TORONTO — The Toronto Argonauts are handing the ball to back-up James Franklin this week, but the team's not quite ready to call him their No. 1 quarterback just yet.
Argos coach Marc Trestman announced Monday that Franklin will start Toronto's next game against the Edmonton Eskimos on Saturday in place of the injured Ricky Ray.
"We're not anointing him but he certainly deserves the chance to get a full week of practice in knowing that he's going to be the starting quarterback," Trestman said. "And we're not going to hide from that."
The 38-year-old Ray suffered a neck injury in the Argos' 41-7 home loss to the Calgary Stampeders during their last game on June 23. Toronto was on a bye week last week.
A CFL source told The Canadian Press last week that the veteran quarterback isn't planning to return to the Argos this year.
Trestman said Monday that Ray still has "some appointments to take care of. ... but he's going to be out for a while."
Ray was injured in the third quarter of the June 23 game after being sandwiched between Calgary defensive linemen Ja'Gared Davis and Cordarro Law. Play was halted for over 20 minutes as medical personnel treated Ray. He left the field on a stretcher with his head immobilized and was taken to a Toronto hospital. He was released the following Monday.
"He's been emotional about it, he's certainly disappointed," Trestman said of Ray. "He wants to be out there, he wants to be playing and now he's got a major setback. He's been through this before and I'm sure he'll work through it."
Franklin, who played for the Eskimos from 2015-2017, was 8-of-13 passing for 65 yards versus Calgary and scored the Argos' lone TD on a 10-yard run.
His first CFL start came against the Argos while playing for Edmonton.
"Now I'm with Toronto and potentially my first start will be against Edmonton so it's funny how that works out," Franklin said with a smile.
Franklin has completed 125-of-190 passes for 1,516 yards, 13 touchdowns and one interception over 14 career games.
"I think it's very important, first time getting handed the keys, so to speak," the 26-year-old said. "I know that I'm going to have to take charge, not trying to do too much but do enough to where the guys have confidence in me and they're behind me."
The Canadian Press
