{"id":369121,"date":"2025-12-26T02:23:48","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T02:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/369121\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T02:23:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T02:23:48","slug":"in-my-words-zach-collaros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/369121\/","title":{"rendered":"In My Words: Zach Collaros"},"content":{"rendered":"

Presented by:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Let me open with a confession-slash-admission: I\u2019ve been thinking about what I would do if I didn\u2019t have football probably since I was 21. Actually, check that, since I was 18 and the days when I never even thought I would get a football scholarship.<\/p>\n

Even after that I never thought about playing after college. Then I got an opportunity in mini camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in \u201912 and when I got cut, I thought, \u2018OK, I\u2019ll go be a coach now.\u2019\u00a0 But then I got a phone call from the Argos to come up here and the rest, as they say, is history.<\/p>\n

Coming to the CFL has been the best thing that ever happened to me \u2013 not just career-wise, but I met my wife and had my children after I came to Canada.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been amazing.<\/p>\n

All of this plays a part in why we\u2019ve signed a contract extension, because that thought \u2013 the \u2018what am I going to do next?\u2019 or the wondering of what I\u2019m going to do when they decide I\u2019m not good enough to play anymore \u2013 has always been in the back of my mind. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve thought about more and talked to other people about. Transitioning into another career at the age I\u2019m at is, frankly, scary.<\/p>\n

All of this comes down to one thing: I still love this game.<\/p>\n

I just love coming to work here. They flew me out here about three weeks before camp started and just being back in the building and being around the guys all I could think was, \u2018Man, it\u2019s so good to be back.\u2019\u00a0 Those feelings reaffirmed my belief that this is where I\u2019m supposed to be.<\/p>\n

My body has felt as good over the last five years as it has in my entire career. I know I\u2019m getting older, but I still love every bit of the process of it \u2013 I love the grinding, the tape, I love trying to help make a game plan, the Xs and Os chess-pieces of it all. Playing the position of quarterback, you get the ball in your hands, and I just don\u2019t want to give that up yet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Plus, I love this organization. I\u2019ve said it many times how much this organization means to me from top to bottom. I\u2019ve got really, really close friends in this building and in that locker room and we all believe we can still play at a high level and still play for Grey Cups every year. So, to add another year to that \u2013 it\u2019s just something we wanted to get done.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny how this all works sometimes, like how I ended up here just before the trade deadline closed in 2019. It\u2019s like that sliding-door theory; how if you walk through one door and not the other, the impact that decision has on your future.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just about how well it\u2019s gone for us and all the wins. It\u2019s more about the relationships I\u2019ve made. I have good friends from my days in Hamilton. I wasn\u2019t in Sask long but have good friends I talk to there. And from my first time in Toronto, too. I consider some of those guys here my best friends. It\u2019s been amazing career-wise, but I\u2019ve made so many lifelong friends here.<\/p>\n

Being able to bring our kids into this has been a blessing. It really has. They love coming out to Winnipeg. They love football season. They love the routine that they do with my wife on a daily basis when I\u2019m here working. They have their Winnipeg friends and can\u2019t wait to get back out here. A lot of guys have kids now and when the kids run out on the field it\u2019s the best part of their day.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve gotten older, I find I\u2019m able now to recognize and enjoy the moments more. All the moments. My wife and I talk about this all the time with the kids if we\u2019re having a hard day. It\u2019s not going to be like this for long when they want to crawl into our bed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Applying that to football\u2026 I think about it all the time. Sometimes I\u2019ll say to the young guys in camp, \u2018You just don\u2019t know how many opportunities you may have.\u2019 That\u2019s what\u2019s special about this game \u2013 we get 18 games, 18 opportunities to go out and prove what kind of player you are, what kind of team we are.<\/p>\n

I think about how I still get to play a kid\u2019s game and how they\u2019re paying me money to play a game. I\u2019ve felt that way for a long time. As you get older and you start thinking about the finish line\u2026 I\u2019m a worrier, by nature, and have thought about down the line how am I going to feed my family. But that\u2019s also helped me to be in the moment more, to live in the present.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, I still have that hunger to compete. Most of all, I still cherish those moments in the locker room so much. You want to be as good a friend and teammate as possible and build those relationships because that\u2019s what matters at the end of your life. You can make all the money you want but it has to be about the relationships you\u2019ve made. And I\u2019ve made a ton here.<\/p>\n

Every bit of it has been so special. Let\u2019s keep this rolling.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Presented by: Let me open with a confession-slash-admission: I\u2019ve been thinking about what I would do if I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-369121","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}