Ticats say veteran quarterback Mitchell underwent successful ankle surgery Monday

HAMILTON — The Hamilton Tiger-Cats said star quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell underwent successful ankle surgery Monday morning and is expected to make a full recovery.

The 36-year-old Mitchell was injured Sunday night while being sacked by Winnipeg’s Jake Ceresna in the third quarter of Hamilton’s 14-13 home loss to the Blue Bombers. Ceresna came down hard on Mitchell’s left ankle, which was stabilized by medical personnel before Mitchell left the field in an ambulance.

In 2023 — Mitchell’s first season with Hamilton — he required surgery to repair a lower-leg fracture and made just six starts.

Orlondo Steinauer, Hamilton’s president of football operations, said Mitchell “is in good spirits.”

“His focus now turns to the rehabilitation process, which he will approach with the same drive he has shown throughout his career,” Steinauer added in a statement.

But there was no mention regarding how long Mitchell will be out, if he’ll return this season, or whether the injury is season-ending. Hamilton has yet to officially place Mitchell on the six-game injured list but is expected to do so this week.

Veteran linebacker Reggie Stubblefield said the harsh reality for Hamilton now is it must continue with the season, with or without Mitchell.

“It’s very tough, very emotional because that’s QB1, that’s the leader,” Stubblefield said. “But it’s a long season, you just have to go back to work, figure things out and stick to things that give us winning football.

“You can’t keep your head down. You’ve just really got to do what we said we came here to do no matter the situation and look forward to it.”

Winnipeg starter Zach Collaros, 37, also left the game. He suffered an upper-body injury after being sacked by Stubblefield in the second quarter.

Canadian rookie Taylor Elgersma completed 11-of-15 passes for 86 yards and a TD in his first action of the season. The ’24 Hec Crighton Trophy winner at Laurier engineered a 12-play, 54-yard drive that set up Sergio Castillo’s game-winning 23-yard field goal with 21 seconds remaining after Major Williams’ interception.

Brady Oliveira ran seven straight times for 40 yards before Castillo’s boot.

“I honestly didn’t see anything,” Stubblefield said of Collaros’s injury. “I know I sacked him from his blind side, which is a very vulnerable situation for the quarterback.

“I went to celebrate with my teammates and the next drive we hear he’s out of the game. Prayers to Zach, hopefully he’s OK and back on the field.”

Mitchell was enjoying a stellar ’26 season. He entered Sunday’s game having completed 68-of-81 passes (CFL-best 84 per cent) for 879 yards with eight TDs and one interception.

And over his previous two starts, Mitchell was 34-of-42 passing (80.9 per cent) for 572 yards with eight TDs and no interceptions. He’d also earned a perfect efficiency rating of 158.3 in each game, becoming just the eighth quarterback (with at least 15 pass attempts) to do so and first since Toronto’s Ricky Ray in 2013.

Mitchell staked Hamilton to a 13-4 lead Sunday, completing 18-of-29 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown before the injury. Twice, though, the Ticats had to settle for first-half field goals following 10-play marches.

That loomed large as Hamilton’s offence sputtered without Mitchell as backups Tre Ford (three-of-seven passing, 12 yards, interception) and Jake Dolegala (0-for-two) both struggled. The Ticats (2-2) visit the defending Grey Cup-champion Saskatchewan Roughriders (3-1) on Sunday.

“If you’re a quarterback, you never hope anybody gets hurt, but you want to go out there and play,” said Hamilton head coach Scott Milanovich. “If Bo is out, that will be an opportunity for one of those guys to go and prove they’re a starting quarterback in this league.”

Mitchell took to social media Monday to thank his teammates, Ticats fans and his family.

“I will do everything I can to be back on that field with y’all ASAP,” Mitchell wrote. “We have something special in Hamilton, and this doesn’t change that. I love you all.”

Ford opened ’25 as Edmonton’s starter before giving way to veteran Cody Fajardo. The Niagara Falls, Ont., native, who signed with Hamilton this off-season, said if he gets the starting nod, he won’t be trying to pick up where Mitchell left off.

“I don’t go and just compare myself to Bo and how he’s been playing,” Ford said. “I’m more frustrated with a couple of mistakes I made just on plays like the interception.

“I just want to eliminate those mental mistakes and get everybody on the same page.”

Should Mitchell miss significant time, Stubblefield said Hamilton’s defence can’t try putting the team on its shoulders.

“As a defence we steadily want to progress every single game,” he said. “In some situations we’ve got to pick each other up, but it’s never about just one phase.

“I mean you want to be great in all phases and maybe one phase, like our offence, has been carrying the load this season. Defence will pick it up, but we’ll figure it out.”

Milanovich didn’t discuss Mitchell’s injury with his team after the game. Instead, he spoke about injuries as an inevitable part of football.

“I just told them this is football, and these things happen, and we’re all competitors,” he said. “Hopefully (Mitchell) will be back, but if he’s not, then we’re going to have to pick up the pieces.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2026.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press