Who the heck is this Cornelius guy?

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This article was published 17/09/2021 (1481 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Who is Taylor Cornelius and what does he bring to the table?

That’s exactly what the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have been trying to find out for the past 48 hours.

Other than what’s listed on his Wikipedia page, the Blue and Gold can’t tell you a whole lot about the new starting quarterback for the Edmonton Elks.

“I know absolutely nothing about him besides him being an XFL quarterback. That’s about it,” said Bombers defensive end Willie Jefferson.

To be fair, the Bombers found themselves studying for a new exam at the last minute as the Elks placed star pivot Trevor Harris on the six-game injured list with a neck problem on Thursday.

The spotlight now shines on Cornelius, a 26-year-old CFL newcomer from Amarillo, Texas., who now finds himself under centre and will make his first career start in the three-down game tonight.

Cornelius has been tasked with trying to lead a 2-3 Elks squad to victory over the best team and defensive front in the league.

Welcome to the CFL, kid.

“We’re just going to play our game. We’ve got some good schemes this week,” Cornelius told reporters after Friday’s walkthrough at Commonwealth Stadium.

“The coaches did a really good job on the game plan this week and we’re just ready to go.”

He may be inexperienced, but hey, he’s already got the cliché answers down.

He’s likely no Ricky Ray, although he does wear Ray’s No. 15, but his head coach is a big fan of his. Cornelius and Edmonton head coach Jaime Elizondo know each other well as they were in the XFL together last year with the Tampa Bay Vipers. Elizondo was the team’s offensive coordinator and he saw enough in Cornelius to bring him to Edmonton with him. But Elizondo didn’t just bring Cornelius here to hold a clipboard forever.

“Taylor, we brought up here originally to not only win the backup job, but we felt he was good enough to be the eventual replacement for Trevor Harris,” Elizondo said.

“We’re really excited about him. There’s no leash, he’s got to go play without the need to be perfect and let it hang.”

Cornelius is used to starting out as an unknown as he was a walk on at Oklahoma State. He mostly served as a backup to Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph until he was given a shot at the starting job in his senior year. Cornelius made the most of the opportunity as he was top 10 in the nation in touchdowns passes and passing yards. Despite the big numbers, he didn’t hear his name called at the 2019 NFL Draft. The Green Bay Packers signed him to a deal but he failed to make the roster. None of this is news to Bombers third-string quarterback Dru Brown as he backed up Cornelius at Oklahoma State in 2018.

“I talked to Dru to get a little bit of insight from him because he would know him pretty well and he had nothing but good things to say about him,” said Bombers linebacker Adam Bighill.

“He’s a capable quarterback, he’s got a strong arm, he can make all the throws. He’s a bigger guy, he doesn’t mind running the ball when he has to so we’ll see what he can do.”

The Elks are desperately hoping that they found a diamond in the rough with Cornelius as three of their next four games are against Winnipeg.

“(Winnipeg’s) the best defence in the league. They’re big, they’re active, but at the end of the day, if you’re a competitor, you love going up against the best,” Elizondo said.

Well, the best are eager to introduce themselves to Cornelius. So, what do they have in store for the CFL newcomer?

“We’ve got a lot of energy. A lot of tackles, hopefully,” said Jefferson who has four sacks this season.

“We’re going to try to put him on his back like we’ve been doing to everybody else. Get him off his spot, make it hard for him to find his initial reads and try to make him be a quarterback in the pocket.”

The Bombers should be accustomed to seeing new faces at the quarterback position as they played Calgary’s Jake Maier in his second career start earlier this year and saw Saskatchewan’s backup Isaac Harker last week after Cody Fajardo was forced to exit the Banjo Bowl with a head injury. Cornelius just hopes he can do what Maier and Harker failed to do — beat the Bombers.

“Obviously there’s going to be mistakes made in the game, but it’s (about) moving on from them, playing fast and getting going,” said Cornelius.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31