MONTREAL - Nearly one year after being released from the practice roster, James Morgan is the quarterback Montreal will lean on to stop the bleeding.

He’ll make his first CFL start Thursday night as the injury-plagued Alouettes (5-5) try to halt a three-game skid against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, stepping in as the team’s fourth quarterback this season with Davis Alexander, McLeod Bethel-Thompson and Caleb Evans sidelined.

“You never know when things are going to happen,” the 28-year-old said on Wednesday at Olympic Stadium. “And when the opportunity comes … it is challenging, but you just got to take it the best you can and prepare as much as you can, and when you get in there, just be ready to go."

A fourth-round New York Jets draft pick in 2020, Morgan bounced around NFL practice squads and played for the Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL before joining the Alouettes in January 2024 after the Maulers folded.

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He hadn’t taken a single snap in the CFL until Saturday, but Morgan never thought his career was over, even when the Alouettes cut him from the practice roster 11 months ago.

“I don't think I've ever thought about walking away, but that's the really hard part, is to stay dialed in with the what ifs,” he said. "It's the discipline (of) when you start to feel that thought process coming on to remind yourself, ‘OK, let me just stay present in this moment, because I can set myself up for the best chance of success by focusing and executing on what I'm doing right here.’”

Morgan had only one first-team practice this week after the Alouettes returned from Saturday’s 36-18 loss to the BC Lions.

The six-foot-four, 229-pound passer from Green Bay, Wis., gained three quarters of CFL experience that night, throwing for 211 yards, one touchdown and one interception on 20-of-33 completions after Evans became the latest Alouettes QB to go down.

Amid the pileup, Montreal has signed quarterbacks Cameron Dukes and Shea Patterson to slot behind Morgan on the depth chart.

Head coach Jason Maas has seen just about everything in more than two decades as a player and coach in the CFL, but moving to a fourth quarterback after only 10 games? That’s a first.

“Four QBs is a new one,” Maas said. “I’ve dealt with injuries through the course of playing and through coaching many times, where your roster gets depleted at different positions, but it's hard to (remember going) through four quarterbacks and having a fifth and a sixth in the building that really haven't played at all.”

The Alouettes are also missing top receivers Austin Mack and Tyson Philpot, and safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy, among several other key injuries.

On the other side of the ball, the Blue Bombers (5-4) are coming off a 30-27 win over the Ottawa Redblacks, but head coach Mike O'Shea said they won’t take Montreal lightly amid its rash of injuries.

“I don’t think it matters for Montreal,” he told reporters in Winnipeg on Tuesday. “They’re going to compete their asses off no matter what.

“We look at it like this guy is a pro quarterback, and he’s trusted with running an offence.”

While Morgan may be a fourth-stringer, Maas said he has prepared like a starter since the beginning of training camp.

The coach recalled Morgan mapping out plays with his receivers “every single morning” in camp, ensuring everyone was on the same page for practice.

“Then I've seen him by himself after lunch, watching film, studying the plays,” Maas said. “I've seen him every single day in our building, early and late, going through all of his calls, all the film work, all the things that you'd expect a starter to be doing.

"There's a lot of great things about him. We've just got to go out and see him play, and see all that hard work that he's put into this pay off. You've got to be rooting for a guy like that."

Morgan said family members and friends have flooded his phone with “good luck” messages, and his mom, aunt and uncle will fly to Montreal for the game.

He expects to feel nervous before stepping onto the field at Molson, but he says that’s a good thing.

“When you have a heightened sense of, ‘OK, this is go time,’ your adrenalin is going, your senses are sharp,” he said. “There's a big component of interpreting that nervousness as an excitement, and as a, ‘This is my body telling me that I'm ready to go for this moment.'”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2025.