State of the franchise recap

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SammyGreene
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Good read here by Winnipeg Sun's Kirk Penton recapping yesterday's State of the Franchise league-wide teleconference call featuring Wally, Tedford and Skulsky. Lots of good info here on and off the field heading into the 2015 season.
The key members of the B.C. Lions offence will have to slowly but surely work their way into form since they're coming off significant injuries.

Once they get up and running, though, they can expect to be, well, running – a lot.

Quarterback Travis Lulay and running back Andrew Harris are both coming serious injuries to the parts of their bodies they rely on most. Lulay, who played only one game last season, underwent surgery on his throwing shoulder, while Harris suffered a bad ankle injury last fall. Neither should expect to get too tired during training camp, which will once again be held in Kamloops, B.C.

“Travis has been on a plan throughout the off-season,” new head coach Jeff Tedford said Friday during a conference call with Lions brass. “He has progressed very well. In our three day passing camp he increased over the three days and as the third day finished everyone was very excited about his progress. It's ongoing, though, and we will make sure and continue to monitor him. You're not going to find anyone who works harder than Travis.

“We have to be smart with him, of course, but he's a strong competitor. He has a great deal of admiration and respect from the people in this organization.”

Harris is also going to be monitored closely during camp, according to general manager Wally Buono.

“Even at the OTA you could see progress from day one to day three, and coach Tedford in our personnel meetings has always stated that we're going to monitor him,” Buono said. “We're going to limit him, because he is a fine football player. To slowly progress him only makes sense for a lot of reasons, one of it is the injury has to get used to being healthy now and it's going to take time for it to be built up. We're comfortable with where he's at.”

Once they're back to full health – and the team's playoff chances this season will likely rest largely on Lulay's shoulder – they can expect to be put through the paces under Tedford. The former University of California-Berkeley boss, who coached, among others, Aaron Rodgers and Marshawn Lynch, was an offensive pioneer when he was Buono's assistant with the Calgary Stampeders in the early 1990s. He plans to take advantage of new CFL rules this season that will encourage up-tempo offences.

In fact, Buono believes Tedford, who replaced the fired Mike Benevides, gives the Lions a head start over the rest of the CFL's offences when it comes to knowing how to run a hurry-up offence.

“I'm not sure that you can say that of a lot of CFL co-ordinators,” Buono said. “Now, they might have been around it, they might have been at a clinic, but when you have first-hand experience and are one of the innovators of it, there's a huge, huge advantage.

“Jeff, over his history, has been a big innovator in this, and he knows a lot of things a lot of people don't, which will be an advantage to him, to our offence and to our team.”

Just in case Tedford needs a little bit of time to get readjusted to the CFL after spending 23 years away from it, he hired well known offensive co-ordinator George Cortez to be his right hand man. The most interesting new face on offence will be former NFL receiver Austin Collie, who counts as a Canadian but has a long history of concussions. If he can stay healthy, he should give Lulay, or whoever is throwing the ball, a big target to hit.

Despite the surgery and bringing him along slowly, Tedford expects Lulay to be ready to go when the Lions open training camp next Sunday in the B.C. interior. The new coach also admitted they can't be too soft on Lulay.

“He's doing a lot of other things as far as playing the position besides just throwing the football – doing things off balance, doing things off platform, falling on his shoulder, doing all those things that can clear him of any mind clutter that may be there as you're overcoming the setbacks that he's had with his shoulder,” Tedford said.

“He feels really good about where he is. We're going into the first day feeling like he's ready to go, but we need to be smart about what's going on and listen to him as well as making sure that we're pushing him enough to get the reps that he needs and to be the quality player we know he can be.”

If that doesn't happen, the Lions will be fortunate to post the 9-9 record they were so disappointed with in 2014.

kirk.penton@sunmedia.ca

twitter.com/PentonKirk

Is it too many losses or too many Grey Cups that has turned off the fans in the Lower Mainland?

The B.C. Lions aren't sure, but the fact of the matter is their season ticket sales this year are “lower than what we had hoped for,” according to Lions president and CEO Dennis Skulsky. “And we didn't play as well as we wanted to last year.”

The Lions, who have hosted two of the last four Grey Cups, attracted an average of 28,011 spectators per contest last year, which was their lowest total in more than a decade. As a result, changes are being made. The organization has reconfigured the lower bowl at B.C. Place to a capacity of between 27,000 and 27,500 and will put up a secondary roof to cut off the upper deck.

