CFL TRAINING CAMP ROUND-UP

TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. – Carrying a chip on his shoulder, Cody Fajardo is setting out to remind people of his talents as the new quarterback of the Montreal Alouettes.

“I’m about three years removed from being up for the ( CFL’s Most Outstanding Player) of the year, and some people forget about that,” said Fajardo at Alouettes training camp. “I want to show these coaches, I want to show management, I want to show these players that I still have it.”

Fajardo, 31, battled through a tough year with Saskatchewan last season, losing his job as the starter for the final two games as the Roughriders missed the playoffs with a 6-12 record.

Troubled by an MCL injury all year, his 3,360-yard passing performance (to go along with 16 touchdowns and 13 interceptions) was a significant dip from the 4,302-yard season that won him recognition in 2019, when he was nominated for MOP and led Saskatchewan to the West Division final.

Of course, quarterbacking wasn’t the only issue last year for the Roughriders, who fell well short of playing in the Grey Cup at home. Their offensive line was heavily criticized as the team gave up a franchise record 77 sacks.

Now in line to be Montreal’s starter after former Alouettes quarterback Trevor Harris signed in Saskatchewan following a run to the East final, Fajardo is coming into this season with something to prove.

“Any time you’re coming off a tough year (where) you missed the playoffs in a nine-team league, as a quarterback, I feel like I got a second opportunity,” said Fajardo, who signed in Montreal on the first day of free agency. “That doesn’t come often in professional football so I’m taking it and I’m excited about the role.”

Alouettes head coach Jason Maas says a second opportunity is “exactly what it is.”

“Starting quarterback-wise, when you get benched from a franchise, you either are done with your career or you get another opportunity to go somewhere else and play again,” said Maas. “And you got to make the most of your next opportunity.”

The 47-year-old Maas knows the feeling, having played 11 years as a quarterback in the CFL for Edmonton – where he battled for a playing time against Hall of Famer Ricky Ray – Hamilton and Montreal. He’s also going through it as a coach.

Maas was working with Fajardo last season, giving the quarterback directions as Saskatchewan’s offensive coordinator before the Roughriders let him go at the end of the disappointing campaign.

Not only is it a second opportunity for Fajardo in Montreal, it’s also a chance at redemption for Maas – whose first head coaching gig was in Edmonton from 2016-2019.

“There’s been plenty of coaches that have gone out and been fired and gone on to another team and it’s worked out better for them,” said Maas. “It’s just a matter of someone appreciating (your character and willingness to work at something) and taking you in and giving you the opportunity, and then you make the most of that opportunity.

“That’s what I feel like both of us are more focused on than anything.”

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – The B.C. Lions receiving corps took a hit at the end of last season when stalwart Bryan Burnham announced his retirement after eight seasons with the team.

But heading in to a new CFL season, the Lions coaches are confident they can maintain their success minus the Tulsa, Okla., native.

“(We’ve got) Dominique Rhymes, Lucky Whitehead, Keon Hatcher, Jevon Cottoy, and there’s a whole list of guys and that’s a solid core,” said head coach Rick Campbell.

Rhymes led the team in 2022 with 1,401 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns.

“We know how close we were. We know the work we got to put in, how we need to stay consistent and good things will happen to us,” Rhymes said.

Hatcher was close behind with 1,043 receiving yards and five touchdowns, while Whitehead had 1,011 yards and three touchdowns.

Those receivers are already setting some high goals, Hatcher added.

“Everybody go for 1,000 (yards),” he said. “That’s for all of us. We have the pieces and everybody is locked in on the same goal.”

Whitehead said his main focus is keeping himself healthy this season to ensure there’s no drop in production on the offence.

“I’ve got to be able to take care of myself this season and be able to help the offence as much as possible,” he said.

Whitehead struggled with an ankle injury last season, forcing him to miss the Western Division semifinal and final.

“It’s a lot of fuel,” he said about 2022’s season-ending loss to Winnipeg. “We left some meat on the bone, especially myself.”

He added that he’s likely to take the field for field goal defence, not kick returning as he did last season.

Wide receivers coach Jason Tucker said he’s confident his players can fill the void left by Burnham.

Tucker said the harder part is the mental challenge of getting over how last season ended.

“This group is good. We just need to get over that hump of one more game,” he said, referring to last season’s Western Division final loss to Winnipeg.

Offensive co-ordinator Jordan Maksymic said he thinks it’s impossible to completely replace someone like Burnham on and off the field, and is looking for the receiving corps to collectively work to fill that void.

“That group is going to pick up where he left off,” Maksymic said. :We’re confident his mantle can be passed to some of them.”

WINNIPEG – Willie Jefferson and Jackson Jeffcoat don’t care if fans or opponents think they’re getting old.

The Blue Bombers’ 32-year-old pass rushers plan to excel this season by using their football smarts and experience.

“The older you get, the more you can absorb, the more you can learn, the more you can get better because of that. You’ve seen a lot,” Jeffcoat said following Tuesday’s practice at Winnipeg’s training camp.

It may even a bit of an advantage if opposing players or coaches think they’ve lost a step or two.

“I would love for one of these offensive linemen or one of these offensive co-ordinators to think of me as old or think that I can’t move and try not to give me the respect that I deserve, or that Jackson deserves, or that the defence deserves,” Jefferson said.

“We’re going to go out there and show them. Just like that.”

