Training Camp 2007 - Act 1 Scene 1
Summer un-officially arived this morning at 7:45am with the first airhorn of the 2007 Eskimos season at Clarke Field. Lots of Esksfans members in attendance for a picture perfect day 1. As always in no particular order:
Good 1st day for the offence in general. Normally the defence has a leg up over their bretheren on offence but that was not the case today. The QB's looked sharp, the receivers for the most part really took it to the DBs , with a few noticable exceptions, and the secondary did not record a single INT! Don't know if I should be really excited for the O or concerned for the D? Good thing TC lasts two weeks...
Omar Morgan - Nothing spectacular on day one, got beat a couple of times on receiver drills and did come back to make a pass defelction late in session two.
JF Romeo - Has had a decent mini camp and continued with a strong showing on day one with good breaks, some nice patterns and consistent hands.
Goldie - Wasn't a big day for the RB's in particular with much of their work coming in the form of receiving drills. Goldie had his typical day at TC, good solid effort.
Pat Woodcock - Made some nice catches but on a set drill, ran a lazy route which allowed the defender to cheat to the inside receiver almost creating a pick. Had another catch across the middle that would have resulted in a trip to Strange Street and Wierd Avenue had JR LaRose been allowed to follow through on his read. He Had PW in his sights and was bringing a truck load of lumber!
All three QB's had good throwing days with Ray looking the best of the three. he was spot on much of the day throwing darts. Jyles made a couple of iffy reads, throwing one into tripple coverage and both Lefors and Jyles i thought underthrew the ball on patterns allowing the Defence to adjust. Solid day for the incumbant and decent day for the contenders.
Kamau Peterson - Didn't do much to shake his consitent tag of being inconsistent. First caught three in a row, then 4 in row where he couldn't make or hang onto the catch, then follows up with a real nice catch. Needs to take it up a notch with the competition at receiver and Romeo turning up the heat.
Stanford Samuels - didn't see much of him. Pulled up lame late in the session. Undisclosed injury
Jason Goss - Made a few nice plays but no picks. Got schooled once in the receiver drills.
As noted elsewhere, JJ has not shown for camp and the word is he is retiring. Unknown if the Esks will airlift in a 4th QB. Normally they always have 4 QB's at camp.
Josh Ranek - Didn't get a good look at him today but I did see him get stuffed in the session with the front 7.
Shannon Garrett - Is coming to camp as a CB, battling Jonte' Buhl. Not a great nor bad day for the vet.
Ricky Williams - This guy will be among the early cuts IMO. Get's beat too often.
Ray Perryman - Was a big dog in the mini camp, not quite as vocal in the main camp but had a good session. Would have made a blowup tackle on a receiving drill had the bullets been live. He's battling Ricky Bell for the SAM backer spot. Right now I give him the edge.
Spotted at Camp - Rio Wells, Eric Blount, Mobes and his little girl, prompting a few shouts of "Daddy Daycare"
by his friends on the field.
Kendrick Starling - IMO one of the early cuts at receiver. Has not stood out in the mini camp nor day one.
Vince Strang - This guy has been turning heads with his quickness and effort. A decent day 1 against the full defence. Interesting to see what he does in a return situation. Will be pushing TNT for that spot.
Brandon Guillory - Didn't see anything huge from him today. #97 Mike Murphy has the coaches talking early about him and Russel Rabe is also pushing for that spot opposite of Braidwood.
JR LaRose - Had a big day 1. You can see his evolution from a kid out of junior to a player who is confident in his abilities out there. looked very good in the DB shadow drills and as noted earlier, would have knocked Woodcock into mid August had he had followed though on his read. Hard not to like this kid.
Kenny Onatolu - has a pretty strong effort today. Showed some great speed off the blitz, and was improved in pass coverage from the mini camp. Could be a darkhorse to watch.
Kenny Hollis - The Esks are high on this guy and he has a great motor. Pencil him in as AJ's understudy. As I noted in mini camp, if they work on his run mechanics in pass coverage, he can make strides to be a valuable asset. Has that hound dog nose for the ball it seems.
Brandon Bruner - Welcome to the CFL, hope you didn't mind the schooling - Your friend, Jason Tucker. Tuck turned this kid inside out on a pattern. Not the first, won't be the last. I thought Bruner struggled today.
Rhett McLane - Planted Kabongo in a tackling fundemental drill which caused howls from his teammates. Then gingerly stepped away as Kabongo got to his feet.
