From California to Canada, hard work has paid off for Fajardo

Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Cody Fajardo has been enjoying a great start to 2019 both on and off the field.

Off the field, Fajardo married his wife, Laura, in March.

“We’ve been together for 5 1/2 years so we were engaged for a year and we got married on a golf course,” Fajardo said after a recent practice at Mosaic Stadium. “It was the happiest day of my life and the happiest day of her life other than she loved the live-mic game (Monday) when I said, ‘I love you, Laura,’ and she was like, ‘I’m famous.’ ”

Fajardo was able to create that special moment after years of hard work finally led to an opportunity to start in the CFL.

He was thrust into the role after starter Zach Collaros was knocked out after just three offensive plays of a June 13 game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Fajardo has taken the opportunity and run with it, throwing for 790 yards and four touchdowns with zero interceptions over his first two starts.

He’s to get his third start Saturday against the visiting Calgary Stampeders. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.

But Fajardo’s journey to this moment has been filled with hard work and uncertainty.

His story on the field begins in Brea, Calif., where the now-27-year-old quarterback was born. Brea is a city in Orange County with a population of more than 42,000 and is located minutes away from Disneyland.

As a six-year-old, Fajardo was drawn to the game of football and to the quarterback position right away.

“I loved watching Brett Favre play, he was my idol,” Fajardo said of the former NFL quarterback. “Growing up watching him, I tried to recreate a lot of the plays that he did.

“(Being the quarterback) you get to be a leader. I (like it) when all eyes are on you and you’re feeling the pressure.”

After Fajardo first picked up the pigskin, everything he did growing up was to try and find success in the sport, even on the baseball diamonds.

“I basically played baseball to get to football season,” Fajardo said. “I wasn’t a pitcher because it was a different throwing motion so I played shortstop and second base but I played baseball to get in shape for football season.”

But despite all the hard work he put in, Fajardo wasn’t sure if it was enough to get a scholarship. So he decided to take an unorthodox route — going on a reality television series called The Ride.

“It was eight under-the-radar quarterbacks all competing for a chance at the All-American all-star game and a scholarship,” Fajardo said.

Fajardo and another quarterback were two of the first cuts from the show, but it turned out to be for a great reason.

“They told us we were too good for the opportunity,” Fajardo said. “They told us, ‘You guys are going to get scholarship offers so we’re going to have to release you.’ ”

Fajardo’s offer came from the University of Nevada Wolfpack after another of its quarterbacks decommitted.

Fajardo redshirted his freshman year but he learned from a starter who went on to have a successful career in the NFL before becoming an activist — Colin Kaepernick.

“He did a great job of teaching me how to protect my body,” Fajardo said. “He was probably one of the best in the QB zone-read stuff. He helped me get into the physical therapy room and do a lot of band work and stuff you don’t see behind closed doors.”

Fajardo eventually became the starter in his second year with the team, earning freshman-of-the-year honours in the Western Athletic Conference.

During his senior year, Fajardo had a bit of a Joe Namath moment, guaranteeing the team would defeat its rival, the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

“They’re our biggest rival and we had won nine in a row but in my junior year we lost to them,” Fajardo said. “We went into media days and I told the fans, ‘Look, I don’t care if we lose every game but we will beat UNLV,’ and it worked out.

“God had my back on that one, which is nice because you never want to be a guy who guarantees a game and loses.”

Fajardo continued to hone his craft by learning from some of the game’s best. He was a participant at the Manning Passing Academy, which is hosted by NFL stars Peyton and Eli Manning. One of Fajardo’s current Roughriders teammates, Bryan Bennett, also attended the academy.

Fajardo completed his three-year career with the Wolfpack with 7,952 passing yards, 51 touchdowns and 23 interceptions. Known as a running quarterback, he also rushed for 2,788 yards and 33 touchdowns.

His performance wasn’t enough to get him selected in the 2014 NFL draft. He briefly signed with the Oakland Raiders but was released.

Then a phone call came from then-Toronto Argonauts general manager Jim Barker that brought the California kid to Canada and the CFL in 2015.

“(Barker) took a chance on me and brought me in to Toronto,” Fajardo said. “I had like six or seven NFL workouts but they always signed the older, more veteran guy and I was just tired of living out of a suitcase.”

He spent two seasons as a backup to Ricky Ray. Fajardo signed with the B.C. Lions in 2018 but remained on the bench behind Travis Lulay and Jonathon Jennings.

In both situations, Fajardo was used as the team’s short-yardage option.

He admitted he wasn’t sure if he’d get the opportunity to start in a game.

“Every time going into free agency it’s always scary,” Fajardo said. “You never know if your phone’s going to ring, especially if you don’t have a lot of tape out there.”

While Fajardo might not have had a lot of tape for coaches to look at, he did have one thing not many other free-agent quarterbacks had — a glowing reference from Lulay.

“(Head coach Craig Dickenson) asked Travis what kind of guy I was and Travis told him the honest truth and Travis sent me a text saying, ‘Hey, be expecting that the Riders are going to make you an offer,’ ” Fajardo said.

And once the door was cracked open with the injury to Collaros, Fajardo kicked it down by outperforming everyone’s expectations.

“(Travis) texted me the other day and said, ‘Hey, thanks for not making me look like an idiot,’ ” Fajardo said.

The Green Zone pre-game show begins at 6 p.m. Saturday.