his 100th career regular-season victory when the quarterback’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats face the host Calgary Stampeders in the season opener for both teams on Saturday.
Mitchell will be making his 141st career start and would be fastest in league history to reach 100 with a victory. The current mark is held by Ron Lancaster, who reached 100 wins in his 149th start.
Mitchell is aware of the upcoming milestone but is more interested in getting Hamilton off to a good start as he goes up against his former team. Mitchell, 35, starred for Calgary from 2012-22 and led the franchise to two Grey Cup titles (2014, 2018) and twice was the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player (2016, 2018).
Hamilton was just 7-11 last season despite a league-high 5,451 passing yards from Mitchell. He tossed 32 touchdown passes for the Tiger-Cats, who last won the Grey Cup in 1999.
“There is no rebuilding in the CFL because there is so much movement in the league,” Mitchell said. “When you are playing for this team and this city, you hear all the murmurs about 1999. Our job is to go out and be the next group (to win it).”
Mitchell began his college career at SMU and later starred for Eastern Washington in 2010-11. One of his teammates was Vernon Adams Jr., who took over as starting quarterback in 2012 and enjoyed three big seasons before finishing his career at Oregon.
Adams, 32, is entering this 10th CFL season and his first one with Calgary. He passed for 2,929 yards for the BC Lions last season while hampered by a knee injury, one year after posting career highs of 4,769 yards and 31 touchdowns.
“I’m excited for the opportunity for the guys, the team and the organization to get out and put on a good show,” Adams said. “And that’s what we intend to do.”
Revamped Calgary is looking to bounce back from a 5-12-1 record, which ended a dazzling streak of 18 straight playoff appearances.
“We’ve had to put it behind us. It’s easier because there’s really not a lot of guys here from that team,” Calgary coach Dave Dickenson said. “We don’t even really talk about it. We understand history is history and it’s certainly something that’ll always be there for the guys that were (here) in 2024, but it’s certainly a big-time different team.”
–Field Level Media
