CFL Training Camp Notebook
CALGARY STAMPEDERS
New starting quarterback, new turf at McMahon Stadium, new outlook for the Calgary Stampeders.
A day after opening their training camp at Shouldice Park, the Stampeders returned to the friendly confines of McMahon on Monday to practise on the new turf that was installed over the off-season.
“It’s awesome, man,” said veteran CFL quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., who the Stamps acquired in a trade with the B.C. Lions in November. “I walked out here and I’m like, ‘This feels good,’ because last year when we were coming here as the away team, it was tough, but it feels amazing.”
“New” has been the buzzword around Calgary when it comes to the Stampeders, who finished last in the 2024 CFL standings with a dismal 5-12-1 record.
In addition to acquiring Adams to bolster their offence, the Stamps signed free-agent receivers Dominique Rhymes and Tevin Jones in the off-season.
Add in returning receivers Reggie Begelton, Jalen Philpot, Clark Barnes and Cam Echols, as well as highly-touted rookie Damien Alford, and Adams has plenty of options.
Calgary coach and general manager Dave Dickenson has liked what he’s seen from Adams and his other QBs so far.
“All four today made big throws,” Dickenson said. “So, you like to see that. Obviously, for me, the quarterback is the guy that kind of takes that room, the offence, rallies the room and can make the coach look good.”
With new players auditioning for spots on offence, defence and special teams, Dickenson and his coaching staff have their work cut out for them leading up to the start of the regular season.
“People are on edge a little more,” Dickenson said. “They know that there’s a possibility that maybe jobs are more available than they’ve been in the past.
“So far, I’m really happy. The leadership of this group has been energy. It’s been bringing great tempo (and) putting in all the extra time right now. It’s just whether we can sustain that, keep improving, get our team going in the right direction.”
BC LIONS
James Butler always knew a return to the B.C. Lions was possible. The CFL veteran just didn’t anticipate the way he’d find his way back.
After two years with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Butler was released in January after a difficult season.
“I didn’t have any heads up,” he said of the team’s decision. “I was coming off one of my worst years in Hamilton, so I was like, ‘I hope I can have another opportunity.’ But I understand the game.”
Hours after the Ticats announced the move, the Lions inked the five-foot-eight, 215-pound running back as a free agent.
Coming back to B.C. was “a pretty easy decision,” Butler said.
“It was an opportunity. (Lions general manager Ryan Rigmaiden) called me and said ‘Hey, we should have kept you here when you left.’ So it was nice to hear that,” he said at Lions training camp in Kamloops, B.C., this week.
Opportunity brought Butler to B.C. — a place he found tough to leave the first time around.
“Obviously, it was hard to say goodbye. But it’s a beautiful hello,” he said.
“I had a lot of success here. My CFL career was born here. And then I get to come back, I get to wear my old college number, which makes me feel young again. So it’s exciting.”
The team Butler rejoins looks different than the one he left in 2022.
Rigmaiden was elevated from assistant general manager and director of player personnel to general manager in December, and at the same time, former Winnipeg Blue Bombers offensive co-ordinator Buck Pierce took over as head coach.
B.C. also opted not to bring back several stalwarts this season, including defensive back T.J. Lee and offensive lineman Sukh Chung.
“It’s a very different group, but I’m excited,” Butler said. “Obviously, Coach Buck, it’s hard to not see what he’s done in Winnipeg.”
WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS
If it’s good for Navy SEALs, it’s good for Brady Oliveira.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers star running back added a new element to his off-season training that’s used by the elite U.S. special operations force.
It’s called hypoxic training, which aims to improve physical endurance and mental strength.
“It was amazing. It was challenging for the mind,” Oliveira said Tuesday after Day 3 of training camp.
“I like to say it’s like bulletproofing the mind.”
Oliveira tried hypoxic training while in Bali, Indonesia, where he spends part of the off-season relaxing, training and rescuing dogs.
Oliveira believes the training he did two to three days a week will translate to the football field and give him an edge.
“When I’m on the field, in the fourth quarter of a game, they rely on me and the offensive line to get the job done,” the 27-year-old said.
“You can’t be tired, you have to keep pushing through. I think that’s exactly what it’ll do for me.”
It’s hard to imagine what an improved Oliveira may be like.
The Winnipeg-born tailback won a second consecutive most outstanding Canadian award last season and was also the league’s top player — becoming only the fourth player in history to capture both honours in the same season.
Oliveira finished the regular season with 1,353 rushing yards and three touchdowns off 239 carries in 17 games. He also recorded 57 receptions for 476 yards and one TD.
The five-foot-nine, 225-pound sparkplug of Winnipeg’s offence said he’s got a lot left for an encore.
“I do think I have more in the tank,” Oliveira said. “There’s still so much that I left on the field.
“You can always continue to get better. Improve my football IQ, I think that will allow me to get into better positions, to get more positive runs.”
All that would be welcomed by fans, who want the team to make a sixth straight trip to the Grey Cup that Winnipeg is hosting Nov. 16.
The Blue Bombers lost their third championship game in a row last season, falling 41-24 to the Toronto Argonauts.
HAMILTON TIGER-CATS
Scott Milanovich quickly removed any doubt regarding who will be the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ starting running back this season.
