OMAHA ? Eric Crouch is having fun playing football again.

“I feel like I’m back in college again. I’m just playing a game that I love,” the 2001 Heisman Trophy winner from Nebraska said Thursday.

The 27-year-old Crouch has gone north of the border to resuscitate his career, signing with the Toronto Argonauts in February. He took his first regular-season snaps in last week’s 26-23 win over the Saskatchewan Rough Riders, earning a game ball for his work in relief of an injured Spergon Wynn in the second half.

Crouch is the less conspicuous of the Argos’ two Heisman winners. Running back Ricky Williams, the 1998 winner who defected to the Canadian league after repeat drug policy violations in the NFL, broke his arm against the Rough Riders.

With Williams out and all of Toronto’s quarterbacks except Crouch nursing injuries, Crouch is assuming a higher profile going into Saturday’s game against British Columbia. A starting quarterback hasn’t been named, but Crouch said he expects to play.

Crouch said he and his family enjoy living in Toronto and that he would be content to play his entire career in Canada.

“I don’t wake up and say, ‘OK, this is what I have to do to get back to the NFL,’ ” Crouch said. “I want to be a great quarterback in this league. I think I can.”

Crouch was a 2002 third-round draft choice of the St. Louis Rams, who projected him as a receiver. He walked out of training camp and announced his retirement after not being given a chance at quarterback.

He later had a couple of trials with the Green Bay Packers, once as a quarterback and then as a safety, but he was released before training camp in 2004.

Crouch signed with the Kansas City Chiefs last year and was sent to NFL Europe, where he played safety for Cologne. He was released after the NFL Europe season.