Kamloops Training Camp 2017

[David]

Douglas McNeil III has now been mentioned as being a standout in the first two days of camp. Perhaps it's the advantage of being a late season signing (September 2016), but to me he was very noticeable at the OTAs. I believe I mentioned him as being one of the players who stood out to me.


DH

[B.C.FAN]

Hard to read too much into early injuries as they will exercise extreme caution this early. They won't take any chances with even the most minor of strains.

True. Most veterans report Saturday afternoon. Let's hope they all pass their physicals.

Here's Matt Baker's training camp preview and mini-camp wrap, which updates the injury situation and previews some of the key camp battles. Some excerpts:

Five Key Performers From Mini-Camp

Douglas McNeill III– The lanky slotback seemed to catch everything and site and looked confident in his slants and routs. He was the oldest player on hand- McNeill turns 29 in August- so the experience for sure helped.

Tevin McDonald– The safety and son of former San Francisco 49ers all-pro Tim McDonald had two interceptions on day one and narrowly missed two others. He was heavily involved on the sidelines, which gave the indication he has picked up the Canadian game pretty well.

Frank Alexander– Just what the doctor ordered as the club looks to beef up the pass rush. The ex- Carolina Panther proved to be a dominant force and looked good alongside Luther Maddy on the interior of the defensive line. The line of scrimmage battles should only get better from here.

Brett Blaszko– As the quest to push Marco Iannuzzi on the starting depth chart at national receiver begins; don’t rule out the second-year Calgary Dinos product. He already looks faster and stronger than last year and has more of a mean streak in his game.

Keith Price/Alex Ross– Ok, we’ll cheat a bit. As we mentioned in our day one recap, Price looks to have taken advantage of having one year under his belt. His scrambling ability was shown on day three. Ross, a former Coastal Carolina Standout, threw plenty of nice deep balls and showed plenty of athleticism against a heavy pass rush.

Injury Report

Receivers Shaq Johnson (hamstring) and Deon Long (Foot) both spent time riding the bike for much of day three of mini-camp.

The all-important training camp depth chart will be released in the morning before the full team takes to the Hillside Stadium turf at 8:30 a.m. for the first of two Sunday practices. I can hardly wait.

[Matt Baker]

Happy Training Camp eve everyone!

Can't believe it's here. It was a very solid three days with the rookies and select second-years but now that everyone has reported to Kamloops, it really feels real. So many intriguing storylines heading into this season and I have covered a few of them in my preview below. I will be sure to post a depth chart for day one once I have one. As always, check out BCLions.com for daily recaps and our training camp diary. Starting tomorrow I will focus on each position every day with linebackers being first at some point in the afternoon. Enjoy all!

http://www.bclions.com/2017/05/27/2017- ... ew-buckle/

[David]

Great report, Matt. Thank you.


DH

[B.C.FAN]

Training camp is underway under the hot morning sun in Kamloops. I count 84 players in uniform on the field, including DBs Ronnie Yell, Steven Clarke and T.J. Lee. Buddy Jackson and Kenyan Parker round out the secondary. Receivers Chris Williams and Shaq Johnson are riding the bikes on the sidelines.

Cam Ontko is at Adam Bighill's old weakside linebacker position. The first team DL appears to consist of Craig Roh, Mic'hael Brooks, Bryant Turner Jr. and DeQuin Evans.

[SammyGreene]

Great stuff Matt, BC FAN and others. Thank goodness football season is at last here. Really interested to see how good Brett Blaszko looks compared to Danny Vandervoort The consensus was the 2016 draft was better than 2017. Now we can actually start seeing what unfolds on the field.

[B.C.FAN]

Training camp Day 1
Sunday, May 28, 2017 - morning session

The first practice of the 2017 training camp is in the books and, unfortunately, there's not much to write about. There were no team sessions, skelly, 1-on-1s or inside run drills. In fact, there were no offence vs. defence sessions. The entire two hours was a light walk-through in a relaxed atmosphere.

Still, the first day of training camp is always the most important, because that's the first time we see the lineup the coaches have been planning for six months. With a few exceptions, the players who take first-team reps on the opening day of camp are usually the starters on opening day of the regular season.

As mentioned earlier, the presumptive starters on defence based on the first practice are:

CB - Ronnie Yell
HB - T.J. Lee
S - Steven Clarke
HB - Buddy Jackson (in Ryan Phillips' old spot)
CB - Keynan Parker

OLB- Cam Ontko
MLB - Solomon Elimimian
NKL - Loucheiz Purifoy

DE - Craig Roh
DT - Mic'hael Brooks
DT - Bryant Turner Jr.
DE - DeQuin Evans

I didn't get a good look at the offence because they were at the opposite end of the field and I was looking into the sun, but the presumptive starters on the O-line were:

LT - Hunter Steward
LG - Charles Vaillancourt
C - Cody Husband
RG - Kirby Fabien
RT - Antonio Johnson

With Chris Williams and Shaq Johnson on the sidelines, the remaining receivers were shuffled around a lot. I couldn't make out a first-team unit. Manny Arceneaux, Bryan Burnham, Doug McNeil, Brett Blaszko, Marco Iannuzzi, Stephen Adekolu, Nick Moore, Maurice Morgan and R.J. Harris all got reps with Jonathon Jennings at QB. I'll try to watch this group more closely at the afternoon practice.

