Questions heading into Training Camp

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TheLionKing
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David Pratt and Dan Russell, what a pair !
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Coast Mountain Lion
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TheLionKing wrote:David Pratt and Dan Russell, what a pair !
Quite a pair indeed. Like a hammer and saw, if you know what I mean.
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WestCoastJoe wrote:
Tighthead wrote:WCJ, I can't believe Dan took cheapshots, and if he did I can't imagine him recycling his material. He is very fairminded and likes to keep his material fresh. #circustime #WHL #houseradio
Tighthead, back at that time, 2003, I used to listen to Russell. He did make fun of Wally and his pet phrases. He used to count how many times Wally would say "as it were," "at the end of the day," et cetera. (I have to admit we did the same thing in school with certain teachers).

Wally still has his pet phrases, but in my opinion has gotten much better in his public speaking. I think when he got here he was also kind of unsettled after the Calgary business with Feterik and Fateri, et cetera.
This thread kinda segwayed into a different discussion....but interesting....Ive never found Wally to be a good public speaker or to be very articulate but he certainly was skilled in working with the media and press.

There are many questions going into training camp including what base defense we will use and whether Chap can continue the style of offence he adopted for the last two thirds of last season.

For me the question marks are

OFFENCE:

Import Wide Receiver: Will Kierrie Johnson be our starting import wide receiver or will Courtney Taylor be able to knock him out of the starting lineup or a new signing be able to step in and unseat both

Canadian Receiver: With Foster highest on the depth chart will we go with Iannuzzi or Paris Jackson as our next depth receiver. I prefer Jacksonk but will he be given a real opportunity?

Backup Center: This has to be Angus Reids last season. We need to prepare for an injury and his future retirement. At present Boulabas is his backup. We will need to decide whether Valli will be our next center, a new draft choice, or Boulabas. I prefer a vet to step into that future role and perhaps we should even look at converting Newman to that postion for 2013.

Starting Offensive Line: The big question is who will be our starting guards out of Hameister-Rees, Newman, and Valli. I prefer Hameister Rees and Newman.

Backup Running Back. In the rotation, last season we went with Brown. Whoever is our punt returner for 2012 will also be the rotational tailback.

DEFENCE:

Defensive Line: With Williams, Mitchell, and Taylor set, the big question is at defensive end and whether we will go with Smith again or whether we go with a more pure rush end type and give Henley or Geathers the shot. Henley has great rush end moves and speed.

Linebacker: I see us starting Yarichuk this season and Leonard is a talent who will also become a starter and a good one.

Defensive Backfield. Korey Banks is set at short half, Byron Parker will start at one corner, Reddick will be our nickelback, and we will go with a Canadian at safety. That leaves Marsh, Phillips, and Lyn-J Shell competing for two spots. Likely, Phillips will be moved to wideside half and compete with Lyn-J Shell.

Safety: LaRose was the starter last season but Couchy Muamba looks ready to step into this position.

PUNT RETURNER

Brown did not give us the threat at the punt returner position that we needed but he played very well at tailback. Will he be back in the same role this year or can we find a better punt returner who can still play well enough at backup tailback?
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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after reading your post i thought to myself " Damn, are we ever stacked in the db department " We are going to cause major problems for other offences
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David
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* How do we replace Solly's 98 tackles? (the answer: by committee)

* Can James Yurichuk become an every down player if the club wants a non-import tandem at linebacker (Yurichuk/Gesse)?

* Who will emerge as our starting safety, a position that's been frankly, average, for a number of years now (yes, even Barron Miles' last year)

* Can Khreem Smith maintain his starting position, or will Rajon Henley or Jeremy Geathers unseat him?

* Can the club extend Shawn Gore (they're not having much luck right now amid rumours he wants to try the NFL again)

* Who's going to be the back-up center? (HINT - he's got good girth)

* Who's going to be the odd man out in the 'over-loaded-with-talent' secondary?

and finally.....

* Who's going to be the surprise of camp? The "Adam Bighill" of 2012.

I CAN'T WAIT FOR CAMP!!!


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TheLionKing
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David wrote:
Who's going to be the back-up center? (HINT - he's got good girth)
And good hands :wink:
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WestCoastJoe
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Receiver

Let's get Gore signed.

