RIDERS BACK IN THE SUNSHINE STATE

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are back at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL for their third annual minicamp here this weekend.  The invite-only camp features roughly 70 players which includes 15-20 veteran Riders along with dozens of CFL rookies straight out of the NFL, NCAA and CIS.  Veteran Rider QBs Darian Durant, Kevin Glenn, Tino Sunseri and Seth Doege are expected to be on hand along with tailback Anthony Allen and most veteran receivers.

Roughriders Assistant GM Jeremy O’Day outlined the minicamp on 620 CKRM’s SportsCage.

“It’s a lot of work that goes into the minicamps for the fact you’re travelling guys from all over North America to one spot,” O’Day reported.  “And you’re trying to get them all there at the same time.  It’s not like when you put a team all on one flight and they arrive at the same time.  They’re coming in from all over.  That’s the biggest challenge.  You’re watching the weather too to make sure everything pans out when you’re down there.  It’s all part of it.”

As it stands now, the forecast calls for sunshine and 31 degrees Celsius through the weekend on the Gulf Coast.

While the Riders will not make their minicamp roster public, O’Day provided a few details on who will be in attendance.

“You’re gonna see new guys on both sides of the ball but there will be a larger amount on the defensive side just because we’re not bringing as many veteran defensive players,” O’Day said.  “But we will have plenty of young guys on offense as well.  But we wanted to bring a lot of offensive vets.”

These minicamps have proved to be beneficial as the Riders have started the past two seasons 8-1 and 8-2 and it appears the rest of the league is catching on.

“All the other teams are starting to do it as well,” O’Day continued.  “I can’t say it’s a 100% why we started so fast but I hope it helps.”

All eyes will be on veteran quarterback Darian Durant who confirmed his attendance in the camp months ago and it’ll be his first on-field work since the 2014 season ended (he practiced indoors during the week of the 2014 WSF).  Durant’s season ended in September last year when he went down with a torn tendon in his throwing elbow.

It will be keenly interesting to see how things operate under the club’s new coordinators Jacques Chapdelaine (offense) and Greg Quick (defense).  However for his part, O’Day is just as interested as us to see how things take shape.

“The better part of my job is to stay out of that and let the coaches do the coaching part but I’ll be a lot like anyone just interested to see how the offense and defense shapes up,” O’Day revealed.  “You’re always interested in what new will come out of it, and what will be exciting about the offense and defense.  For me, it’s not much of my job to get involved with those meetings.  I do know the coaches have been meeting constantly and keeping us up to speed on what type of players they want to look for in certain positions and it’s our job to find those guys.”

620 CKRM will be broadcasting the SportsCage live from Florida on Friday, Saturday and Monday and we’ll have in-depth reports with Roughrider guests.  You can also follow our Twitter feed @sportscage and read up on this blog and 620ckrm.com.