The Bombers are now through six days of main training camp after today’s rain-soaked practice. Here are our daily collection of notes and quotes from the session…

THE GAME SLOWS DOWN:

It’s a common refrain used by second-year pros that has come to represent how players feel more comfortable in the schemes, around their teammates, and around their surroundings.

Bombers defensive back Chris Humes spent most of last year on the practice roster and made just one start in the club’s regular season finale. But that stint has him better prepared heading into Year 2 with the Bombers and he’s in a battle for work in the secondary for one of two cornerback spots.

“I got some really good reps in last year competing at a number of spots,” said the 24-year-old product of Birmingham, AL and Arkansas State. “That slowed game down a lot for me, because coming from the States there is a little learning curve. I’m comfortable now.

“There are different concepts, playing with 12 (men), the ‘Waggle’, recognizing splits and depths. Once you get past the little hurdles you come out and make plays.”

Humes was actually one of the club’s final cuts after camp last year, but was added to the practice roster in mid-July. And by the Eskimos game he flashed the skill that impressed the coaches as he led the team with eight tackles in the final regular season contest.

“The best thing is to make mistakes and then go correct them. (That game in Edmonton) helped show what I was doing in practice every day. Then I got the chance to go showcase it.”

The Bombers defence has been rotating a number of players through the secondary in the first week of camp, with Winston Rose and Chandler Fenner now getting a lot of work at corner with the ones. But Humes is still in that mix.

“I’ve got my head down and I’m grinding,” said Humes. “You can never assume anything, because on any day anything can happen. So all you do is go out and work. All I can do is be the best Chris I can be. It’s how can I help myself get better and how can I help my team get better?”

BIG ON BRADY:

RB Brady Oliveira has been on the practice field for less than 10 days as a pro and the positive reviews keep pouring in for the Winnipeg product.

“He’s good. He’s really good,” said head coach Mike O’Shea. “You see how stout he is. He’s got good feet and he’s shown everybody that he’s got the speed that we were hoping and thought he might.

“He’s smart, he’s learning and he’s turning into a pro spending a lot of time making sure he’s learning the stuff that is maybe a little newer to him. He’s pretty complete. Running on the inside he can make people miss in a pretty small space for a big guy like that, for a guy of his weight, is pretty nifty to see. That’s all good. He can play the tackler a few different ways.”

FYI:

Friday’s session featured a fight between Bombers WR Darvin Adams and DL Patrick Choudja… CFL officials were present, including referee Al Bradbury, and helped simulate game action by calling penalties … Taking a knee on Friday were WRs Chris Matthews and Corey Washington, DB Marcus Rios, OLs Patrick Neufeld and Jermarcus Hardrick, RB Andrew Harris… Among those who stood out were DB Brandon Alexander, WR Lucky Whitehead, CB Chandler Fenner.

STEPPING UP:

Kyrie Wilson has been waiting his turn for a while now in the Bombers linebacking corps. He was considered the front-runner to start at middle linebacker last year before the late addition of Adam Bighill and is seen as the leading candidate to step in for Jovan Santos-Knox at the weak-side spot.

“We’ve liked him,” said O’Shea. “He’s been around here for a number of years working hard to get on. When we signed Adam Bighill we took away that opportunity for him, otherwise we thought he could be the guy that would win that job then. But we signed Biggie and ‘Poof!’ there goes the opportunity, which was unfortunate for Kyrie.

“But he’s obviously a good man, he stuck it out, and this could be his reward. He’s still trying to earn that spot. He doesn’t go out on the field believing he’s been handed that spot, he’s trying to earn it, which is good to see… Now it’s just a matter of getting some experience, but lining up beside Bighill through osmosis you’re going to get that experience more quickly than you would lining up with someone else.”

EVALUATING THE D:

Bombers defensive coordinator Richie Hall spoke with the media on Friday and assessed his crew by saying “We’re getting there. I like our enthusiasm. The guys are playing hard and they’re executing and playing together as a unit. We still have a long way to go, but we’re a lot further along this year than we were at this time last year.”

Asked about the secondary, Hall added: “We were in a staff meeting last night and there are a lot of guys that have caught our eyes. There have been some surprises and the guys have just continued to work to get better and that’s what you want.”