My Impressions to date

I am most impressed with the on field take charge attitude of rookie Rider Head Coach Kent Austin in the first few days of the 2007 Saskatchewan Roughrider training camp at Mosaic Stadium. Austin leaves no doubt about who is in charge as he moves from one player group to another overlooking and supervising their routines and is quick to offer suggestions and demand improvements in performance levels when he feels the execution is not to his liking.

There is plenty of enthusiasm and intensity generated from this group of Rider and guest coaches more so than we have seen for a long time at training camp and the attention to detail. is amazing.

The number one signal calling position is a day to day battle between the incumbent Kerry Joseph and the veteran Marcus Crandell with one day Joseph looking sharp and the next day it is Crandell who sparkles. Drew Tate the highly regarded rookie from Iowa looks to be ahead of second year man Darian Durant for the third QB spot and Tate indeed has a tremendous upside based on his legendary performances with the Hawkeyes.

Shemar Bracey has performed well at the running back spot and at six two and two hundred and twenty five pounds is the biggest back the Riders have had in years and appears to be headed for a big year in this his second as a Saskatchewan Roughrider.The highly touted newcomer Freddie Russell also out of Iowa has shown flashes of his ability and it is easy to see why he has been described as a Charles Roberts clone.

There is no doubt that there are more good receivers on display this year than any one in recent memory.However it is a good bet the starting four will be Fantuz and Dominguez inside with Armstead and Flick the speed merchants on the outside.Flick has been spectacular to date and has literally undressed a couple of DBs in one on one drills and has had no trouble getting open. He should become an early fan favourite and have a big year. .So far when the offense goes to a fifth receiver alignment veteran Cory Grant has been the man.

The offensive line is admittedly in a transition mode with only veterans Jeremy O,Day and Gene Makowsky at centre and tackle retaining their positions from the past.Andrew Greene and Fred Childress two legendary mammoth All-Star guards are no longer with the team and there has been constant juggling between holdovers Antonio Hall ,Rob Lazeo and newcomers Mike Abou-Mechrek and Wayne Smith for the vacant positions

The frustrating CharlesThomas no longer patrols the weakside tackle postion much to the pleasure of most Rider fans and the battle there is now between newcomer John Feugill a former Argo and Belton Johnson who joined the team late last year. The highly regarded Canadian Chris Best figures to eventually inherit that postion but will probably not start for the teams opener in Montreal on June 29th.

On defence the loss of Giant Defensive tackle Nate Davis could be a problem as Jermaine Haley who was supposed to be his replacement has left camp as his two year absence from the game took its toll on him and he was released because of his lack of being in playing shape .The two other candidates for the spot opposite Scott Schultz are veteran Marcus{ Chunky }Adams and highly regarded but short in stature newcomer Andrew Browning from Boise State. This could be a problem area as although he had lost a step Davis had to be double teamed at times and was capable of generating a huge pass rush on occasions.

The linebacking corps looks terrific with Maurice Lloyd in the middle carrying on the way he did when he went on the roster in late October of last year.He has the potential to be a difference maker like he was in the Calgary playoff game last year and he is flanked by T.J. Stancil who up untill he got injured a couple of days ago looked more than capable of filling in for the departed Jackie Mitchell. and the veteran Reggie { The Reaper} Hunt who is as intimidating as ever.The bonus here is the abilities of Kitwana Jones, Anton Mckenzie and Canadians Mike Mcullough and Mike Mahoney.to step in at any time with little if no drop off in performance level which means if because of the inability to find an adequate replacement for DT Nate Davis the luxury of going to a very effective three four defence exists.

The secondary which lost veterans Davin Bush and the highly regarded perpetual All-Star Omar Morgan has been under enormous scrutiny from the coaches and railbirds in attendance and so far three year veteran Rontarius Robinson and off season acquisition Airabin Justin look like the leading candidates to fill these spots. This is a very critical area as only veteran Eddie Davis with twelve years experience has much CFL savvy as the other two starters back from last year James Johnson and Tristan Clovis are entering just their second year.in the league.

The much criticized punting scenario of last year appears to be improved however the punting could remain in the hands of the man whom did it last year second year CFLer Luca Congi who worked out with the legendary Lui Passaglia in the off season in Vancouver in order to improve hos overall punting and place kicking efforts and the results have been evident as he has wowed those in attendance with some beautiful long perfectly spiralling punts and his place kicking which was excellent last year appears to be as fine tuned a ever.He does have competition from former Manitoba Bison and Ti-Cat Jamie Boreham who has pounded a couple of long kicks as well.Right now there appears to be no reason to bring in an American punter.

Special teams which were a strong point in the kick return area when Cory Holmes was here and so -so last year with Domanic Dorsey appear to be in the hands of wide receivers Flick and Armstead as no specialist has been brought in.

Overall optimism reins supreme and the many Rider faithful who are watching the activities on the beautiful new Mosaic Stadium turf from the stands are enjoying themselves thoroughly.It will be interesting to see how the team performs in the controlled scrimmage in Saskatoon which we will be attending and reporting to you on.