Offensive mini-camp report

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B.C.FAN
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The Lions' offensive mini-camp (also called throwing camp) runs Monday through Wednesday, April 27 to 29, at Cloverdale Athletic Park. I hope to make at least some of the sessions. Key questions to be resolved heading into main camp are the QB rotation (and health of Travis Lulay) and the deployment of receivers in the offence of HC Jeff Tedford and new OC George Cortez.

Here's the full camp schedule:
From Monday, April 27 through Wednesday, April 29 the BC Lions will host an offensive mini-camp featuring quarterbacks, select receivers, running backs and offensive linemen.

All on-field activities will take place at Cloverdale Athletic Grounds (6410-168 Street, Surrey) with media availability immediately following each practice session.

Please note: Daily filming periods are included below. Player availability on Tuesday, April 28 will conclude at 1:30 pm. Position coaches will be available on Wednesday, April 29th only.

Monday, April 27 – Passing Camp Day 1
Practice Time: 11:20 am - 12:50 pm (Cloverdale Athletic Grounds)
Filming period: 11:20 am - 11:55 am
Player media availability: following practice
Jeff Tedford media availability: following players
Check back for updates.
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B.C.FAN
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The Lions have posted a mini-camp roster and depth chart which answers many of my questions about how Jeff Tedford and his staff plan to redeploy their veterans and integrate their newcomers. There are several surprises.

QB depth chart (seems to be based entirely on experience): Lulay, Beck, Partridge, Rodgers. McGhee. Jennings

Starting receivers L-R: Arceneaux, Burnham (ahead of Taylor), Morrah, Gore (ahead of Collie) and Iannuzzi (ahead of Poblah).

Starting O-line, L-R: Steward, Fabien (ahead of Hardrick), Norman, Valli and Olafioye. (It seems the Lions are hoping to start only one international lineman, unlike last year when they started three at times.)

Running back depth chart; Harris, Brown, Antolin, Bigelow.

FB: Lumbala (no surprise)
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Offensive players missing from OTA for whatever reason: Haidera, Adekulo, Tuinei, Lochard, Antwi, Benson. Tuinei is also off the roster as Leonard has replaced his number #82. No word that he has been let go. All OL roster players appear to be present. Great to see Steve Schott back!

The OTA is voluntary according to Section 6.04 of the CBA.
Last edited by ballhawk on Mon Apr 27, 2015 10:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Rammer
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B.C.FAN wrote:The Lions have posted a mini-camp roster and depth chart which answers many of my questions about how Jeff Tedford and his staff plan to redeploy their veterans and integrate their newcomers. There are several surprises.

QB depth chart (seems to be based entirely on experience): Lulay, Beck, Partridge, Rodgers. McGhee. Jennings

Starting receivers L-R: Arceneaux, Burnham (ahead of Taylor), Morrah, Gore (ahead of Collie) and Iannuzzi (ahead of Poblah).

Starting O-line, L-R: Steward, Fabien (ahead of Hardrick), Norman, Valli and Olafioye. (It seems the Lions are hoping to start only one international lineman, unlike last year when they started three at times.)

Running back depth chart; Harris, Brown, Antolin, Bigelow.

FB: Lumbala (no surprise)
Have to say that not employing Hardrick on the starting OL is a large mistake although early still. He is the OL with a Murphy like presence on the field and a much better one at practice.
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B.C.FAN
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A few quick observations from watching the first hour of mini-camp:

1. Travis Lulay took part in many, but not all throwing drills. He had noticeably less zip on his passes than the other QBs. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next two days.

2. Cameron Morrah and the newly signed A.C. Leonard are big targets and will be interesting to watch. I thought all the incumbent receivers looked good and seemed to be more comfortable than the newcomers, as might be expected.

3. Andrew Harris showed no noticeable effects from last season's ankle injury. Tim Brown an Keola Antolin also looked quick.
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B.C.FAN wrote: Travis Lulay took part in many, but not all throwing drills. He had noticeably less zip on his passes than the other QBs. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next two days.
Thanks for the report. I look forward to more.

I noticed on the pdf for the camp right side "important upcoming dates" the pre-season game is confirmed to be 7pm at Thunderbird Stadium, but the date is still TBD.
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WestCoastJoe
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B.C.FAN wrote:A few quick observations from watching the first hour of mini-camp:

1. Travis Lulay took part in many, but not all throwing drills. He had noticeably less zip on his passes than the other QBs. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next two days.

2. Cameron Morrah and the newly signed A.C. Leonard are big targets and will be interesting to watch. I thought all the incumbent receivers looked good and seemed to be more comfortable than the newcomers, as might be expected.

3. Andrew Harris showed no noticeable effects from last season's ankle injury. Tim Brown an Keola Antolin also looked quick.
Thanks for the report, BCF.

Good news re Andrew Harris.

