Q & A With Derek Trager

Q&A with Broncos Defensive Back Derek Trager

Story: Brenden Escott

Q: Where are you from?
A: Winnipeg, Manitoba

Q: How’d you get your start in football?
A I always loved watching football growing up and I got started in high school and pretty much went from there.

Q: What brought you to the Broncos organization?
A: My buddy Devin [Csincsa]. He’s a receiver here. He played here in his rookie year and was telling me how good it was and how nice of a city Kamloops was so I decided to come out and I’ve loved it ever since. This is my second year.

Q: How do you expect the team to finish headed into the second half of the season?
A: I expect to win every game. If you go in with a different mindset you’re going to be disappointed.

Q: I understand you started out as a quarterback and made the transition to a defensive back. What was that process like for you?
A: They say a ‘DB’ is one of the easier positions to transition to. I didn’t think it was too hard but when I did transition I was coming back from an ACL injury so it was a little bit tougher than it would’ve been if I wasn’t injured. Other than that I thought it was fairly easy.

Q: So you’ve been in Kamloops for a couple years now—talk to me about what the city’s like and what you think of TCC.
A: It’s great. I go the gym all the time. They’ve got the steam room and the sauna and the pool—and you can’t beat the stadium and the fans so it’s probably the best in the whole conference.

Q: Do you have a football idol?
A: I liked quarterbacks growing up. I was a fan of [Peyton] Manning and I liked Brady Quinn because I’m a Notre Dame fan. That’s pretty much it for quarterbacks but that’s who I’d say I idolized growing up.

Q: What do you consider to be your strengths as a player?
A; I’d say my strength would be my quickness. I’d say I’ve got good speed but I think I’m quicker than I am fast. Really I’d say my athleticism, but I’ve got lots to work on, just as anyone does.

Q: Anything specific you feel needs improving?
A: I’ve got to improve my tackling and overall knowledge at the position. I’m still new so I’m just trying to take in as much as I can. I’d like to get stronger too—I think those are the things I need to work on.

Q: You guys are on the bye week right now; are you one of those players who likes to stay focused or do you try to get away from the game for a couple days?
A: I think I’m doing a bit of both right now. I hurt my knee and my ankle’s a little bit messed up so I’m probably just going to be healing up. I hope to go next week.

Q: After your football career finishes, whenever that may be, do you have plans to go to school or maybe just hit the workforce?
A: I’m taking Criminal Justice in university so I’m planning to get my degree [at the University of Winnipeg] and find a job in the field.