Just as the team has come on strong to win four of its last five games, Edmonton Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray is out with a shoulder injury.
The spotlight has now shifted to the team's two other pivots: CFL veteran Kerry Joseph, who was just signed to the Esks' practice roster on Tuesday, and NCAA hero Jared Zabransky.
CFL fans are already quite familiar with the football stylings of 37-year-old Joseph, who helped lead the Saskatchewan Roughriders to a Grey Cup victory in 2007 and won Most Outstanding Players honours in the process.
But there is perhaps a bit less knowledge about Zabransky, a run-and-gun quarterback with loads of energy and a flair for the dramatic. His daring style has certainly worked for Zabransky in the past.
He was at the helm for one of the most incredible finishes in college football history, when Boise State pulled off a risky two-point "Statue Of Liberty" convert to beat Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Zabransky was named MVP and became a household name among football fans after that game. Before last Saturday's win over the Riders, that was - incredibly - the last game he had started and finished.
Zabransky signed with the Esks in April of 2009 after a few failed cracks at the NFL (with the Texans and Steelers), but he was put in the third quarterback slot after Ray and Jason Maas. With Ray now injured and Maas out of the picture , it could be Zabransky's turn to step into the spotlight.
The lasting impact of that one Fiesta Bowl game a few years ago is that Zabransky is still a high-profile name despite a lack of accolades since then.
"He's definitely a star. Since the Fiesta Bowl, everybody really knows him," says Esks guard Patrik Kabongo. "People are always asking me, 'You play with Zabransky? That's amazing.'"
Zabranksy's persona is quite different than the team's 31-year-old veteran QB Ricky Ray, who is known as being modest and humble. Zabransky was a three-sport athlete in high school, graduated on the Dean's List in college and is generally brimming with a confidence that borders on cocky.
"Yeah, you know what? He kind of is," says the Esks' Kelly Campbell. "He's confident, but you've got to have a little cockiness, just a little bit."
Zabransky seems to be aware of his self-assuredness, something he says comes from a certainty in his own abilities.
"It's come from being successful and I know why I've gotten to that point," says Zabransky. "It's rooted from hard work and being grounded in that."
Zabransky does have one interesting claim to fame that none of his teammates can say as their own; he was on the cover of EA Sports NCAA 2008.
It was a memorable time for Zabransky, who will turn 27 in December.
"Maybe the single best two weeks from my life, because we had just won the Fiesta Bowl and I was in Hawaii at the Hula Bowl at the All-Star game and I got a call from EA Sports telling me I was going to be on the game."
Under pressure, Zabransky has a tendency to lay things on the line in all-or-nothing moves. It's a quality that has served him well in the past, but the Eskimos are trying to reign it in slightly.
"He's kind of one of those gunslingers," says head coach Richie Hall. "Every now and then, you've got to throw that hook out there and kind of corral him in there, but he's very confident and he plays like that. He's very high-strung and plays with a lot of energy."
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