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Travis Lulay, the oft-injured veteran quarterback of the B.C. Lions, read all the same tea leaves that Romo read. Jonathon Jennings, 24, is the new “it” kid. The team is rallying behind him. Lulay, the CFL’s (and Grey Cup’s) outstanding player in 2011, is healthy now, but must wait for the opportunity that might never come to prove that he can still play.

He had a decision to make. What he did, without fanfare, was park his ego, accept a hefty off-season pay cut, and hunker down to the task of helping Jonathon Jennings be a professional in every way — and a quarterback, it may yet turn out, good enough to make people forget that Travis Lulay is still around.

“He’s done tremendous things for me,” Jennings said Wednesday. “More than that, he’s been a friend, and a guy who’s always there for anything I need.

“He gives me an outlet when I need to speak about or understand something — he’s there to answer my question. That’s been big in my development. It’s just hard to always learn from coaches.”

Lulay, understand, is a fierce competitor. Every day he has to swallow the desire to get the No. 1’s reps in practice, to lead the way he once did.

“I mean, it’s a couple of things,” the 33-year-old Lulay said. “One, I’ve always preached and always believed that only one guy gets to play, but everyone in the room helps contribute to the play of the position on game day.

“So what does it say about me, when I’m not the one on the field, if I change that attitude, and I’m not the same guy and I don’t do the work to make sure the position is as strong as it can possibly be?