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Back when Tracy Ham was the Alouettes quarterback and Anthony Calvillo was his understudy, I wanted to see Calvillo promoted because of the arm. Calvillo had a cannon — how could he fail?

After covering his quarterbacking exploits for a half-dozen years, it dawned on me Calvillo’s arm wasn’t the secret of his success. He might be able to hit a receiver 60 yards downfield, but Calvillo won because of his brain, not his arm. He often said as much, if we bothered to notice. After almost every game, Calvillo talked about his “reads,” whether he had made them efficiently or not, whether he had been able to accurately read defences and check down to the open receiver. When he could, woe to the opposition.

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That is why Rakeem Cato has been such a success through his first two starts in the CFL. It’s what he has between the ears, not his right arm. Cato is flat smart, as smart as anyone CFL quarterback we’ve seen, especially one with no more than a handful of practices under his belt.