MOBILE, Ala. — There are the gold helmets, so you know that guy played at Notre Dame. There are the distinct maize-and-blue Michigan, the crimson Alabama, the red with the “G” signifying Georgia. All the usual and recognizable helmets worn by prospects at this week’s Senior Bowl.
Then there’s the tall kid, the tallest of the seven quarterbacks. He’s wearing a white helmet, foreign to American college football eyes because it is foreign. It marks Taylor Elgersma as one of the most intriguing players here. And it’s groundbreaking for this all-star game.
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Canada has exported plenty of players to American colleges. Among recent standouts are Kurtis Rourke, who quarterbacked Indiana to a College Football Playoff bid in 2024. Stanford receiver Elic Ayomanor was the ACC’s sixth-leading receiver last season. John Metchie starred at receiver for Alabama from 2019-21.
But they all played at American colleges. Elgersma attended the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks in Waterloo, Ontario. He is only the second Senior Bowl participant from a Canadian school, and the first quarterback, playing in a game that last year included Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix and this year has Riley Leonard, Dillon Gabriel, Jaxson Dart and Jalen Milroe. All household college football names, and into this walks Elgersma, playing 11-man football for the very first time.
They play 12-man football in Canada. And Elgersma didn’t even play that until a year into high school.
“He’s not coming in here with unrealistic expectations. He knows he’s an unknown commodity,” said Laurier offensive coordinator Todd Galloway, who is in Mobile with Elgersma this week. “Talking with scouts and coaches he’s really just telling them he hopes they take a chance on his upside.”
Elgersma, like many a Canadian, grew up playing hockey. There being considerable competition in hockey, eventually Elgersma made a diversion. Or, as he put it, using his home terminology: “I only got to football in Grade 10, and started playing quarterback.”
The potential was evident, and by the end of Grade 12 he was ready to stay an extra year to showcase himself for American colleges, and do the Division I camp circuit. That’s what Rourke, Metchie and others had done to get noticed. But Elgersma’s plans were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and he stuck with his commitment to Laurier.
The Golden Hawks have been a power in U Sports, the Canadian college athletics body that currently comprises 58 schools. Elgersma became the starter his sophomore season, and as a senior guided the team to an 8-0 regular-season record. The Golden Hawks made it to the championship game, where they lost.
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Then it became time for Elgersma to pursue the NFL. He had already started last year, when he trained at QB Country, a Mobile-based outlet where many NFL and college quarterbacks have worked. One of Elgersma’s coaches was impressed enough to recommend him to Jim Nagy, the Senior Bowl’s executive director.
This month has been a crash course in the American game for Elgersma, who was not only used to 12-man football but bigger fields, unlimited pre-snap motion, and of course a different level of speed, size and skill. He did two other, smaller all-star events: The College Gridiron Showcase game on Jan. 12 in Fort Worth, Texas, and the Tropical Bowl, played on Jan. 19 in Daytona Beach, Fla. This week has been the biggest and most high-profile test, with NFL scouts watching all of his throws.
“This is my first time taking 11-on-11 snaps. It’s exciting for me to get that opportunity,” he said. “I think I have the frame, I have the size for this level, I have the arm talent. So what it’s all about for me is cleaning up my mechanics, cleaning up my footwork, continuing to improve and getting used to this American game.”
The early buzz from scouts: Elgersma’s inexperience shows. But he had a good practice on Wednesday, which is a positive sign. That’s what NFL teams will be looking for, and it’s what Elgersma showed in Canada. The more he learned the game, the better he got.
“He’s the quickest study and the brightest quarterback I’ve ever had the privilege of coaching,” Galloway said. “His path every year of getting better every year has been exponential. It’s been great to see. … It’s kind of been a meteoric rise. A tall, big-armed guy but he had a lot of work to do, and it’s been fun to be on that journey to see how much better he got every year.”
The only other player to get a Senior Bowl invite out of a Canadian school was Jordan Herdman-Reed, a linebacker from Simon Fraser, in 2017. He went undrafted and has never played in the NFL, though he has had a long career in the Canadian Football League.
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But the Senior Bowl’s success in producing quarterbacks is strong: Only two did not at least sign as undrafted free agents that year. Elgersma at least looks the part: feet 5 inches and 213 pounds, towering over Gabriel, one of his teammates this week. The Canadian was accurate in passes to the side and over the middle during Wednesday’s practice, hitting Michigan’s Donovan Edwards on a wheel route and Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon on a short out. (Though he did also throw a ball right at a linebacker in a 7-on-7 drill.)
Mike Kafka, the Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator who is coaching the Senior Bowl’s “National” team this week, seemed to sense Elgersma was overthinking it. He came up to him Wednesday and told him, “Just play free.” Elgersma already knew he needed to avoid overthinking, but maybe it needed to be reiterated.
“I got the invite here for a reason. I know I can throw the ball with these guys,” Elgersma said. “It’s just about focusing on getting the little things right.”
One of Elgersma’s teammates on the National team, Iowa State receiver Jayden Higgins, said he hasn’t seen any moments of confusion from the Canadian.
“He’s picked up the playbook as good as anyone else,” he said. “He know what he’s doing out there.”
As for his playing ability, the first impression Higgins had: “He throws pretty hard. He throws with a lot of zip on the ball. I think it’s awesome that a kid like that can come down here and show off his skill set.”
(Photo: Michael Chisholm / Getty Images)
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