Paul LaPolice the new head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers met the local media on the eve of training camp on Tuesday and made it clear that every position was open and the competition for jobs would be on… right from the minute training camp opens.
However, when asked to be a bit more specific, LaPolice didn’t hesitate. When fans show up for training camp, they should watch the quarterbacks, the receivers and the defensive secondary.
“No question the quarterback position will be an open competition,” said the coach. “I think everyone is expecting Buck Pierce will be handed the job because he has so much experience, but that’s not true. Steven Jyles has experience and I know him pretty well, Stefan LeFors has experience as a starter and both Adam DiMechele and Alex Brink had great college careers. They all have a lot of skill. Right from the start, I want to see who can run our offence. That’s going to be the key for me.”
Meanwhile, the Bombers come to camp with a handful of good receivers and a load of guys who are unknown entities. Adarius Bowman, Aaron Hargreaves, Jabari Arthur, Brock Ralph and, the best of the bunch, Terrence Edwards are all well-known. However, we’ll have to learn a little about Will Franklin, Chris Davis, Travis Shelton, Chris Ioannides, D.J. Hall and Terence Jeffers-Harris.
The defensive secondary will be huge problem. Unless, of course, five guys we barely know, step up and become CFL all-stars. And don’t laugh, that almost happened last year.
We know about cornerbacks Keyuo Craver and LaVar Glover, lots about safety Ian Logan and a little about DBs Nick Kordic and Brandon Stewart, but we don’t a lot about Clint Kent, Bernard Hicks, Alex Suber, the U of M’s Brady Browne, Jerry Jules-Ralph and Donald Brown.
This competition is wide open.
“I think the competition at defensive secondary will be the best at camp,” LaPolice conceded. “We lost some guys in the off-season and we have some positions that we need to fill. If guys come right in and have good camps, they’ll impress the coaches. If they wait, and say to themselves, ‘Well, I’ll really get the job done in the pre-season games,’ they might find themselves in trouble. They might not get enough opportunity in the pre-season games. These guys have to make an impression right away.”
Training camp will be fun to watch. Plenty of young football players will get very serious chances to make a CFL team.
To be fair, this is a rebuilding season for the Bombers. Unfortunately, it’s the 16th rebuilding season in the past 20 years.
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