Well, training camp has come and gone, the preseason is over. Since I haven't been in Regina I didn't get the chance to head to Taylor Field to catch any of the training camp, but I've been following them very closely from afar, like Kris Ross on a 'date' with a girl.
Here's what we're looking at:
OffenseQB: Joseph/Crandell, Darian Durant
It's still very much up in the air! Both have had great camps and both put up some good numbers during the preseason games. Crandell is more in the style of the Austin-type passer, but KJ is probably the better choice as long as his knees are healthy. It's nice to know that the moment he falters we will pull him, unlike the pat 7 years of enduring struggling QBs suffering from start to finish. Kent had said that he'd announce the starter on Monday, so we'll see.
WR:
Wow! What can I say about our wide receivers? Remember two years ago when Dominguez went down? Our core looked like this: Elijah Thurmon, Jamel Richardson, Jason French, Karsten Bailey and Corey Grant. The only one still on the team is Grant and that may only be because he's currently injured.
This year: Matt Dominguez, DJ Flick, Jason Armstead, Andy Fantuz, Yo Murphy, backed up by Corey Grant, Nathan Hoffart and a few other Americans. Where's the weak link in our starting 5 receivers? Who does the opposition double team? On 5 receiver sets (which we did a lot of during preseason), we've got 2 of the fastest in the league to stretch the defense (Flick, Armstead) and three of the surest hands in the league in Dominguez, Fantuz and Murphy underneath. I think we're going to give the opposition fits, especially with our recent addition at running back...
Note: Today we traded Jason French and Thyron Anderson to Hamilton for Tad Kornegay, a DB
RB:
Wes Cates, Shermar Bracey, Henri Childs and Fred Russell (one of the last three will certainly be released/traded, probably Russell). We recently acquired Cates from Calgary in exchange for Lazeo. Wow, I'm excited to have him. He's damn fast and a big play guy who can catch in the backfield. In his limited play last year (after all, he was stuck behind Joffrey Reynolds, arguably one of the best in the league) he had 25 rushes for 181 yards and 2 TDs (that's 7.2 yards per carry!) and 21 catches for 286 yards and 1 TD (13.6 yard average). I suspect that we'll be doing a two back system with Cates and Childs, but don't expect to see either of them for game 1 in Montreal on Friday. Cates just joined the team yesterday and Childs has an ear infection.
O-Line:
No more turnstile!! But also, no more Andrew Greene or Fred Childress. Now that Charles Thomas is gone expect better pass protection, which is exactly what we want in our new big-play offense. Returning to the OL are Makowsky, Frenette and O'Day. Joining them will be some combination of Mike Abou-Mechrek, Mike Smith, Jermese Jones and Marc Parenteau. Based on what I've heard from the preseason games, our O-line has been great for pass protection, not so much for rushing. We'll have to see how they work out.
DefenseD-Line:
Well, we said good-bye to Nate Davis, but it was about time. He had appropriately earned the nickname "Weight Davis" due to his lack of conditioning. His play at really dropped off last year, although I hear that getting cut was motivation enough for him to get back into shape for Winnipeg. Could be scary come Labour Day.
With that being said, we see the return of Fred Perry, Scott Schultz and Terrell Jurineack. Marcus "Chunky" Adams and Luc Mullinder will probably see the starting D-Line as well, I'd expect Chunky.
Linebackers:
The linebackers bring a great big smile to my face. Kitwana Jones. Maurice Lloyd. Reggie Hunt. Mike McCullough. Sean Lucas. We've got some beasts back there, all capable of taking people's heads off. Coming into this season, Mo Lloyd was pencilled in as the starting middle linebacker, but after sustaining a minor concussion in the first preseason game, Mike McCullough made a great case for regaining the starting role against Calgary. It's a nice problem to have so I won't complain. Starting McCullough means we can have an extra American on the roster so that helps out a lot.
DB:
This is the big question mark this year. With Davin Bush and Omarr Morgan leaving in the offseason, we've got some very capable and talented young talents ready to step up. Rontarius Robinson has been waiting in the wings for a chance to start. He's a great talent, always around the ball making plays. We've still got the captain of our defense, Eddie Davis back there so that should help the transition a lot. Expect to also see Tristan Clovis/Scott Gordon switching up at safety depending on the situation. Clovis is a better cover guy but Gordon will break your ribs with a strong hit. Just ask DJ Flick how he felt in 2005, the same game that we lost Dominguez for the season. Expect one of Airabin Justin, James Johnson (incumbent) or Lance Frazier to be the other guy out there.
Kicker:
We've got both Jamie Boreham and Luca Congi this year. Expect Boreham to take the kickoffs (he's traditionally the best in the league at kickoffs) while Luca will take FGs. Apparently Luca has improved immensely in the offseason as far as punting is concerned. Reports from training camp have him regularly booting 60 yarders, and that's from the line of scrimmage so 70+ yards in the air. Boreham, while lacking the leg strength that Luca apparently picked up, has better accuracy so expect him to come in for situations where we want to coffin-corner the opposition.
There you have it. Everything you wanted to know about the Riders. I'm really excited about our offense this year. You can see the influence of Kent on our passing game, we completed more 30+ yard passes in the preseason than we did in all of last season. Our defense seems to be pumped up too. We managed to stop at least 4 (that I can recall) 3rd and shorts in the first two games, with rookies in nonetheless.
Of Note: Regina's Nathan Hoffart (WR) made the squad. He'll likely be behind Andy Fantuz and Corey Grant though, but expect him on special teams. He was drafted two years ago in the first round but has had injury problems. He seems to be healthy this year and he's been impressing the coaches.
