In keeping with the changing seasons, Jeremy O’Day has a spring in his step.
A lengthy winter — a busy one at that for the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ General Manager and Vice-President of Football Operations — was a prelude to Coors Light Riders Training Camp.
After several months of immersion in everything the player-personnel process entails, O’Day can finally savour an initial taste of the results as he watches the proceedings at Griffiths Stadium.
“It’s certainly nice to finally get in here,” O’Day said after Monday’s workout on the University of Saskatchewan campus.
“As you can see from some of the transactions, you have some guys who, over that long period, decide that maybe they’re not wanting to play or they’ve got other things that have happened in their lives in the meantime.
“We try to do as good of a job as possible of communicating with them through that kind of dead period after they sign and up until before training camp.
“So there’s a little bit of anxiety, hoping that everyone is still itching to go and they’re still preparing to come out and be a good football player.
“And there’s a little bit of hoping that they’re doing what they’re supposed to do in the off-season.”
The earliest player signings were announced in November, shortly after the 2022 CFL season. Now, at long last, here we are in May. Matters such as negotiations are but a memory and the story is unfolding, day by day, on the field.
“For personnel guys, training camp is always a little bit challenging because you’re watching all the players going against all the other players who you’ve signed,” O’Day noted. “Someone wins and someone loses. You’re excited about the win, but then you look at the guy who lost.
“Really, what we like to see is kind of a back-and-forth battle where they’re competing with each other. If you get beaten, you come back and you react to it.
“You want it to be a competition, but for every time there’s something good that has happened, there’s probably something that didn’t happen well on the other side, so it’s a little bit different for us watching.”
O’Day, Assistant General Manager Kyle Carson, Head Coach Craig Dickenson and his assistants are all keeping an eye out for the players who can make a difference, starting on Day 1 of camp. For the Roughriders, that was on Sunday, following a three-day rookie camp.
“In pro football, you don’t come into camp expecting to have 10 starters get beat out in camp,” O’Day said. “You know that they’re established for a reason and they’ve been good players. Some of them have been All-Stars and some of them have been very successful in the past.
“So what you’re looking for is a couple of guys in each position who are going to make your team better. When you’re evaluating, you’re looking for players who are going to help us when we get rolling.
“You have an opinion now when we’re out here going against each other. Then it will all change after the pre-season game and we’ll continue to evaluate after that.”
The first pre-season event of note is slated for Saturday (3 p.m., Saskatoon Minor Football Field) when the Green and White intra-squad game is to be played.
Saskatchewan opens its pre-season schedule on May 27 against the B.C. Lions (5 p.m., Mosaic Stadium). Then comes a June 2 road matchup with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Nine days later, the Green and White will open its regular-season schedule against the host Edmonton Elks.
The June 11 game will be the official Roughriders debut of quarterback Trevor Harris, whom O’Day signed as a free agent on Feb. 14.
“He has been as advertised,” the Roughriders’ GM said. “He’s everything that we thought. When you see him practising on the field, you think, ‘Yeah, that’s Trevor Harris.’ But what you didn’t know is how he is off the field and how he communicates with all his teammates.
“The good part is that this isn’t his first time going to another team, so he knows that he’s got to earn the respect of the guys in the locker room. Respect is earned, not given, from everyone, and he certainly seems like he’s earning the respect.”
One key question: Who will back up Harris?
Mason Fine, Jake Dolegala, Shea Patterson and Levi Lewis are the candidates.
“Everyone likes to talk about the Number 2 quarterback and there will be a battle that’s happening there,” said O’Day, who will also be paying particular attention to the offensive tackles and pass rushers.
“Those battles always iron themselves out with time. You can’t be too quick because, if a guy has a good day, you’re excited about him, but the next day he can take a step back and you’re saying, ‘Geez, I was just serving them praise yesterday.’
“There are position battles across the board. We’re always super-interested in how our draft picks are doing, because we drafted them. You want to see how they’re going to do and you want to have great Canadian depth.”
And, as much as anything, you want to see enthusiasm, engagement and acceptance from the players.
“Every night, in our staff meeting with the coaches and the football-operations guys, we kind of ask if there is anyone who isn’t fitting in, character-wise,” O’Day noted. “We ask, ‘Is there anyone in your group who you’re concerned about and that they maybe have to talk to?’
“So far, so good. Everyone’s fresh. It’s kind of like the honeymoon phase, but pretty soon everyone’s going to get tired and their bodies are going to get sore. Their true personalities will come out when things get tough.”
O’Day speaks from experience, having been a part of 14 training camps as a CFL player.
He debuted in 1997 as a member of the Toronto Argonauts before signing with Saskatchewan in 1999. He was named an All-Star centre in six of his 12 years as a Roughrider, including the championship season of 2007, before transitioning into a football-operations role.
“As a player, you’re anxious to get into camp, but then camp becomes a long grind,” O’Day said. “Obviously, your body takes a beating in training camp and, after a couple of days, you just want the season to start.
“From this perspective, it’s a lot more fun. It’s easier to get out of bed in the morning. It’s a little more relaxing when you know that you don’t have to block a 300-pound guy in front of you 100 times in practice before you get to go have lunch.”
But there are, one should note, plenty of weighty decisions to follow.
