Dan Plaster
After a day off physically, day six of Roughriders Training Camp 2015 really heated up, especially with the second practice of the day. It was as entertaining a practice one will see at any time of the season. It began with Head Coach Corey Chamblin asking for the players to ramp up the effort, then the chatter between the offence and defence led by Macho Harris and Taj Smith.
It was up-tempo for all parts of the practice with the highlight coming early as the linebackers and running backs squared off in a blitz and block drill. The loud pops and big hits that played out right in front of the strong and enthusiastic crowd (with a little urging from Shea Emry) at Griffiths Stadium may be the highlight of camp thus far.
Almost a week into camp and players will get their first real chance to shine and make this 2015 Rider roster with the mock game tomorrow with the players hitting the field at 3:15pm and the scrimmage to follow at 4:00pm. With that in mind, we won’t profile a position today but rather look at the breakdown of a CFL roster.
The first factor in creating any CFL roster is the delicate balance of National to International starters. Training camp is the genesis of the weekly 46 man roster during the regular season. The first need is to have the 21 Nationals, 20 Internationals, three quarterbacks and two reserve players that will make up the 46 man roster from week to week. Next, from those 21 National players, is who will be the seven of the 24 starters on offence and defence. The first six are easy to figure out; centre, two guards, slot, wide receiver and middle linebacker. Now it’s the seventh spot that is the interesting one.
Many teams go with and stick with the same seven Nationals all year. Now this is good because it allows a team to build depth at those positions, but only those positions. With the Riders in 2015, the seventh National spot will vary; it could be Jerome Messam at running back, Keenan McDougall at safety, Nic Demski at slot or Rory Connop at defensive tackle. This gives the Riders many options, and a different type of depth that they will be able to use and manipulate during the season depending on who they play and what situations arise.
The offensive line has seen a lot of change with the dawn of the 2015 season upon us. With the release of Dominic Picard (now Winnipeg Blue Bomber) and Ben Heenan exploring the NFL, there will be a distinct change with the players paving the way for the Rider offence. The guards are easy, perennial all-star, Brendan LaBatte will anchor the line at left guard with Chris Best on the right side.
A quartet of International players are battling it out for the two tackle positions. Levy Adcock and Xavier Fulton would be the obvious choice to play at right and left tackle, but both Michael Philipp and Randy Richards are having great camps.
The talk of camp has been the competition between Dan Clark and Corey Watman at centre. One will get the nod, but the one who doesn’t win that battle may have the tougher job as the lone National back-up at both guard positions as well as centre.
There are a great group of Nationals on hand at camp this year, CFL vet Gord Hinse, second year Rider Matt Vonk, Saskatchewan products in Kyle Patterson and Brad Nehring. Then add in St. Francis Xavier’s Terry Hart and Saskatoon Hilltop Matthew Halbgewachs to round out the crew at camp.
Tweet of the day:
Quotes of the day:
Prince Albert was awesome! For us to take that next step into the province and going up there and have a practice, I thought it was real good. I was a little shocked. It was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be and it’s an eye opener to see how big we are in this province”
Head Coach Corey Chamblin on the fans in Prince Albert yesterday
“I think everyone is coming along very very well. There is a lot of terminology, but the guys are putting in the work, after hours, during meetings, everything. We’re doing everything we can to get things down. We know it’s short training camp and we will be on the field in a couple of days. We’re putting in the work and things are working out fine.”
Quarterback Darian Durant on the offence during training camp
Tomorrow is Green and White Fan Day at Coors Light Training Camp tomorrow at Griffiths Stadium doors open at 1pm tomorrow with the mock game 3:45 and following that will be Riders Training Camp Live on riderville.com/riderslive and on the Rider app at around 5:00pm.