Both defensive linemen inked one-year extensions with the Bombers rather than test free agency.

They wanted to stick with a team that returned a lot of players after setting a franchise record for wins last season (15-3) but fell short at the end. Winnipeg failed to capture a third straight Grey Cup after losing 24-23 to the underdog Toronto Argonauts in last year’s CFL championship game.

“I like it here,” Jeffcoat said. “I like what we got. I’ve had a bad taste in my mouth about the last game so I wanted to do something special with these guys.”

Jeffcoat missed six games last season because of a hip injury but said he’s feeling good after an off-season program back home in Texas that keyed on different elements, such as mobility.

“I feel really good,” said Jeffcoat, who’s entering his sixth CFL season, all with Winnipeg. “I love playing out here and feeling healthy and playing football.”

In his dozen games, Jeffcoat had 20 defensive tackles, four quarterback sacks, one interception and one forced fumble.

Jefferson returns for his fourth season with the Bombers and eighth overall.

He played 18 games last year and racked up 33 tackles, seven sacks, a pair of forced fumbles and one interception for a touchdown.

“To be able to be around and still be as into the game, as dynamic as we are, that has to say something about our nutrition and the way we take care of ourselves, during the season and in the off-season,” Jefferson said.

Both guys pointed out what a great season defensive end Shawn Lemon had last year with the Calgary Stampeders. He had a career-high 29 tackles in 17 games, matched his career-best 14 sacks (second in the league), forced five fumbles and was the West Division’s nominee for most outstanding defensive player.

Lemon, 34, was signed by the B.C. Lions in February.

“They say he’s old, but I think it’s really just a number,” Jeffcoat said. “If you keep your body healthy, if you make sure about your nutrition, making sure you’re doing what you have to do for your body, you can play a long time.”

HAMILTON – He grew up in the heart of Pittsburgh Steeler country so the prospect of wearing black and gold isn’t a daunting one for Scott Milanovich.

The 50-year-old native of Butler, Pa., which is located 56 kilometres north of Pittsburgh, is back in the CFL as a senior assistant coach with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Still, seeing Milanovich clad in Ticats attire does take some getting used to considering he spent five seasons as the head coach of the archrival Toronto Argonauts (2012-16).

“It feels a little like home for me being in a steeltown,” Milanovich said Wednesday. “I was never a big-city guy so the black and gold fits pretty good to me.”

Milanovich joined Hamilton head coach Orlondo Steinauer’s staff last week following two seasons as the Indianapolis Colts quarterback coach. Also back is veteran special-teams coordinator Jeff Reinebold, in his third go-round with the Ticats.

This marks Milanovich’s fifth coaching stint in Canada. His first was 2003 as Calgary’s quarterback coach before returning in 2007 as the Montreal Alouettes quarterback coach.

He added the offensive co-ordinator’s job in 2008 under head coach Marc Trestman and was promoted to assistant head coach the following year. Milanovich earned Grey Cup rings in 2009-10 with the Als before being hired by Toronto.

Milanovich spent five seasons with Toronto, winning a Grey Cup and the CFL’s coach-of-the-year honour in 2012. He resigned following the 2016 season and joined the Jacksonville Jaguars as quarterback coach on Doug Marrone’s staff.

Milanovich returned to Canada as head coach in Edmonton following the 2019 season but never got on the field as the global pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 season. Amid the uncertainty regarding the 2021 campaign – it ultimately began late and with a reduced schedule – Milanovich resigned to pursue NFL opportunities, ultimately landing with Indianapolis to work with head coach Frank Reich and offensive coordinator Marcus Brady (who was Milanovich’s offensive coordinator in Toronto).

Sadly, the 2022 season was one to forget for Indianapolis (4-12-1) as Brady was fired following the club’s 3-4-1 start. Reich was let go shortly afterwards, replaced on an interim basis by former Colts centre Jeff Saturday.

Indianapolis hired Shane Steichen, the former Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator, as head coach in February.

Change is certainly the name of the game in pro football, especially within the coaching ranks. Milanovich, whose father, Gary, was a high-school football coach, said a transient lifestyle comes with the territory.

“Oh yeah, absolutely,” he said. “We (Milanovich and his wife, Jaime) just bought a house in Florida that’s going be our final one.

“Yeah, we understand it but, really, I’ve been pretty fortunate.”

Milanovich said his return to the Canadian game has been a seamless one. In fact, it was much easier than having to get used to American football.

“It was harder to go back down south because I’d been up here for 10 years,” he said. “I almost had to relearn the 11-man game.

“The big difference for me right now is trying to wrap my head around the different hashes and how you can exploit that. But it’s a different environment (in CFL). There’s a certain purity and grassroots feel to it and it’s still, in my opinion, the second-best football in the world. I’ve always loved the CFL.”

Ditto for Reinebold, 65, who began coaching in the CFL in 1991 with B.C. He has been with six different teams – more than once with the Lions and Hamilton – and served as head coach/GM of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1997-98).

Reinebold, also Hamilton’s assistant defensive backs coach, assumed special-teams duties after Craig Butler stepped away after the 2022 season for family reasons. Reinebold rejoined the Ticats after working as director of player development at the University of Hawaii last year.

“This is a special place and it’s special for many reasons,” Reinebold said. “Football and life are the same, they’re about people and we have great people here from (owner) Bob Young all the way through to the business side.”

(Canadian Press)