Can always use more NI depth at receiver, but we are quite good for now. Foster can be a game breaker. Gore might be in that status too. It seems to me Iannuzzi is more of a skilled possession receiver.

Imports, a bit thin behind two of the best ever, Simon and Bruce. :thup: Still strugging to recruit top level depth behind Geroy, after all these years.

O Line

Deep, strong and talented. Imports top of the class, Olafioye and Alexander. NIs good too. Who will untimately replace Reid?

RBs

Harris is a unique talent. IMO he is the most dangerous back out of the backfield in the CFL. Pretty good running up the middle too, expecially for a guy who is not all that big. Explosive. Foord is a good backup. Not as much need for top import talent in the modern CFL in my opinion.

A game breaking returner would be nice.

QB

Lulay top of the league. Good depth, but inexeperienced behind him.

D Line

Deep and talented amongst the imports. Wow. Mitchell, Williams, Taylor, Smith and the PR guys with potential. Need more NI depth behind Westerman. Hopefully we stay with the 6 man rotation. On the big CFL field it is imperative, in a passing league, to keep the D Line fresh. I would say this was a revelation in our drive to the Cup last year, and the only hindrance is that we need at least one NI. Brent Johnson pass the torch to Jabar Westerman. IMO there must be a serviceable free agent NI player out there somewhere to back up Westerman.

LBs

As I have noted a few times, IMO Wally underestimated the inmportance of a deep corps of import linebackers over the years. IMO Roy Shivers, who has an excellent record of finding LB gems, has finally made his case. We have been pretty deep in this area lately.

DBs

Excellent talent and depth. Safety is the question mark. Non import? It would seem to me Cauchy Muamba is the top candidate. Big and fast. But does he have the instincts? Tad Crawford was too slow for the CFL game and lacked the necessary instincts. J.R. LaRose lacks top end speed IMO.

STs

Great shape in the kicking game, with Hall of Fame bound Paul McCallum and Hugh O'Neill in the wings. Monster kick returner would be nice.

Coaching Staff

No backsliding please, from the "attack" stance we took when our backs were to the wall after 7 games last year. As the Napoleonic Era French general said: "Audacity, audacity, always audacity."
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I'm interested to see how Courtnay Taylor performs at his first Leos training camp.

He has good size for a receiver.....6'1", 205 pounds, has 4. 5 speed in the 40 yd dash, he was a sixth round draft choice of Seattle, got a four year contract in 2007, aftter being drafted that year, and started four game with the Seahawks in 2008, which is a very good indicator that he has talent. He is Auburn`s all time reception leader in catches. Taylor was diagnosed with MS in 2008, which is controlled by medication.

I believe the short side import wide recever position will be a competitive one at training camp..with Kierie Johnson as the incumbent.

In terms of ratio, Paris Jackson has also played the position well in the past and provides a Canadian option for the position, depending on how we approch our lineup.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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Toppy Vann
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WestCoastJoe wrote:
Tighthead wrote:WCJ, I can't believe Dan took cheapshots, and if he did I can't imagine him recycling his material. He is very fairminded and likes to keep his material fresh. #circustime #WHL #houseradio
Tighthead, back at that time, 2003, I used to listen to Russell. He did make fun of Wally and his pet phrases. He used to count how many times Wally would say "as it were," "at the end of the day," et cetera. (I have to admit we did the same thing in school with certain teachers).

Wally still has his pet phrases, but in my opinion has gotten much better in his public speaking. I think when he got here he was also kind of unsettled after the Calgary business with Feterik and Fateri, et cetera.
Wally is not a good speech maker in the media recorded talks to his team game days with too many 'you knows' but what has absolutely blown me away was his speeches since then including coach of the year! He does sound statesmanlike and no one will ever be able to say he doesn't bleed CFL through and through. WB is also the first to note that coaches speeches don't win games either.

Dan Russell lost me completely when he was ragging on Buono post game for this from Wiki:
"Pierce began the season as the third string quarterback, making his CFL debut on Aug 19, 2005 versus Hamilton. In this game, he completed all three of his passes and also threw his first CFL touchdown pass, to running back Antonio Warren, in a 39-15 win over the Tiger-Cats."
WB was put on the defensive for running up the score. As WB noted what was he going to do - tell the guy to fail -I can't recall his defense but Russell was stupid. How was he know the guy was going to come on and do what he did? It was a home game and fans - including me - were going crazy.