The only other observation I can make is that rookie kicker Ty Long was booming most of his punts 50 to 60 yards, easily outdistancing Swayze Waters. Both players attended Alabama-Birmingham but Waters is six years older. This will be an interesting battle to watch.

[WestCoastJoe]

Great stuff Matt, BC FAN and others. Thank goodness football season is at last here. Really interested to see how good Brett Blaszko looks compared to Danny Vandervoort The consensus was the 2016 draft was better than 2017. Now we can actually start seeing what unfolds on the field.

Second that, Sammy.

From Matt Baker's article ...

http://www.bclions.com/2017/05/27/2017- ... ew-buckle/

Brett Blaszko– As the quest to push Marco Iannuzzi on the starting depth chart at national receiver begins; don’t rule out the second-year Calgary Dinos product. He already looks faster and stronger than last year and has more of a mean streak in his game.

[aklawitter]

warm one this afternoon - 33C with a light breeze

[TheLionKing]

Long was booming most of his punts 50 to 60 yards, easily outdistancing Swayze Waters. Both players attended Alabama-Birmingham but Waters is six years older. This will be an interesting battle to watch.

Is Long strictly a punter or is a placekicker as well ?

[B.C.FAN]

Training camp Day 1
Sunday, May 28, 2017 - afternoon session

Sunday afternoon practice was another walk-thru teaching session, with no live offence vs. defence drills and no passes thrown other than in a few individual drills. If you missed it, consider yourself lucky. At least fans got to sit in some welcome shade this afternoon. More of the same is planned for Monday before the hitting starts on Tuesday.

The Lions have yet to issue an official training camp depth chart. All observations in this thread are my own, but the pecking order and rotations are clear for anyone at practice to see. About two dozen people were in the stands for both Sunday practices.

The first-team defence and O-line rotations were the same as in the morning session, although the defence ran a lot of plays with Jason Arakgi and Anthony Thompson on the field in addition to the 12 starters. That was bound to confuse people, but I guess since it was just a teaching session, anything goes.

With Chris Williams and Shaq Johnson still sidelined, here is the rest of the first-team offence and receiver rotations, from boundary to field side:

WR - Corey Jones, backed up by Maurice Morgan (this is likely Chris Williams' position when healthy)
SB - Manny Arceneaux, backed up by Deon Long
SB - Bryan Burnham, backed up by Doug McNeil
SB - Marco Iannuzzi, backed up by Nick Moore
WR - Stephen Adekolu, backed up by Brett Blaszko

QB - Jonathon Jennings
RB - Jeremiah Johnson
FB - Rolly Lumbala (the Lions were in 5-receiver set all day so Lumbala focused on special teams)

The Marco Iannuzzi/Nick Moore rotation is intriguing. It appears the Lions are considering starting two national receivers and six nationals overall on offence, which could leave Moore as the odd man out. That will be a key situation to watch. The defensive rotation still has CB Keynan Parker as the only national starter, so that makes seven nationals overall, although David Menard, Dylan Ainsworth, Junior Luke and Maxx Forde are available if the Lions want a national on the D line.

We saw a lot more punting, with full pressure, and placekicking (32-yard converts) this afternoon. Ty Long and Swayze Waters competed in both disciplines. While Long outpunted Waters in the morning session, Waters seemed to do better punting under pressure in the afternoon. I would give the placekicking battle to Long, who hit most of his converts down the middle while Waters hooked a lot of kicks wide left. To be fair, Long has been here for several days while Waters just got here, but it's still an interesting battle to watch.

Punt returners were Chris Rainey (who looks as good as ever), Montario Hunter, Tyler Davis, Marco Iannuzzi and Shaq Murray-Lawrence. Shaq and most of the rookies misplayed several punts but Davis had the play of the day, returning a punt to the house on the final play of practice, and arousing teammates and fans for the only time all day.

EDITED to clarify nationality of defensive linemen.

[Hambone]

Unless Evans' status has changed I'm pretty sure he won't be filling any National spots unless Wally tries to pull a Chris Jones stunt. Evans was born in Long Beach, CA. He played college at Los Angeles Harbor College before transferring to Kentucky. He's listed as an International on the Lions site.

[B.C.FAN]

Unless Evans' status has changed I'm pretty sure he won't be filling any National spots unless Wally tries to pull a Chris Jones stunt. Evans was born in Long Beach, CA. He played college at Los Angeles Harbor College before transferring to Kentucky. He's listed as an International on the Lions site.

You're right. I don't know where I got that idea. I'll fix my original post.

[aklawitter]

Chris Williams stood on the sidelines. He did some light drills with Bellefeuille after everybody else had gone to the locker rooms.

I'd be surprised if he's back on the field by August.

[Hambone]

You're right. I don't know where I got that idea. I'll fix my original post.

Mixed him up with the other Evans, Zach, who is a NAT DE but still with Ottawa?