Dan Plaster
It’s the little things that keep a person happy and motivated. Be it a great workout, chocolate chip cookie, movie, short practice, nap, or perhaps a change of venue, anything that is different from the norm during training camp helps the body and the soul get through the day.
One of the little things happened today as the full team made the trip to Prince Albert for the first off-site practice during the 2015 Saskatchewan Roughriders Training Camp. No one can say for sure if the Riders have ever been to the Gateway to the North, either way, it’s a rare treat for a city and area that is filled with the Rider Nation to have a training camp practice.
It is a tight schedule for the team on this day five, early morning meetings followed by a 9:30am practice. Minutes after the practice ended, the players signed a few autographs and boarded the bus to Prince Albert. They made the 90 minute drive and then stopped for lunch at Mr. Mike’s, who have stepped up as the official restaurant of Training Camp 2015 before hitting the Alfred Jenkins Field House and getting a quick one-hour walk though. The highlight for both the players and fans was the autograph sessions afterwards.
Here’s the thing about autographs, personally, I don’t understand it, but what I do understand is the importance of a quick contact or the face-to-face meeting that a fan will get with their favourite player. Even better is the chance that a fan will meet someone that isn’t in the media or the spotlight all the time and that player becomes a fan favourite. You have seen that with the likes of Rob Bagg, Dan Clark or Macho Harris. Head Coach Corey Chamblin recognizes the importance of fan interaction, “Yes without a doubt, they understand that this is huge. It looks like a lot of people skip their jobs every day to see us. This is huge and they understand what Riderville is all about and they understand the culture.”
After a quick reprieve from the monotony of training camp, it’s back at it again for day six on Friday, all leading up to the mock scrimmage on Saturday evening at 5pm at Griffiths Stadium.
Through these first four days of camp we have focused on the linebackers, receivers and quarterbacks. Today, let’s get back to the defensive side of the football and what will be one of the strengths of this team, the defensive line.
John Chick and Tearrius George are each coming off career highlight seasons, especially when it comes to getting after the quarterback. Chick’s 15 sacks and George’s 11 are a part of a CFL best 61 sacks as a team. Having those two are tremendous building blocks on what will be a very good rotation of linemen.
Next up is the return of Alex Hall, the last time we saw the 6-foot-6 pass rush specialist was when he was a member of the 2013 Rider Grey Cup team. Hall tried his hand in the NFL in 2014 only to resign with the Riders this past winter. If Hall returns to his all-star form, this could be the top free agent signing of the off-season.
Four more round out the International defensive linemen list. With second year tackle Derek Walker returning after a great 2014 rookie campaign, Markus White returns and has had a great camp thus far, Lee Pegues has also turned some heads at both the Florida spring camp and in training camp thus far, while the addition of CFL vet, Cam Sheffield adds to the great competition for positions.
Things get interesting when it comes to the group of Nationals on the list:
Rory Connop may be the surprise so far in camp as the 2015 third round CFL draft pick has had many reps with the first group at defensive tackle beside Tearrius George.
Second year defensive end, Dylan Ainsworth is also back after a solid rookie season with the Riders on special teams and will look to see a few reps with the defence.
The same could be said for another second year defensive end, and former Regina Ram, Ryan Wellman as he continues to improve and will try to make the squad with his work on special teams.
Rookie invite, Tim Agbaje from the University of Saskatchewan went undrafted and welcomed the opportunity to make the Riders in his back yard of Griffiths Stadium.
Veteran Riders special teams guru, Levi Steinhauer is sitting out camp with an injury, but is excited to return to the team as the season begins. With the addition of Jorgen Hus, Steinhauer welcomes the return to doing more than long snapping and contributing to the club on all special teams.
Matt Kozun from the Saskatoon Hilltops is a Junior invite to camp. He was named the PFC’s top defensive lineman and was named a CJFL national all-star.
Tweet of the Day:
Quotes of the day:
“Scheduled walk-though, then we will travel right now and we will take this opportunity to travel and act like we are preparing for a game, getting ready and going on the road, things like that. We will see how we can build that into some of the mental training of camp.”
Head Coach Corey Chamblin on travelling to Prince Albert
“Coach is definitely taking care of us, taking care of our bodies. They did some type of research to come up with this plan and hopefully it works. The players, they are responding well to it, but like you said, it wasn’t a day off, it was more like a mental day so we have to make sure we are mentally sharp.”
Riders DB, Macho Harris on Day five of Training Camp 2015
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 at around 10:30am The afternoon practice will begin at 3:00pm and finish around 4:45pm.
