Nick Arbuckle has put his Stamp on the Canadian Football League.

With Canadian football’s reigning MVP sidelined, the Camarillo native and St. Bonaventure High graduate has taken the CFL by storm this month, guiding defending champion Calgary Stampeders to three wins in four weeks.

“Is Nick Arbuckle ‘The next one?’" the Canadian Press asked earlier this month, adding that “Arbuckle is quickly emerging as one of the CFL’s most intriguing quarterback prospects.”

Deputizing for the CFL’s reigning Most Outstanding Player, Bo Levi Mitchell, Arbuckle is second in the league with a 107.4 passer rating.

He has completed 71.3% of his passes, throwing for 914 yards and five touchdowns in three starts for 3-2 Calgary, which sits in second place in the Western Division.

“It’s been what we worked for,” Arbuckle told CFL.ca earlier this month after he and his wife Zakiyyah sat down for an interview with Global Calgary. "It’s been the opportunity that we’ve been praying for and something that I’ve just been training to take advantage of.”

After playing quarterback and tight end at St. Bonaventure, Arbuckle transferred to Los Angeles Pierce College and Division I-FBS Georgia State, where he threw for a Sun Belt Conference-record 4,368 yards in 2015.

Undrafted after graduation, Arbuckle spent a mini-camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers and then waited nearly a year for the CFL to call.

“I mean, if you told us, a year ago, maybe a year and a half ago that we’d be in this situation I would have laughed,” Arbuckle said.

Mitchell injured a shoulder with Calgary trailing 32-21 in the fourth quarter in Week 3 against British Columbia.

Arbuckle came off the bench to direct two late scoring drives, completing all nine attempts in a 36-32 comeback win on June 29.

He plunged in for a 1-yard touchdown run with 1:20 left, hitting Cal Lutheran University graduate Eric Rogers for a conversion pass and finding Rogers again for the game-winning 3-yard scoring strike with 31 seconds left

“It was impressive,” head coach Dave Dickenson said. “We have faith in Nick, but obviously a very difficult spot for any quarterback to be in. He looked good and made a lot of great plays for us.”

Rogers caught nine passes for 100 yards and three touchdowns.

“I’ve always been on his (side),” Rogers told TSN after the game. “He’s in his game plan. He’s there early just like Bo is. Last year, when I came in at the end of training camp, he was the guy that was coaching me up on the no-huddle words.

“I already knew he was going to make some plays if they were there. I had no worries.”

Making his first career start on July 8, Arbuckle lead the Stampeders to a 37-10 win at Saskatchewan.

“He’s a confident kid,” Calgary head coach Dave Dickenson told the Canadian Press after the game. “He did a nice job handling the noise. You can tell he knows what he’s doing … he’s letting the defense take him to his throws. He’s not afraid to take a chance.”

Arbuckle completed 19 of 22 passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns in his first start.

“There were a lot of nerves before the game,” Arbuckle said. “I think they went away after a play or two, especially after I got hit."

Despite Arbuckle’s 368 yards passing, Calgary suffered a 30-23 loss at Hamilton on July 13, but the Stampeders bounced back with a 26-16 win over Toronto last week.

“He’ll have to keep doing it. That’s always the tough thing – to do it again, again and again,” Dickenson said. “But I do think he’ll probably have that opportunity for the next few weeks.”

Mitchell could return from injury next month, but Arbuckle has certainly done enough to raise his profile in the league.

SINGLED OUT?

Meanwhile, another star who led Calgary to the Grey Cup last November, linebacker Alex Singleton, opened an NFL training camp in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Now with the Eagles, the Thousand Oaks High graduate and former CFL Defensive Player of the Year opens his second chance in the NFL behind starter Nigel Bradham on the depth chart at outside linebacker.

Singleton who stood out during offseason training, when he earned some first-team work, is already being presented as a long shot to make the Eagles' roster by the local media.

Special teams could make the difference for the 25-year-old Singleton, who made 17 special teams tackles in three seasons in Calgary.

AROUND THE BASES

Patrick Weigel’s first trip to the Major Leagues was merely a glimpse of the show.

After being promoted to the Atlanta Braves on Friday, the St. Bonaventure High and Oxnard College graduate did not appear in the weekend series against Washington.

He returned to Triple-A Gwinnett on Sunday and pitched a clean inning at Louisville on Tuesday.

Matt Magill was traded from Minnesota to Seattle on Sunday for cash considerations.

The Royal High graduate was designated for assignment on July 18, one day after he allowed six unearned runs in a 14-4 loss to the New York Mets.

Magill allowed one earned run in his final nine appearances for the Twins.

Nick Kahle hit his fourth home run for the Rocky Mountain Vibes on Tuesday. The Simi Valley native is just 19 games into his rookie ball experience in the Pioneer League.

Ventura College graduate Justin Friedman improved to 3-2 in rookie ball on Tuesday, allowing one earned run and four hits over five innings in the AZL White Sox’ 6-3 win over the Indians.

Shea Barry (Simi Valley High) picked up his first professional save on Monday for Tri-City ValleyCats, striking out two in a 4-2 win at Vermont in the New York-Penn League.

Albee Weiss (Agoura High) hit his first home run for Class-A Cedar Rapids on Sunday.

Joe Curley writes the Local Chatter column for the Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com