Jack Coan is a notable X-ception in a social-media-oriented world.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback last posted on X \u2014 or Twitter, as it was known at the time \u2014 on Jan. 4, 2021.<\/p>\n
The post pertained to his transfer to the storied University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program.<\/p>\n
Prior to that, Coan last had a presence on X on June 14, 2017, when he reposted a tweet that originated on the University of Wisconsin\u2019s football account. He first suited up for the Wisconsin Badgers the following September.<\/p>\n
With one post and one retweet to show for the past 3,255 days, Coan was asked in joking fashion: What would it take for you to post something on X again?<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I need to,\u201d he replied with a laugh following a practice at Coors Light Riders Training Camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get yelled at every day from my family. I get all these people saying, \u2018You need to get your social media up.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has never been my thing. I\u2019ve never been that comfortable doing it, but I really need to get it going again. Maybe I\u2019ll do it just for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are, you should know, signs of a breakthrough. Shortly after the interview, the Roughriders\u2019 resident writer followed @jcoan17 on X. The next morning, there was a follow-back.<\/p>\n
No tweets, though.<\/p>\n
That is in accordance with Coan\u2019s preference to exist outside the limelight \u2014 as much as one can, considering the prominence of the position he plays for a beloved football team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe spotlight is not something I seek or like to be in,\u201d the third-year CFLer said. \u201cI don\u2019t mind being in it, but it\u2019s not something I seek out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d rather focus on my teammates. At the quarterback position, so much has to go right for you to have success. The emphasis should be on the O-line, the receivers, the running backs \u2014 all those guys \u2014 instead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those are the words of someone who has played at a high level beneath the bright lights at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind., before 80,000-plus fans and national-TV audiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess you\u2019re in the spotlight, but you don\u2019t really view yourself like that,\u201d the always-thoughtful Coan said leading up to Monday\u2019s pre-season game against the host Calgary Stampeders.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know all eyes are on you every play. You touch the ball every play. But you\u2019re just doing your job every single day.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t think about all the outside stuff. Obviously, I\u2019m not on social media a ton, so I don\u2019t see much or know too much about what people are saying. That\u2019s probably good, and sometimes bad, but I think it has been good for me \u2014 just staying in my own head space.\u201d<\/p>\n
That has been the approach since he was a star quarterback at Sayville (N.Y) High School.<\/p>\n
Football then took him to Madison, Wisc., where he played for the Badgers from 2017 to 2019 under then-Head Coach Paul Chryst.<\/p>\n
From the it\u2019s-a-small-world department: Chryst was the Roughriders\u2019 Offensive Co-ordinator and Quarterbacks Coach in 1996.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore you go to your school, you look up your coach and see his page on Wikipedia and the places he has been,\u201d Coan said. \u201cI saw he was with some CFL teams, but I had no connection to Saskatchewan at that point, so it didn\u2019t mean anything to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coan eventually discovered that Chryst was a guest coach with Edmonton during its training camp in 1993. The team\u2019s Head Coach at the time: Ron Lancaster, whose grandson is current Roughriders Offensive Co-ordinator Marc Mueller.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s more: During Chryst\u2019s single season in Saskatchewan, Roughriders running back Robert Mimbs rushed for a league-high 1,403 yards and was named the West Division\u2019s Most Outstanding Player.<\/p>\n
His son, receiver D\u2019Sean Mimbs, is now a teammate of Coan\u2019s in Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of crazy, all the connections that happen,\u201d Coan marvelled.<\/p>\n
He connected for 3,278 yards and 23 touchdowns, with only eight interceptions, over 25 games (including 18 starts) at Wisconsin.<\/p>\n
A broken foot, sustained during practice in October of 2020, forced him to miss the entire COVID-shortened season.<\/p>\n
He then transferred to Notre Dame and became the starter for the Fighting Irish. In 13 games as a senior in 2021, he threw for 3,150 yards and 25 touchdowns, with only seven interceptions.<\/p>\n
Included in those totals were the 509 aerial yards and five TD passes he registered in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State on Jan. 1, 2022.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-3, 218-pounder subsequently spent training camp and all the pre-season with the NFL\u2019s Indianapolis Colts in 2022.<\/p>\n
After a stint with the XFL\u2019s San Antonio Brahmas, Coan signed with Saskatchewan on March 15, 2024. He signed a contract extension with the reigning Grey Cup champions this past Jan. 19.<\/p>\n
From the outset, Coan has received effusive testimonials from quarterbacking cohort Trevor Harris.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been the same guy every day, every year he has been here,\u201d the Roughriders\u2019 starting signal caller said. \u201cHe has been a consummate pro. He works really, really hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can tell that football means a lot to him. He prepares for meetings, he prepares for practice, he prepares for games and he\u2019s in the weight room all the time. He\u2019s awesome and he has been really fun to have as a teammate \u2014 and a good guy for me to learn from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coan, like Harris, is known for poring over video in search of the tiniest details that can make a big difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrevor has been an amazing influence on me,\u201d Coan said. \u201cMy routine has a lot to do with him, just with the way he goes about his business. Obviously, he\u2019s a starter, so I\u2019ve always got to try to do a little bit more. Whether I do that or not probably depends on the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe and Trevor are always trying to outwork each other, but the way he goes about his weekly preparation is basically the way I do it now. He has done it at a high level for so long in this league. Why wouldn\u2019t you try to do exactly what that guy does? He\u2019s just an amazing guy to be around.\u201d<\/p>\n
How tough is it to even conceive of outworking Harris?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a challenge,\u201d Coan acknowledged. \u201cI\u2019m not saying I do or don\u2019t (outwork him), but we pretty much do everything together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think every QB in the league should model their game after him. I\u2019m lucky to be in his room and get to know what he does on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Very shortly, he gets an opportunity to apply all that knowledge on the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a mental standpoint, he\u2019s going to know it as well as anybody,\u201d Head Coach Corey Mace said of Coan. \u201cIt\u2019s just about going out there and executing. With Jack, he\u2019s getting better every single day.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, when we get to these pre-season games, we\u2019ll see what that looks like with live bullets going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just don\u2019t expect any live tweets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jack Coan is a notable X-ception in a social-media-oriented world. The 27-year-old Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback last posted on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-675762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675762","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=675762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}