Riderville.com
Things continue to roll along here at Griffiths Stadium and on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. Routine is setting in, but not the monotony yet. That will come later next week when players begin to get tired of each other on and off the field and just want to take out their frustrations on someone else in a different colour.
Today was a treat for the players because the afternoon session of Day Three of Saskatchewan Roughriders Training Camp 2015 finally saw the presence of pads and hitting. For the offensive and defensive lines, this is now an opportunity to ramp up the contact and strut their stuff in front of the coaches and staff. The fans were very appreciative of the effort as well as yet another big crowd was on hand to witness the afternoon session.
With over 90 players in camp, the Riders scouting staff had to work hard to find the players to fill camp spots. These players come from all over North America at various different levels of football. Here is a quick rundown of where the players played their final year of college/junior football (before the roster moves today):
CIS – 37
FBS (NCAA DIV-1) – 30
FCS (NCAA DIV 1AA) – 15
CJFL – 5
NAIA – 3
NCAA DIV2 – 2
CCCAA Jr College – 1
No real surprise here, other than the amount of players that come from the FCS ranks, and this includes the likes of Weston Dressler (North Dakota), Kevin Glenn (Illinois State) and Tristan Jackson (Central Arkansas).
The more interesting breakdown comes when we start the breakdown of what conferences the players originate from:
CanWest (CIS) – 18
OUA (CIS) – 11
ACC (FCS) – 7
PFC (CJFL) – 5
MTN West (FCS)/RSEQ (CIS)/AUS (CIS)/ – 4
Southern Conference (FCS)/Sun Belt (FBS)/Missouri Valley (FCS)/Big 12 (FCS)/Big 10 (FCS) – 3
Six conferences with – 2
Ten Conferences with – 1
Surprising that the Atlantic Coast Conference (Darian Durant, Macho Harris, Michael Carter, Anthony Allen, Jeremy Gray, Darwin Cook, and Markus White) has more players than either the Quebec or Atlantic regions of Canada.
Also, of note, both John Chick and Jake Doughty hail from Utah State, but when Chick graduated they played in the WAC and when Doughty graduated Utah State played in the Big West.
Now to the position spotlight and today it’s the receivers. This is a loaded group and will be a tough one to crack. I won’t get into the grimy details of every pass catcher in camp, we will just hit the highlights.
The starters are pretty easy to figure out; you have got Weston Dressler, Chris Getzlaf and Taj Smith all former 1000 yard receivers and the leading National receiver from 2014, Rob Bagg picking up the spots. Then 2015 first round CFL draft pick, Nic Demski will definitely be in the rotation more as the season progresses and he gets used to the professional game. If Jamel Richardson can bounce back from his knee injury, he will also pick up another spot.
The battle for a couple other National receiver positions will be fierce as Scott McHenry returns from a neck injury, joining other Nationals in Alex Anthony, Alex Pierzchalski, Alex Carrol and Melvin Abankwah.
There will be a need for one or two reserve International receivers as well and veterans Korey Williams, and Ryan Smith will duke it out with Eric Thomas, Greg Hardin, Naaman Roosevelt and Devin Wilson.
Tweet of the day:
Quotes from day three:
“Angus is great. He still has that player mentality in him where if something that he sees us do, he wants to come up and help us right away. So it helps us in the long run as when Corey [Watman] and I or even Brad [Nehring], that we can go to him if we have any questions and he can give us techniques that he has from what Coach Dorazio has taught him, but hasn’t showed us yet.”
Offensive lineman, Dan Clark on guest offensive line coach, Angus Reid
“You got new techniques and new ideologies as far as coaches go but I mean football is always the same, you just have to go out and work hard to get to the Grey Cup and win these games.”
Defensive lineman, Tearrius George on new defensive staff
“Yah, for cohesion and continuity, but more for cohesion, it’s like everything else with the team there are some positions that we need to find some guys. I think as the week progresses and we get to the mock game (Saturday) and after that mock game we have to start to settle in on what we are going to do with the roster leading up to the first pre-season game and that is where we are at this point.”
Head Coach Corey Chamblin on the state of the roster
Another pair of sessions at Coors Light Training Camp tomorrow at Griffiths Stadium with the first practice at 8:30am and following that will be Riders Training Camp Live on riderville.com/riderslive and on the Rider app. The afternoon practice will begin at 3:00pm and finish around 4:45pm.