Speaking of kabongo, he really has slimmed down and is looking very nimble on his feet which is bad news for defenders. He had a strong day 1 in the scrimmage drills. He's still one big, mean b*tch!
Again I look for him to continue on with his progression. I've said all along he will become a force.
Lawrence Smith / Tony Teller - two big import olinemen but they just don't show the footspeed, especially Lawrence.
Raleigh Roundtree - Was working with the 1st group Oline and had a solid effort. He's not giving up his job without a fight.
Joe McGrath - Had a very good day, neutralizing Braidwood on more than one occasion.
Overal the Oline did look petty strong. Didn't get a chance to watch the RB scrimmage closely. Will do that later this week.
Ryan Kelly - Feelgood story got derailed by sustaining a hamstring injury after taking another hit in the receiver drills. Most likely that injury will punch his ticket off the team. Felt bad for him as the cameras were all on him standing on the sidelines.
AJ Gass - Good day 1 from the C.A.O of the defence ( Chief Asskicking Officer) Was all business.
Patrick Johnson - Runs pretty good routes, has great speed, just needs to be more consistent. Dropped a wide open pass that you can't hide from on film.
Fred Stamps - See Johnson
Jason Tucker - Star of day 1 even with two dropped balls. Was showing all the receivers who the big dog is, by getting open, making tough catches, and showng good work ethic. Another day at the office for JT
TJ Acree - Had a pretty nice day. Good wheels and showed excellent moves in YAC situations. Another to keep an eye on.
Trevor Gaylor - You can see that Gaylor is maturing as a man and a player. Showed very good route running, good speed and excellent hands. No noticable "Gayloritis" while I was watching the offence. He looks to be grasping the opportunity.
Taco Wallace - Solid albeit unspectacular. Looks to be the type who can break tackles for extra yardage. I think he will progres as camp goes.
Mookie Mitchell - Definitely a step slower compared to many of the receivers in camp but still showed some great moves to school DB Ray Williams right out of his shorts.
Andrew Nowacki - Typical day for Nowacki, works hard all the time, made the catches that he had to make.
Antico Dalton - Looked to be the best of the LB's today. Looks really sharp at a slimmed down weight. As said before , it's his job to lose on the WIL side.
Michael Jean-Louis - Cut him now
Thanks again to Dwayne for getting Quake's Ricky Ray NY Jets gameworn signed.
Good 1st day for the offence in general. Normally the defence has a leg up over their bretheren on offence but that was not the case today. The QB's looked sharp, the receivers for the most part really took it to the DBs , with a few noticable exceptions, and the secondary did not record a single INT! Don't know if I should be really excited for the O or concerned for the D? Good thing TC lasts two weeks...
Omar Morgan - Nothing spectacular on day one, got beat a couple of times on receiver drills and did come back to make a pass defelction late in session two.
JF Romeo - Has had a decent mini camp and continued with a strong showing on day one with good breaks, some nice patterns and consistent hands.
Goldie - Wasn't a big day for the RB's in particular with much of their work coming in the form of receiving drills. Goldie had his typical day at TC, good solid effort.
Pat Woodcock - Made some nice catches but on a set drill, ran a lazy route which allowed the defender to cheat to the inside receiver almost creating a pick. Had another catch across the middle that would have resulted in a trip to Strange Street and Wierd Avenue had JR LaRose been allowed to follow through on his read. He Had PW in his sights and was bringing a truck load of lumber!
All three QB's had good throwing days with Ray looking the best of the three. he was spot on much of the day throwing darts. Jyles made a couple of iffy reads, throwing one into tripple coverage and both Lefors and Jyles i thought underthrew the ball on patterns allowing the Defence to adjust. Solid day for the incumbant and decent day for the contenders.
Kamau Peterson - Didn't do much to shake his consitent tag of being inconsistent. First caught three in a row, then 4 in row where he couldn't make or hang onto the catch, then follows up with a real nice catch. Needs to take it up a notch with the competition at receiver and Romeo turning up the heat.
Stanford Samuels - didn't see much of him. Pulled up lame late in the session. Undisclosed injury
Jason Goss - Made a few nice plays but no picks. Got schooled once in the receiver drills.
As noted elsewhere, JJ has not shown for camp and the word is he is retiring. Unknown if the Esks will airlift in a 4th QB. Normally they always have 4 QB's at camp.
Josh Ranek - Didn't get a good look at him today but I did see him get stuffed in the session with the front 7.
