Many questions to be answered

As the Roughriders open their 2007 training camp there are many questions on the lips of the Rider faithful. The first and foremost thoughts are what kind of a Head Coach will Kent Austin be? It is his first time as the head honcho and wisely he has surrounded himself with a veteran CFL staff with fourty two years of Canadian Football League experience.

There is no question about Austins intensity and desire to win as was evidenced by his years from 1987 to 1983 as the Riders quarterback in which he directed the team to their second Grey Cup victory in 1989 and set several team records for points scored and yardage accumulated particularly thru the air. There is no doubt that he will be a demanding coach who will strive for the ultimate execution of his offensive strategy and demand an all out gung ho effort from his defense.Will he be successful ? Only time will tell.There are those that say emphatically Yes and there are those that say No because they think his ultra demanding style will wear thin after a couple of months.

Then there is the critical signal calling position with the incumbent Kerry Joseph penciled in as the starter and the fans continue to ask is he the real thing or just another one of the many pivots who came after the Austin era as our field general who has had one possibly two successful years in the CFL and then wallowed in mediocrity.and finally obscurity.

What about Marcus Crandell the MVP of the Grey Cup game in 2001 who threw for over 4000 yards the next year in Calgary ? He showed flashes of greatness in 2005 when he replaced Nealon Greene and Austin likes his quick release.

The fans are excited about the potential of former Iowa Hawkeye star Drew Tate who some of the railbirds are already saying appears to be a combination of Kent Austin and Ron Lancaster.There is no doubt the ball will be in the air at least sixty to sixty five percent of the time as the innovative and scholarly Austin will undoubtedly come up with some offensive wrinkles like the CFL has never seen before.

There can be little doubt that the explosive Kenton Keith will be missed from the running back position and all eyes will be on another former Iowa Hawkeye Freddie Russell.who joins the team from NFL Europe and is described as a Charles Roberts clone. The running game will not be emphasized as much as it was in the past but in the dark , windy and cool days of October and November this team will have to run the ball with some degree of effectiveness in order to win.

It is unlikely the Rider faithful will have ever seen an Aeriel circus like that which will unfold this year.Many have asked me when was the last time we had five receivers who have had 1000 or more receiving yards in a season and the answer of course is never. How do you keep receivers of the calibre of D. J. Flick ,Jason Armstead, Thyron Anderson, Yo Murphy ,Matt Dominguez happy? What about second year Canadian Andy Fantuz? He had a brilliant ending to his rookie campaign and appears to be destined for greatness.

I am constantly asked if I think the Saskatchewan offense will be first in yardage and pass completion statistics this year and my instant answer is Yes. The next question is will they win a majority of their games in convincing fashion? My reply to that is depending on how the defense performs.

The fly in the ointment for this edition of the Prairie marauders is how satisfactorily do they replace Nate Davis , Omar Morgan and Davin Bush from their second ranked defense of 2006.
Davis at defensive tackle who had a sub par season last year was double teamed enough along with fellow defensive tackle Scott Schultz to allow defensive end Fred Perry to come thru unblocked on numerous occasions and make the big QB sack in critical situations. Will the veteran Jermaine Haley who has been a CFL standout but who has not played for two years be able to fill the spot or will it be third year man the undersized Marcus Adams or the much heralded rookie Andrew Browning out of Boise State?

Who will replace the veterans Morgan and Bush in the secondary? Will it be two of Sean Lucas , Rontarius Robinson and Lance Frazier who were here at the end of last year or will it be one or two of the highly regarded newcomers like David Heard or Michael Gholar?

The linebacking corps questions I am asked are usually about whether I think Canadian Mike McCullough will be able to regain the starting position he lost last year due to injury. My reply is that it will be tough slugging as his replacement Maurice Lloyd was outstanding and the rest of the corps Kitwana Jones T.J. Stancil and the incomparable Reggie Hunt are amongst the leagues best.

The other area of concern is whether the the punting game will be improved over last year.Jamie Boreham has been brought in to challenge the incumbent Luca Congi who also handles the place kicking and the possibility of an American punter arriving on the scene still exists.

Will the Saskatchewan fans like what they will see in 2007 .? Definitely a very positive Yes ! Will the Riders be serious contenders for the Grey Cup in this Kent Austins first year as Head Coach? Again a very positive Yes!