The long-time leading man is an unabashed fan of the current matinee idol.
“He’s clutch,’’ says Ricky Ray of Bo Levi Mitchell. “He seems to have that ‘It’ Factor where the type of game doesn’t matter, whatever’s going on around him doesn’t matter.
“He’s cool back there.
“He makes plays. Everyone talks about making plays, it’s kind of become cliché, but isn’t nearly as easy as it sounds.
“His physical abilities are obviously very impressive. He can throw anywhere on the field, move around when he has to to create time for himself.
“But for me, his mental toughness, the ability to handle adversity, is what sets him apart.”
A decade of wins and losses, aches and pains, achievement and heartache separate the two men hunkering under centre for Saturday’s Calgary Stampeders-Toronto Argonauts debate.
Still, undeniably theirs is the matchup everyone will be watching:
The venerated 37-year-old sure-fire/slam-bang Hall of Famer out of Happy Camp, Calif., and the brash 27-year-old gunslinger hailing from Katy, Tex.
Ricky and Bo.
Might sound like the title of a long-ago good ol’ boy flick starring Burt Reynolds and a souped-up ’77 Pontiac Trans Am, but in CFL lingo it boils down to this: Arguably the best of today versus indisputably one of the best of any day.
Mitchell first joined the Stamps in 2012 and became the full-time starter in 2014 (Photo by Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)
“Ricky,’’ Mitchell is saying following Stamps’ practice Thursday, “is obviously a guy I look up to and respect a lot.
“Me and everyone else.
“The path his career has taken, just the guy he is on and off the field. I talk a little bit more … I’m not on the field with him so maybe he does trash talk some under his breath— but I highly doubt it.
“He never calls guys out after maybe getting hit dirty. He never makes a fuss. He keeps to himself, rehabs, then comes out, throws for 300 yards, four TDs and beats you.
“That’s Ricky Ray.”
The admiration is entirely mutual.
“The mental side of the game is vital, especially at the quarterback position,’’ says Ray. “Watching Bo over the years, no matter what the game, what the situation, what the score, he finds a way.
“Even myself and other guys in the league, we have some bad nights, don’t play well and a lot of times our teams don’t win those games.
“Bo’s able to hang in there, even on tough nights, and come out with the W.
“He wins games. A lot of games.”
Ricky Ray hoists the Grey Cup in 2005 (Photo by Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz)
In tracing the two men’s early career trajectories, in fact, there are remarkable similarities.
By the end of his first three seasons as the No. 1 up in Edmonton (with a one-year interruption trying out for the NFL’s New York Jets), Ray had slipped two Grey Cup rings into his safety deposit box, completing 1,054 passes for 13,141 yards and 84 TDs.
Over his opening three years as a starter, Mitchell, by comparison, has collected one ring, hitting on 1,040 tosses for 13,325 yards and thrown 80 touchdowns.
“I saw those stats at the beginning of the year,’’ says the reigning MOP. “Eerie, man. Crazy. When I first looked up the CFL, Ricky was one of the first guys to pop up on the screen. So I checked his career. He was one of the first guys I knew about coming up here.
“It’s nice to be compared to people like that. But I’ve got to continue to do my own thing. I’m not trying to re-create Ricky Ray. I’m trying to be the best Bo Levi Mitchell I can possibly be.
“You look at LeBron (James) and Michael (Jordan). LeBron can’t look at Michael’s numbers and try to reach those numbers. He’s got to go his own way and create his own legacy.
“We all do.”
Legacy isn’t something that Ricky Ray concerns himself with at the moment. He’s just happy to be healthy again.
A torn rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder, torn MCL and partially deflated lung limited the him to nine starts over the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
This season, he’s back, with a vengeance second on the passing list at 2,798 yards, second only to his former understudy Trevor Harris.
Mitchell, meanwhile, is lurking in the weeds, fifth at 2,318 and ready to make a move.
“Obviously when I retire, I want to be able to be proud of what I’ve done,’’ Ray says. “But while you’re playing, you’re just so focused on practice to practice, game to game. You’re too busy just being in the moment, trying to accomplish the goals for that week. That’s me right now.
“I feel really fortunate to be a part of this project with coach (Marc) Trestman, to be out there feeling good again.
“There was a point after the (shoulder) surgery when I couldn’t throw the ball 15 yards. And you’re used to going out there, winging it all over the place and not having a sore arm.
“I kinda took that for granted.”
Ray was traded from Edmonton to Toronto before the 2012 season (Photo by Canadian Press/Mark Blinch
A prominent place in the CFL history books already secure, the 37-year-old continues to try and keep pace, or stay a step or two ahead, of the crowd.
“That’s where I’m at in the career right now, playing against all these young guys,’’ Ray muses.
“Seems not so long ago, at least to me, that I was one of those guys. The new kid, up against Damon Allen, Danny McManus and then Anthony Calvillo.
“I learned so much just watching those guys.
“Now I’m the veteran and all these younger QBs – like Bo – are coming into the league and trying to change things. The way the passing game has evolved in the CFL and what these guys are able to do right off the bat is pretty impressive.
“The future’s in good hands.
“I’m just grateful to still be playing.
“Hopefully, though, they look up to me at some point during their careers the way I looked up to some of the guys I just mentioned.”
No need to fret on that score.
“Oh, man,’’ blurts Mitchell in affirmation, eager for Saturday and to once again swap completions with just the sort of three-down legend he aspires to one day be himself. “Ricky’s just one of those guys. Special guys. We all admire him. He’s 37, in the MOP talk, a player that’s carrying a team and recreating a fan base in a city.
“Whenever you’re on the field, he’s someone who can go off just like” – a brisk finger snap – “that.
“So you’ve got to be ready to do the same.”