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He called him “Archie” and then he laughed at the nickname that only he calls Peyton Manning.
There was a reunion of old college quarterbacks Thursday night, teammates from the University of Tennessee — one a National Football League legend, the other a lesser legend of the Canadian Football League.
Peyton Manning smiled widely when he heard the familiar voice of Jeremaine Copeland before the game against the Buffalo Bills at the Rogers Centre. It’s a voice he doesn’t hear often, a voice he’ll never forget.
Manning came to Toronto for this prelude to the regular season, a warmup for the control freak of a quarterback, but the real bonus came from a longtime college friendship rekindled, if only for one night. There was a brief meeting before the game against the Buffalo Bills, a longer sitdown late Thursday night.
“If Archie is in Toronto, I’ve got to take care of Archie,” said Copeland, the Argos wide receiver, who probably owes his career to Manning. “That’s my job.”
Manning was a sophomore quarterback at Tennessee when this highly touted freshman kid named Copeland signed up to be his backup. A relationship was instantly born. Manning was the star in the making, Copeland was the patient one, waiting for his chance. They were on the field together, in the dorms together, in meetings together, at dinner together.
They were friends and rivals and teammates at the best of times in anybody’s life.
“I knew I wasn’t going to start as a freshman or a sophomore, so I figured I’ll get my shot as a junior,” said Copeland. “That was the plan going in. I wasn’t worried about beating out Peyton. I had a lot to learn. I got one chance in a rainy game against Florida, the No. 1 team in the nation, and we got a touchdown on my only drive. I thought I was on my way.”
He thought Manning would be on his way, too.
There was all kinds of talk back then that Manning would forego his senior year at Tennessee and enter the NFL draft early. A lot of people expected that to happen but nobody at Tennessee wanted it to.
Nobody except Jeremaine Copeland. That was his chance and when it didn’t happen...
“When he decided to stay, I thought: ‘What am I going to do now?’ To be honest, I was hoping he’d leave. I thought it was my time. I figured, I got to learn from Peyton, one of the best ever.”
Oops, correction
And then he corrected himself.
“Not one of the best ever. The best ever. I’m biased. He’s my dog. I’ll say before he’s finished, he’ll have every record, he’ll be the best ever.”
But when Manning decided to stay for his final year at Tennessee, Copeland’s junior year, it meant a decision for Jeremaine also. He went to the head coach with a request. “I want to play, somewhere.”
That somewhere meant wide receiver.
He didn’t just play the position, he flourished.
“Having Peyton throw to you is the perfect way to learn,” said Copeland. “He’d tell me where he wanted me to go, I’d go there, and the ball would be there.”
Copeland did so well as a receiver that, after Manning moved on to the NFL, he thought for a moment, but only a moment, about returning to play quarterback. But he realized he’d found his calling as a receiver.
“I was blessed to play with Peyton,” said Copeland, who still calls him Archie after his famous father. In fact, both Manning and Copeland played four years at Tennessee, with probably 300 other football players. Only four still play the game professionally. Manning, with the Indianapolis Colts and two other NFL lineman, Chad Clifton in Green Bay and Leonard Little waiting for a contract from somebody.
And this is Year 10 for Copeland in the CFL, with time spent in between in NFL Europe and the XFL. All that making a brief attempt to play with Manning in Indianapolis.
That didn’t work. Almost everything has since. And Thursday night, two men of two positions, two leagues, two different places in the football world, shared a few laughs, a few stories, told a few lies.
steve.simmons@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: @simmonssteve