The Ticats’ head coach emphatically stated Monday following the club’s second day of training camp that job belongs to Greg Bell. And only an injury to the six-foot, 200-pound sophomore will change that.
“Greg is the starter as long as he’s healthy,” Milanovich said. “There’s no doubt about that.”
Bell, 26, had many flashes of brilliance last season, his first in the CFL. In just eight games with Hamilton, the California native rushed for 625 yards (6.6-yard average) and six TDs while adding 29 catches for 230 yards and a touchdown platooning with veteran James Butler.
Bell’s play resulted in Hamilton releasing Butler, who quickly re-signed with the B.C. Lions. Butler spent his first two CFL seasons in Vancouver (2021-22) before joining the Ticats as a free agent in 2023.
“He’s dynamic, he’s explosive,” Milanovich said of Bell. “He’s a threat in the run game … he’s a threat in the pass game and does a good job protecting.
“He’s an all-around back. He has a chance to have a really good year if he stays healthy.”
Milanovich, also Hamilton’s offensive co-ordinator, was critical of his unit Monday for committing multiple turnovers during the team period.
“I was pleased with today but I wasn’t pleased with the offence holding on to the football,” said Milanovich, whose displeasure was clearly audible at McMaster’s Ron Joyce Stadium. “Offensively, we’ve got to grasp real quickly that it doesn’t matter how many good things you do, if you turn the ball over, it washes everything out.”
Hamilton (7-11) finished fourth in the East Division last season to miss the CFL playoffs.
TORONTO ARGONAUTS
Being the Grey Cup MVP has earned Nick Arbuckle the chance to compete for his job with the Toronto Argonauts.
Like all CFL teams, Toronto opened its training camp Sunday. Afterwards, head coach Ryan Dinwiddie declared the backup job behind incumbent Chad Kelly will be an open competition between Arbuckle and third-year pro Cameron Dukes.
That’s somewhat surprising given Toronto looked to Arbuckle to start in the Grey Cup after Kelly suffered a broken ankle in its 30-28 East Division final win over the Montreal Alouettes. The six-foot-one, 213-pound Arbuckle threw for 252 yards and two TDs to lead the Argos past Winnipeg 41-24, securing MVP honours in his first-ever CFL championship appearance.
It was a heady ending to a season that Arbuckle began by exploring his options outside football after remaining unsigned in free agency. He finally joined Toronto on May 19 after the CFLsuspended Kelly for the entire pre-season and at least the first nine regular-season games for violating its gender-based violence policy.
“Last year was last year,” said Arbuckle, who signed an extension with Toronto in the off-season. “I think I celebrated that for about a week and brought the Grey Cup to my daughter’s school and made her a hero with all of her friends.
“But after that week was over, it was back to training and preparing for what’s to come next because if anything, winning last year makes winning this year even harder. You can’t just rest upon what you’ve done before.”
Kelly, the CFL’s outstanding player in 2023, was on the field Sunday but wore a baseball cap instead of a helmet. He sustained fractures to both his tibia and fibula in the East final and required surgery.
While Kelly is expected to make a full recovery, Dinwiddie said the quarterback still hasn’t received clearance to resume football activities. And Kelly might not be ready for Toronto’s season opener June 6 in Montreal.
“Two weeks from now I’ll have a better answer for you,” Dinwiddie said. “I’d say it’s probably 50-50 at this stage.
“I don’t want to rush him back and we lose him for the whole year. We have to be smart with that … we’ve got to understand we might have some growing pains without him but I’m not rushing him back.”
Toronto advanced to the East final with a 58-38 semifinal victory over Ottawa.
NOTES: Toronto signed Canadian defensive lineman Jeremiah Ojo on Sunday. The Argos took the six-foot-two, 246-pound Ojo in the first round, No. 7 overall, in the ’25 CFL draft. Receiver Vyncint Smith and linebacker Brian Holloway, both Americans, were released. Defensive lineman Andre Carter and defensive back Jai Nunn-Liddell, also both Americans, and global kicker Alfredo Gachuz-Lozada were placed on the suspended list.
HAMILTON
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats will add Hall of Famer Miles Gorrell to their Wall of Honour this summer.
The six-foot-eight, 285-pound Gorrell played on Hamilton’s offensive line from 1985-91 and again in 1996. He will be formally inducted Aug. 7 at Hamilton Stadium.
“Miles Gorrell was the heart of our offensive line during some of the Tiger-Cats’ most memorable seasons,” said former Ticats player Sandy Beveridge, who is the president of the Ticats alumni association. “His toughness, leadership, and commitment to excellence made him one of the most respected players of his era.”
Gorrell played 19 seasons in the CFL, appearing in 321 regular-season games, leaving him sixth in all-time league history. The Edmonton native was a five-time East Division all-star, twice the division’s top offensive lineman and earned league all-star honours in 1989.
Gorrell also spent time with Calgary (1978-82), the Ottawa Rough Riders (1982), Montreal Concordes (1982-85) and Winnipeg (1992-95). He earned a Grey Cup win with Hamilton in 1986 and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
Gorrell will become the 30th inductee into the Ticats’ Wall of Honour.
(Canadian Press)