----

I think the unknowns do include how the coaching mix works out. You never know. So far it looks like MB is talking the right way but talking won't win games. Of all the new coaches in the CFL this year, I think MB's messages in the media to date impress me more than the other HC's including George Cortez. I was always one who questioned MB's learning as I thought he missed the lessons that were there from Dave Ritchie when he took over from him and seemed to go his own way. So far so good.
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WestCoastJoe wrote:
Tighthead wrote:WCJ, I can't believe Dan took cheapshots, and if he did I can't imagine him recycling his material. He is very fairminded and likes to keep his material fresh. #circustime #WHL #houseradio
Tighthead, back at that time, 2003, I used to listen to Russell. He did make fun of Wally and his pet phrases. He used to count how many times Wally would say "as it were," "at the end of the day," et cetera. (I have to admit we did the same thing in school with certain teachers).

Wally still has his pet phrases, but in my opinion has gotten much better in his public speaking. I think when he got here he was also kind of unsettled after the Calgary business with Feterik and Fateri, et cetera.
If you think that Wally was good out of the gate with his public speaking, you should try and research some of his first CFL HC interviews. He wasn't anywhere near the level that Benevides is now, in fact he looked as uncomfortable as Don Mathew's looked arrogant. Wally has fallen to cliches in the past and after DR made fun of one line in particular ("like I said"), Wally stopped using it. IMO, Wally generally uses the phrases to buy himself time while answering.

In thinking of your version of Wally being a good public speaker, he has progressed to that point. After the beginning of 2011, I have to give him credit for standing in front of the media offering up a degree of confidence about the team. That may have well been one of the key ingredients of the Lions turning around the season.
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WestCoastJoe
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Rammer wrote:
WestCoastJoe wrote:
Tighthead wrote:WCJ, I can't believe Dan took cheapshots, and if he did I can't imagine him recycling his material. He is very fairminded and likes to keep his material fresh. #circustime #WHL #houseradio
Tighthead, back at that time, 2003, I used to listen to Russell. He did make fun of Wally and his pet phrases. He used to count how many times Wally would say "as it were," "at the end of the day," et cetera. (I have to admit we did the same thing in school with certain teachers).

Wally still has his pet phrases, but in my opinion has gotten much better in his public speaking. I think when he got here he was also kind of unsettled after the Calgary business with Feterik and Fateri, et cetera.
If you think that Wally was good out of the gate with his public speaking, you should try and research some of his first CFL HC interviews. He wasn't anywhere near the level that Benevides is now, in fact he looked as uncomfortable as Don Mathew's looked arrogant. Wally has fallen to cliches in the past and after DR made fun of one line in particular ("like I said"), Wally stopped using it. IMO, Wally generally uses the phrases to buy himself time while answering.

In thinking of your version of Wally being a good public speaker, he has progressed to that point. After the beginning of 2011, I have to give him credit for standing in front of the media offering up a degree of confidence about the team. That may have well been one of the key ingredients of the Lions turning around the season.
I never heard him speak publicly when he was in Calgary. I do recall his daughter talking about how he was kind of shaken up when he first arrived here. Struggling with the different phones at headquarters, et cetera. I thought it showed in how often he fell back on pet phrases in his interviews.

Wally's post game speeches in the locker room have been non-inspiring, to put it politely. But I thought his pre Grey Cup locker room speech was pretty good.

More and more over the years, I thought he became a great spokeman for the CFL, for junior football and for his team, the Lions. He hasn't been smooth or polished but his personal qualities and values always showed IMO.

His Coach of the Year speech, reviewed on this website, IMO was outstanding. He has become more relaxed and his solid values in life are carrying the day for him.

