Montreal Alouettes’ quarterback Davis Alexander has established himself as one of the CFL’s brightest young stars ahead of the 112th Grey Cup, and fans have a Canadian football legend to thank for it.
General manager Danny Maciocia made the agonizing decision to make Alexander the Alouettes’ franchise QB this offseason, moving on from veteran Cody Fajardo just one year after he secured the team his own Grey Cup victory as a starter. Faced with a choice between a promising youngster and a well-loved veteran, he looked to his friend and mentor, Wally Buono, for advice.
“When I spoke to Wally about this, I said, ‘So let’s see: you had Dickenson, you had Burris, you had Garcia, you had Flutie. How did you manage all of this?’ And he walked me through it,” Maciocia said.
“He mentioned there comes a point in time where, if you feel like you have enough information and you’re fairly confident about pulling the trigger on a player, then you move forward with it. I turned to someone who is a mentor for me, and he’s always been there for me. I don’t think there’s anybody that’s had a greater exposure to what I’m dealing with right now, with his previous experiences in B.C. and in Calgary. He was huge for me.”
Buono spent 28 seasons as a head coach and general manager in the CFL, first with the Calgary Stampeders and later the B.C. Lions. In addition to winning five Grey Cups and a league record 282 games, he was in charge of a laundry list of star quarterbacks and frequently transitioned from one star signal caller to the next. Legends Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia, Dave Dickenson, Henry Burris, Casey Printers, Travis Lulay, and Michael Reilly all came through his system.
Maciocia is no stranger to great quarterbacks either. As a coordinator in Montreal, he was in charge of calling plays for Anthony Calvillo, while he later found success in Edmonton with Ricky Ray at the helm. Those experiences left him with one key lesson, very much in line with Buono’s philosophy.
“At that position, if you have a good one, you want to keep them; you don’t want to lose them,” Maciocia said. “We’re not in the business of developing quarterbacks for other teams, either. I wanted to make sure that we could keep him in Montreal and get on a run with him.”
Alexander first joined the Alouettes in 2022, but threw just 21 passes over his first two seasons in largely meaningless late-game situations. That changed in 2024, when Fajardo suffered a pulled hamstring and backup Caleb Evans struggled in relief. Montreal handed the keys to their third-stringer, and he won all four of his starts, throwing for 1,347 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions while running for 166 yards and three majors.
An expiring contract put Maciocia on a ticking clock to decide what to do with the CFL’s hottest young quarterback commodity. Those starts gave him enough information to take the big swing and sign Alexander to an extension for franchise QB money, trading Fajardo away soon after.
“In total transparency, you’re always concerned about, ‘Do you have enough data?’ Because practice is practice — practice you’re not in a game. The bullets are live in a game. You’re not trailing, you’re not up, you’re not playing before 20, 25, 30,000 people — there are a lot of variables that go into it in order to have what I call accurate data,” Maciocia admitted.
“He was able to come in and win all those games, and they weren’t easy for him to win. Whether it was at home or it was on the road in Saskatchewan, dealing with the passing of his dad — I knew we had something special, and he fast-forwarded the process, as far as I’m concerned.”
That bold decision has clearly paid off. Though he was limited to seven starts due to a nagging hamstring issue in 2025, Alexander has yet to lose a single start, throwing for 2,024 yards, 10 touchdowns, and three interceptions. Victories in the East Semi-Final and East Final have pushed his streak to 13 straight wins. Even after reaggravating his injury, he has the opportunity to secure the ultimate capper with a Grey Cup title.
None of that would have been possible without the wisdom shared by Buono, and the 75-year-old Hall of Famer seems to know it.
“I can definitely say thanks,” Maciocia chuckled. “He keeps texting me here the last few weeks, and he says, ‘Sounds like you made the right decision.'”
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (13-6) and Montreal Alouettes (12-8) meet in the 112th Grey Cup at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg on Sunday, November 16, with kickoff scheduled for 6:00 p.m. EST.
The weather forecast in Winnipeg calls for a high of two degrees with a mix of sun and cloud. The game will be broadcast on TSN, CTV, and RDS in Canada, CBS Sports Network in the United States, and CFL+ internationally.
