TRAINING CAMP TOUR: BC, CALGARY
KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Mike Reilly knows he and his B.C. Lions teammates are going to get sick of each other over the next three weeks of training camp.
But the star quarterback believes eating, sleeping and playing together will help create vital bonds for a squad that has been radically overhauled since last season.
“It’s a great opportunity to improve in football but also just get to know each other as people, too,” Reilly said Sunday after the team wrapped up its first official practice.
The Lions added more than 50 new faces over the off-season, from coaching staff to key players, including Reilly.
Some are once again feeling like freshmen as they start out with a new club.
“I sort of feel like a rookie again, but with, I don’t know, 70 games of experience,” said offensive lineman Sukh Chungh, who spent the last four years with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. “My mindset is just making new friends and getting to know my teammates more.”
Others, like Brett Boyko, are at a CFL camp for the first time. The 26-year-old offensive lineman was drafted by the Lions in 2015, but has been playing south of the border with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Diego Chargers.
Boyko said he was still in California when he got an offer from the Lions last week.
“There’s a lot of new faces here. Obviously me, for one, but new coaching staff, new players and so I think we’re all kind of excited,” said the Saskatoon native. “And we’ve all got the same goal in mind and that’s to win a Grey Cup.”
One key to victory will be growing together as a group, Boyko said.
“Teams that win are tight. That’s just the bottom line. They care for one another, they’d do anything for one another and they play for one another. When you play for the person next to you, it takes an extra step of pride, step of determination because you don’t want to let that brother down.”
The location of the Lions training camp helps foster tight-knit relationships. The team travels more than 350 kilometres northwest of their home facility in suburban Vancouver to Kamloops, B.C., a picturesque city in the province’s interior where everyone lives and trains together on a university campus.
For Reilly, who’s returning to B.C. after spending six years with the Edmonton Eskimos, being at the facility is a bit of a “blast from the past.”
“Here it really does feel like camp because you’ve got the dorms, sleeping in a crummy bed, you know, instead of sleeping in your own bed,” he said. “Just the environment feels a lot different, just being closed off on your own campus. And I think that’s great. It builds that chemistry because you can’t get away from your teammates.”
Those close quarters are key to building the trust that’s required on the field, said wide receiver Duron Carter.
“To do that, you have to have relationships off the field, you have to go to dinner, you have to argue with each other about basketball and play video games with each other,” he said.
Carter spent last season between the Toronto Argonauts and Saskatchewan Roughriders, but struggled, posting just 18 receptions for 230 yards and two touchdowns
In 2017, he put up 1,043 yards for the Riders with 73 yards and nine TDs.
The 28-year-old native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., signed with B.C. as a free agent in February.
Playing for the Lions is a whole new opportunity, Carter said Sunday.
“You get caught up in the game of football, in people wanting you to be something or develop you into something, or they see your talent and want to do this with it,” he said. “It’s just good to be part of a real family.”
It doesn’t hurt that the team is stacked with talented receivers like Bryan Burnham, Lemar Durant, Shaquille Johnson and Josh Stanford who’ve already made names for themselves across the CFL, Carter added.
“These are all guys that have been cornerstones of teams, crucial to winning. So to bring us all together under the best quarterback in the league, you have to be excited about that,” he said.
Despite the plethora of talent, the Lions have a lot of work to do, said head coach DeVone Claybrooks.
“No matter how successful you were the season before, every season you have to strip it all down to the foundation and build from that,” said Claybrooks, who won a Grey Cup as defensive co-ordinator for the Calgary Stampeders last season.
“And that’s what we’re trying to do, one practice at a time, one rep at a time.”
________________________________________
CALGARY – A veteran of 10 seasons in the CFL, all with the Calgary Stampeders, Brandon Smith can’t recall meeting so many new people on the opening day of training camp.
The defending champion Stampeders returned to the gridiron Sunday at McMahon Stadium missing 11 of 24 starters from last year’s Grey Cup game.
“It’s something that we have to adapt to,” said Smith, who also won Grey Cups with the Stamps in 2008 and 2014. “I’m not quite used to seeing this many new faces on the defence. I mean, it’s football. We have a good system here, a good coaching staff and a good scouting department that bring in quality players.”
Explaining that he’s not a “rah-rah” type of leader, Smith said he prefers to help younger players learn the playbook, learn the Canadian system and become students of the game.
“We’ve just got to get us all on the same page,” he said. “That’s what the vets’ job is: to make sure everyone is buying in and doing the things that we need to do to gel and get better.”
Calgary coach Dave Dickenson is happy to have Smith back as one of his leaders on defence, especially because of the departures of the likes of Micah Johnson (Saskatchewan), Ja’Gared Davis (Hamilton), James Vaughters (Chicago), Tunde Adeleke (Hamilton), Jameer Thurman (Chicago) and Alex Singleton (Philadelphia).
“He’s our guy that’s been around the longest,” Dickenson said. “His leadership as much as anything is he doesn’t miss any practices. He’s a worker. You notice he’s out there taking tons of reps again today.
“Our back end, we’ve changed a bit, but we do still have Smitty and (Jamar) Wall have been around a long time. I certainly feel good about those guys.”
Along with 33-year-old Canadian Cory Greenwood, Wynton McManis is one of the frontrunners to earn an open spot at middle linebacker after the departure of Singleton.
“Competition doesn’t scare me,” McManis said. “It actually gives me chill bumps. It makes me excited. Without competition, you wouldn’t really push yourself that hard, so it’s good. I’ve always had to work for where I am and get to where I am. I’m all for it.”
Third-year receiver Reggie Begelton said he’s excited to see who will step up to earn roster spots following the off-season departures of DaVaris Daniels (Edmonton), Lemar Durant (B.C.), Chris Matthews (Winnipeg) and Marken Michel (Philadelphia).
“One thing about this team, it’s always next-man up,” said Begelton, who caught 25 passes for 488 yards and one touchdown before suffering a season-ending broken arm in late September. “You’ve just got to stay humble and work hard.
“I plan on coming out with a statement in showing that we didn’t lose anything. This offence is still explosive. It’s not going to be just me. It’s going to be the entire receiving corps.”
That’s the kind of confidence that quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell likes to hear from his receivers.
“I thought guys looked good,” said Mitchell, who won his second CFL most outstanding player award last year and was rewarded with a four-year deal worth a reported $2.8 million. “I’m excited to see how these guys compete against each other and keep pushing each other and who goes out and takes the spots.”
Whether on defence, offence or on special teams, Dickenson said he and his coaching staff have instructed all of the players at training camp that several roster spots are up for grabs.
“What we’re trying to basically say is go win the job and that’s at multiple spots,” said Dickenson, while noting he’s not looking at anyone’s birth certificates so early in the process. “Instead of trying to look at it as this is going to be Canadian, that one’s going to be American, let’s just go see who wins the job and if you do, you’ll be playing.”