The Lulay watch has our attention.
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WestCoastJoe
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B.C.FAN wrote: The Lions have posted a mini-camp roster and depth chart su
Depth chart ...
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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Rammer
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B.C.FAN wrote:A few quick observations from watching the first hour of mini-camp:

1. Travis Lulay took part in many, but not all throwing drills. Hie had noticeably less zip on his passes than the other QBs. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next two days.

2. Cameron Morrah and the newly signed A.C. Leonard are big targets and will be interesting to watch. I thought all the incumbent receivers looked good and seemed to be more comfortable than the newcomers, as might be expected.

3. Andrew Haris showed no noticeable effects from last season's ankle injury. Tim Brown an Keola Antolin also looked quick.
I think that one QB will play themselves off the roster through this mini camp, we are carrying two extra and really only need one with Lulay's injury keeping him out of the mix for now.
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Toppy Vann
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I suspect that Lulay not putting a lot of zip is primarily no need to take a risk now and that he's just throwing for accuracy.

It is a tough situation for a new HC and a team to be heading into a season where everyone of them inside is thinking what fans are thinking - is he one hit away from being one and done?

I think it's finally showing that when they had Steff Kruck here as QB coach and not QB coach afterthoughts that they were developing backups. It's now looking like the Mike Benevides HC era was a lost era in QB developing as no one is making much of a case for any backup and that's unusual with a WB coached team where he's always had good back ups who fans weren't panicked about believing they can't play. But WB always had offensive coaches who had his ear. MB era has put his team in a bad spot.

I'd read very little in any depth chart in this mini-camp as they said it was a "select" invite only and more a throwing camp and giving incumbents top billing is what they all do.
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B.C.FAN
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Toppy Vann wrote:I'd read very little in any depth chart in this mini-camp as they said it was a "select" invite only and more a throwing camp and giving incumbents top billing is what they all do.
Speaking of select invites, according to LU the Lions didn't invite S.J. Haidara, Pascal Lochard and Akwasi Antwi to mini-camp. I don't know what to read into that.

Foggy first impressions of Leos’ mini-camp

LU has more on the mental side of Lulay's recovery:
Ullrich: A lot for Lulay to learn with new Lions regime
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WestCoastJoe
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http://www.theprovince.com/sports/hocke ... story.html

From the article by Lowell Ullrich ...
Tedford has him doing much more, though: things like extending his arm and throwing sidearm on the run from a vulnerable position, and diving on to a mat while throwing in order to re-learn how to fall.
Yes. Toppy and I see some of this the same way. Your QB has to stay healthy. It was discussed somewhat endlessly with the courageous Buck Pierce. To stay healthy your QB has to make that a priority. Some QBs have done that instinctively. Doug Flutie. Fran Tarkenton. DL players said it seemed Tarkenton had eyes in the back of his head. LOL. Well, he could sure sense their presence, and he had ample moves to make them miss. Roger Staubach. It seems to me he pretty much invented the slide. Extremely elusive. Protected his body.

Since a QB is a Field General, he must stay healthy.

It was my opinion, as a fan, that Buck did not share that value. He was more old school, give it up for the team. Take the hit.

Learn to fall? Absolutely. Learn to avoid contact? Absolutely. And that is for the good of the team.
“It’s about relearning how to fall and learning it’s OK to do that; giving my brain the heads-up to do that so I can do it in a live situation.” -- Travis Lulay
You slide, or you sit on the bench.
And near the top of that to-do list is the demand by general manager Wally Buono after last season for Lulay to become more of a bystander during certain game situations.

It means learning to fail, and fall, all over again, in order to avoid being tagged as a quarterback with a 2011 Grey Cup ring and most outstanding player award on his resumé, but not much more.

“I’m going to play hard but I’m going to play smart. Quarterbacks learn that through time,” Lulay said. “I’m not going to play scared in the least, but I am going to play smart.”
Good. We should have insisted on this with Buck Pierce. And it may be too late to salvage Lulay's career. I hope not. MOP. Grey Cup MVP. Tremendous leader and competitor. Supremely agile and elusive.

Just IMO, as a fan.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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B.C.FAN
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Some observations from Day 2:

1. Travis Lulay seemed to increase his reps, throwing some 20 and 30-yarders. He's not fully up to game speed but he's a lot closer than he was last year.

2. The QB who seems to struggle the most in passing drills is Greg McGhee. I thought on Monday that he was struggling with a wet ball but it was dry on Tuesday and a lot of his passes still fluttered off target.

3. I am looking forward to this offence. I like some of the concepts I've seen and I look forward to the match-up problems that Cameron Morrah can create as a big tight-end sized slotback. When he Lions line up Ina double-tight formation this year, they won't have to bring in a backup lineman as a tight end.
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B.C.FAN wrote:Some observations from Day 2:

1. Travis Lulay seemed to increase his reps, throwing some 20 and 30-yarders. He's not fully up to game speed but he's a lot closer than he was last year.
What you're seeing may be as much as he can do right now. It also may be as much as he's allowed to do. I suspect he's on both a pitch, velocity and distance count. With 5 more weeks to go until camp there' s no sense in risking a setback by pushing things right now.
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