RIDER MINICAMP SET TO BEGIN

VERO BEACH, FL – It’s finally here!

The 2017 Saskatchewan Roughriders Spring Minicamp kicks off Tuesday morning at 8:30 ET/6:30 MT at Historic Dodgertown.

“There’ll be about 35-40 guys take to the field,” Roughriders Director of Communications Ryan Pollock told the SportsCage on Monday. “The veteran guys aren’t here, except for the quarterbacks. The rest of the positions will be filled essentially by players entering their first CFL year – whether they’re right out of college or have NFL experience. It’s mainly made up of CFL rookies.”

620 CKRM will be on hand to provide coverage all week long and that includes analyst Luc Mullinder, a 9-year CFL defensive lineman.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” Mullinder said. “Obviously everybody’s talking about the quarterback position and the guys who are involved in that battle. Really, it’s not about just one guy (Vince Young). I’m excited to see how they all do.

“It’s the first opportunity all off-season for these guys to throw against an actual defense – or at least a secondary – so that’s going to be fun to watch. We don’t talk about this a lot, but there’s also offensive and defensive linemen who come to these camps. I’m excited to see which guys the Riders have an eye on because as we all know, it doesn’t matter who’s throwing the ball for us this year, if we can’t protect him, it’s going to be a long season.”

Of course all eyes will be on veteran NFL quarterback Vince Young who will take to a CFL field for the first since signing with Saskatchewan six weeks ago.

“I want to see that he’s done the homework,” Mullinder said of Young. “That he’s put it all in, right? It’s all good that he put together an edited workout video on YouTube but at the end of the day you want to see a guy who can make all the throws and who’s going to be out there leading all the other first-year guys. That QB position is a leadership position so you want to see him getting guys lined up in the right spot. You’re not going to see a guy who needs to run away and avoid defenses. It’s essentially 7-on-7 so make the throws that you’re supposed to make.”

620 CKRM’s SportsCage will be broadcast live from Dodgertown daily at 4:00 pm Sask Time. You can also follow along on my Snapchat account at Pedersenmedia.

 
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