Quick Hits from Saturday and Day 3 of Blue Bombers training camp…
1. HOMEGROWN DEPTH: The Blue Bombers welcomed 2021 first-round draft pick Liam Dobson onto the field Saturday morning and the beefy guard/tackle instantly helps further bolster the club’s depth up front.
Couple his arrival with the signing of their first pick in the 2022 draft — defensive back Tyrell Ford — and Winnipeg’s Canadian content looks significantly deeper today than when camp opened.
It also hammers home the importance of the CFL Draft and, to some extent, succession planning. Consider this: with Drew Desjarlais now with the New England Patriots the Bombers have two of their own picks now among those scrapping to replace him in Dobson and veteran Geoff Gray — selected eighth overall by the club in 2017.
Ford bolsters a collection of Canadian defensive backs, most of which were also drafted by the team in Nick Hallett (61st overall in 2019), his brother Noah Hallett (18th overall in 2020), Redha Kramdi (16th overall in 2021) and Patrice Rene (21st overall in 2021). Also in camp is Malcolm Thompson, who was originally signed as an undrafted free agent by Calgary and dressed for two games last year with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
2. THE FIGHT FOR WORK: Periodically during training camp we’ll briefly check in on one of the positional battles brewing, and in light of the Dobson signing focus today on the left guard spot left vacant by the departure of Desjarlais to the Patriots.
Veteran Geoff Gray has 12 career starts with the Bombers to his name and is the front-runner in the early days of camp to grab the spot. Dobson could be in the mix depending on how quickly he gets up to speed and if the club opts to keep the position as Canadian, it’s possible Chris Kolankowski could get a look.
Critical in all this is positional versatility along the front — Gray, Dobson and Neufeld have all played at both guard and tackle while Kolankowski has been getting some reps in camp at centre behind Michael Couture.
In any case, that crew continues to have a high standard and whoever steps in will benefit from the knowledge and expertise of everyone around them.
Here’s Blue Bombers coach Mike O’Shea when asked about the impact of all that on a young player’s growth curve:
“Their growth curve is enhanced. They learn a lot a lot faster with Marty (Costello), our O-line coach, and with the vets there there’s always on every play a bunch of nuances that aren’t just sitting there in the playbook.
They come from experience and so any time a young guy gets to sit in room like that they should get better faster.”
3. NEW QB IN TOWN: The Blue Bombers added former University of Richmond QB Joe Mancuso on Saturday and he was on the field, although just watching, during the morning session.
Mancuso (6-4, 215) spent five years with the Spiders, finishing his collegiate career ranked fifth in school history in passing yards, passing touchdowns and became the first Richmond player to throw for 5,500 yards and rush for over 1,500.
Mancuso joins a QB room that already features CFL Most Outstanding player Zach Collaros, returnee Dru Brown, veteran Dakota Prukop, John Carroll University product Jake Floriea, along with the University of Manitoba’s Jackson Tachinski.
Mancuso’s highlights:
4. FYI: Not practising Saturday were OL Pat Neufeld, Michael Couture and FB Mike Miller. Not on the field after being injured on Friday was WR Carlton Agudosi… WR Brendan O’Leary-Orange spent a good chunk of the session working with the starters on Saturday. On that point, when O’Shea was asked after practice how much we should read into who is working with who, he answered: ‘zero.’… One more from the coach, when asked about what receiver Rasheed Bailey needed to do to take the proverbial next step: “Not just with him, but with a lot of guys… look at a guy like Greg Ellingson — he’s been consistently good for a long time. Nic Demski is consistently versatile, you can give him so much to do and he’s able to do it all. With Rasheed, that kind of growth will look like his ability to move around more, play multiple positions. He’s already very good around the box for us, and then just a higher level of consistency. I’m sure we’ll see that this year and that will be his marker of true growth.”
5. HIGH PRAISE: Here’s O’Shea on DB Deatrick Nichols, who was a CFL All-Star last year and was sensational in the Grey Cup.:
“One, he meets the athletic standard. He’s a hard-nosed football player — all these things are fantastic. But I think what really stood out was he was humble in learning the game. He’s an excellent communicator and a big part of that is he’s an excellent listener. He did not come thinking it’s football and he just knows what to do. The field’s different, the route combinations, the waggle… all that stuff is different and he was extremely humble with the idea he was going to learn as much as he could and take those opportunities to learn, listen, figure it out and not take that for granted.
“He’s an unbelievable football player and super smart. I thought he was a terrific learner last year.”