Shannon Garrett - Is coming to camp as a CB, battling Jonte' Buhl. Not a great nor bad day for the vet.
Ricky Williams - This guy will be among the early cuts IMO. Get's beat too often.
Ray Perryman - Was a big dog in the mini camp, not quite as vocal in the main camp but had a good session. Would have made a blowup tackle on a receiving drill had the bullets been live. He's battling Ricky Bell for the SAM backer spot. Right now I give him the edge.
Spotted at Camp - Rio Wells, Eric Blount, Mobes and his little girl, prompting a few shouts of "Daddy Daycare"
by his friends on the field.Kendrick Starling - IMO one of the early cuts at receiver. Has not stood out in the mini camp nor day one.
Vince Strang - This guy has been turning heads with his quickness and effort. A decent day 1 against the full defence. Interesting to see what he does in a return situation. Will be pushing TNT for that spot.
Brandon Guillory - Didn't see anything huge from him today. #97 Mike Murphy has the coaches talking early about him and Russel Rabe is also pushing for that spot opposite of Braidwood.
JR LaRose - Had a big day 1. You can see his evolution from a kid out of junior to a player who is confident in his abilities out there. looked very good in the DB shadow drills and as noted earlier, would have knocked Woodcock into mid August had he had followed though on his read. Hard not to like this kid.
Kenny Onatolu - has a pretty strong effort today. Showed some great speed off the blitz, and was improved in pass coverage from the mini camp. Could be a darkhorse to watch.
Kenny Hollis - The Esks are high on this guy and he has a great motor. Pencil him in as AJ's understudy. As I noted in mini camp, if they work on his run mechanics in pass coverage, he can make strides to be a valuable asset. Has that hound dog nose for the ball it seems.
Brandon Bruner - Welcome to the CFL, hope you didn't mind the schooling - Your friend, Jason Tucker. Tuck turned this kid inside out on a pattern. Not the first, won't be the last. I thought Bruner struggled today.
Rhett McLane - Planted Kabongo in a tackling fundemental drill which caused howls from his teammates. Then gingerly stepped away as Kabongo got to his feet.
Speaking of kabongo, he really has slimmed down and is looking very nimble on his feet which is bad news for defenders. He had a strong day 1 in the scrimmage drills. He's still one big, mean b*tch!
Again I look for him to continue on with his progression. I've said all along he will become a force.Lawrence Smith / Tony Teller - two big import olinemen but they just don't show the footspeed, especially Lawrence.
Raleigh Roundtree - Was working with the 1st group Oline and had a solid effort. He's not giving up his job without a fight.
Joe McGrath - Had a very good day, neutralizing Braidwood on more than one occasion.
Overal the Oline did look petty strong. Didn't get a chance to watch the RB scrimmage closely. Will do that later this week.
Ryan Kelly - Feelgood story got derailed by sustaining a hamstring injury after taking another hit in the receiver drills. Most likely that injury will punch his ticket off the team. Felt bad for him as the cameras were all on him standing on the sidelines.
AJ Gass - Good day 1 from the C.A.O of the defence ( Chief Asskicking Officer) Was all business.
Patrick Johnson - Runs pretty good routes, has great speed, just needs to be more consistent. Dropped a wide open pass that you can't hide from on film.
Fred Stamps - See Johnson
Jason Tucker - Star of day 1 even with two dropped balls. Was showing all the receivers who the big dog is, by getting open, making tough catches, and showng good work ethic. Another day at the office for JT
TJ Acree - Had a pretty nice day. Good wheels and showed excellent moves in YAC situations. Another to keep an eye on.
Trevor Gaylor - You can see that Gaylor is maturing as a man and a player. Showed very good route running, good speed and excellent hands. No noticable "Gayloritis" while I was watching the offence. He looks to be grasping the opportunity.
Taco Wallace - Solid albeit unspectacular. Looks to be the type who can break tackles for extra yardage. I think he will progres as camp goes.
Mookie Mitchell - Definitely a step slower compared to many of the receivers in camp but still showed some great moves to school DB Ray Williams right out of his shorts.
Andrew Nowacki - Typical day for Nowacki, works hard all the time, made the catches that he had to make.
Antico Dalton - Looked to be the best of the LB's today. Looks really sharp at a slimmed down weight. As said before , it's his job to lose on the WIL side.
Michael Jean-Louis - Cut him now
Thanks again to Dwayne for getting Quake's Ricky Ray NY Jets gameworn signed.
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