Last week, the Redblacks took on the Toronto Argonauts at BMO field in Toronto, unlike the rest of Ottawa’s games the quarterback under center had been William Arndt.
Arndt started the season as the 3rd string quarterback of the team, but as the season developed and our playoff chances getting slimmer he started to get higher up in the depth chart and gaining playing time. Going into last week’s game, the Redblacks needed a miracle to stay in the playoff hunt and sat at 3-11. As the team began to lose chances at the overall goal of every season at the Grey Cup, they started looking at the smaller things. The team took a look at what they have for the future, and they’ve decided to get the future to show their potentials now.
William Arndt is one of many players a part of the future, he’s been in the organization for just over 2 seasons and has one more year on his rookie contract with the Redblacks. With the Redblacks, Arndt only got closing time up until last week’s start in Toronto, therefore the Redblacks management were curious to see what he had for them in 0-0 game.
In Arndt’s first career start, he carried the Redblacks to multiple up and down situations which held the breath of most Redblacks fans watching, which means he kept them in the game. For the first quarter or so, Arndt performed well throwing the ball for over 50 yards on 6 completions holding the Redblacks to a close 3-3 tie, although that was not for long.
Just in the second quarter it self, the Argos scored two touchdowns while stopping Arndt and the Redblacks to just 29 passing yards with a 17-3 Argos’ lead at half.
Down 14 with just 30 minutes of regulation left, the Redblacks were in need of a spark, and they got it!
After throwing for just 84 yards in half one, Arndt was back firing it in the second half. He threw for his first two touchdowns of his career along with 204 yards passing which expanded his numbers on the day to 288 yards and 2 touchdowns.
After his first start, Arndt’s numbers on his short career now sit at a 61% completion percentage with 478 passing yards to go under his two touchdowns.
Arndt will be starting this week as the Redblacks face off against the Hamilton Tiger Cats in Hamilton on Saturday.
Although Arndt looks to be our future, we also have other quarterbacks on the roster and in free agency this off-season.
Going into the 2020 CFL season, the Redblacks quarterbacks would contain of Dominique Davis and William Arndt.
With Davis and Arndt the only quarterbacks under contract for next season, the Redblacks might be in the hunt for a quarterback this off-season. This season the Redblacks also played under no offensive coordinator, therefore a Quarterback and OC are most likely going to find themselves signing an Ottawa Redblacks contract this off-season.
JZ MEDIA 