I agree, Rammer, about buying time. Most people being interviewed hate dead space. Instead of just being quiet while they think they fall back on phrases such as "like I said." Or worse still ... "ummmm." Better to just stay quiet while you think of what to say next.
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B.C.FAN
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Listening to Bob Marjanovich interview Ryan Phillips tonight, I came to the conclusion there really aren't any big questions heading into training camp. Barring injuries or rookie surprises, the Lions have enough veterans to fill all 24 starting positions and all backups. The only veterans who might be on the bubble would be Phillips (I think he'll end up as a dime back) and Khreem Smith, who will be challenged by Rajon Henley and Jeremy Geathers. Otherwise, I see the roster as pretty much set:

(Starters bold, imports orange)

Offence:
QB: Lulay, Reilly, Leonard
RB: Harris, Brown (DI), Foord,
FB: Lumbala, Cronk
C: Reid, Baboulas
G: Valli
G: Newman, Hameister-Reis
T: Archibald, Fabien
T: Olafioye
SB: Simon
SB: Bruce
SB: Gore
WR: Johnson, Foster, Iannuzzi, Jackson

Defence:
DT: Taylor
DT: Mitchell, Westerman
DE: Williams
DE: Henley, Smith (or Geathers)
LB: Leonard, Bighill
LB: McKenzie, Yurichuk, Gesse
NKL: Reddick
S: Muamba, LaRose, Arakgi
HB: Shell, Phillips
HB: Banks
CB: Marsh
CB: Parker

Special Teams:
K/P: McCallum, O'Neill
LS: Ortiz

That's a solid opening-day 46-man roster with 7 NI starters.
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WestCoastJoe
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I agree, BCFAN, that it is a solid lineup for the Lions.

Kirby Fabien or Matt Norman may supplant Adam Baboulas on the depth chart.

Hameister-Ries would be my pick ahead of Newman.

Akeem Foster may start in place of an import.

Smith, Henley, Geathers ... a good battle there.

No depth behind Westerman with a Non Import.

New import linebackers may supplant Bighill or Leonard.

Import at safety? Dunno. I like Cauchy though.

Haven't heard much noise about recruiting a kick return demon.
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WestCoastJoe
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http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=394933

I wonder if the Lions claimed one of the guys from lower down on the lists of D Linemen. As depth behind Jabar Westerman. As one of those "secret" protections. :wink:

If Jabar was unavailable we might have to abandon the 6 man D Line rotation until he returned. Or find a guy who can give us a few reps in a game. One of the non-drafted guys might be able to provide that.

Or I wonder if ... If Rob Meier gets no takers in the NFL, I wonder if he would play here pretty much for the love of the game. I would have to say it is a possibility.
DEFENSIVE TACKLES
1. Christo Bilukidi – Georgia State
2. Jabar Westerman – Eastern Michigan
3. Michael Atkinson – Boise State
4. Jake Thomas – Acadia
5. Cleyon Laing – Iowa State
6. Hasan Hazime – Wake Forest (transferred from Akron)
7. Jordan Spence – Eastern Oregon
8. Mike van Praet (Western)
9. Seamus Postuma (Windsor)
10. Adam Hindley (Manitoba)
Sleeper: David Rybinski – Saskatchewan
On The Radar: Jonathan Drolet (Laval), Carson Dowds (Saint Mary's), Djordje Gavrilovic (Waterloo), Tanvir Bhangoo (McMaster), Alex Brouwers (Wilfrid Laurier), Lincoln Bryan (Manitoba), Benton Gieni (Regina)
DEFENSIVE ENDS
1. Tyrone Crawford – Boise State
2. Bo Adebayo – Western Kentucky
3. Ameet Pall – Wofford
4. Justin Capicciotti – Simon Fraser
5. Arnaud Gascon-Nadon – Laval
Sleeper: Rob Jubenville – Saint Mary's
On The Radar: David Lee (Western), Frank Pankewich (Queen's), Ryan Downe (Mount Allison), Kalven Seilis (Guelph), Mike Millar (Guelph), Scott Caterine (McMaster), Matthew Meyer (Concordia), Ben Ivany (Wilfrid Laurier), Patrick Russell (York), Alexander Hutchinson (McGill)
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David
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B.C.FAN wrote: Special Teams:
K/P: McCallum, O'Neill
LS: Ortiz

That's a solid opening-day 46-man roster with 7 NI starters.
Great analysis, B.C. FAN. Man, with this crop of vets, rookies are going to have to really turn heads in order to earn a spot on the team. Still, I can't wait to see some of the TC battles (defensive line, defensive backfield).

One minor point. I think Jordan Verdone is going to get a long look at the team's long snapper ahead of Ortiz, as he's likely to be a superior special teams tackler. They're also looking to (get this) convert Verdone to fullback - but that's going to be a project.

I hope we don't miss McCullough too much. He was an excellent snapper. Too bad he retired.


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