“The plan is to go with that configuration unless there is a significant demand that would have us open up sections of the upper deck,” Skulsky said.

The secondary roof will also allow the crowd noise to bounce off of it and back towards the playing surface, which should create a little more atmosphere in the massive dome.

“By consolidating our season ticket base in the lower bowl, we think it's going to make for a very supportive fan base for our team and a hostile one for our competitive teams coming in,” Skulsky said. “That's going to help us get that home field advantage back.”

LATE HIT

A CFL source said Friday the Lions have released Canadian receiver Kito Poblah, who had 15 receptions for 182 yards and a touchdown last season.
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Coast Mountain Lion
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SammyGreene wrote:Good read here by Winnipeg Sun's Kirk Penton recapping yesterday's State of the Franchise league-wide teleconference call featuring Wally, Tedford and Skulsky. Lots of good info here on and off the field heading into the 2015 season.

A CFL source said Friday the Lions have released Canadian receiver Kito Poblah, who had 15 receptions for 182 yards and a touchdown last season.[/quote]

This little nugget buried at the bottom of the article.
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Coast Mountain Lion wrote:
SammyGreene wrote:Good read here by Winnipeg Sun's Kirk Penton recapping yesterday's State of the Franchise league-wide teleconference call featuring Wally, Tedford and Skulsky. Lots of good info here on and off the field heading into the 2015 season.

A CFL source said Friday the Lions have released Canadian receiver Kito Poblah, who had 15 receptions for 182 yards and a touchdown last season.[/quote]

This little nugget buried at the bottom of the article.
Strike 2 for Kito. Bombers and Lions. He has never panned out in the CFL after being taken in the supplemental draft of 2011 by the Bombers. Great size and athleticism. 6'2" 213
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The Lions, who have hosted two of the last four Grey Cups, attracted an average of 28,011 spectators per contest last year, which was their lowest total in more than a decade. As a result, changes are being made. The organization has reconfigured the lower bowl at B.C. Place to a capacity of between 27,000 and 27,500 and will put up a secondary roof to cut off the upper deck.

“The plan is to go with that configuration unless there is a significant demand that would have us open up sections of the upper deck,” Skulsky said.

The secondary roof will also allow the crowd noise to bounce off of it and back towards the playing surface, which should create a little more atmosphere in the massive dome.

“By consolidating our season ticket base in the lower bowl, we think it's going to make for a very supportive fan base for our team and a hostile one for our competitive teams coming in,” Skulsky said. “That's going to help us get that home field advantage back.”
Sounds like they won't be using the existing tarp system the Whitecaps use. I'm curious what this will look like and how practical it is in terms of take-down and setup (if it's not what the Whitecaps use).

Edit--reading LU's coverage it looks like they are going with the tarp system already in place for the Whitecaps. Makes sense, since they can easily open upper sections individually (even though the Whitecaps haven't elected to use that option yet.)

For those who have never been to a Whitecaps game and seen it in action, try this:
http://whitecaps.io-media.com/#
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So rather than put the dollars into a creative marketing plan and outreach the Lions will spend the money on some BS thing that allegedly deflects noise back down.

Skulsky is to marketing what Peyton Manning is to comedy (to paraphrase Peyton's Top 10 line on Letterman's last show).
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More from LU:
Last-minute Lions roster juggling underway

The majority of the roster is set but the next couple of days will still bring more change for the Lions as they begin quarterbacks school, which is the prelude to the first rookie camp session in Kamloops Thursday.

Quarterbacking is going to be a position of early flux, with seven pivots under contract and Jeff Tedford admitting there’s no way to operate a training camp starting May 31 with all of them wanting reps.

Other changes are also to be made. Two more import offensive linemen and another defensive back are being added to the training camp roster. B.C. also doesn’t still have a third kicker, though plans to sign an import by next week.

Though it seems as if the body count is endless, teams are still limited in size, which is why some will still have to go. The Lions next week will confirm a report in the Winnipeg Sun that Kito Poblah will not be going to Kamloops, on the heels of the recent release of Matt McGarva and Akwasi Antwi, although McGarva was still working out at the Lions facility Friday.

Poblah was a favourite of Wally Buono as the player who came to the Lions in the Korey Banks trade with Winnipeg but underachieved massively last season despite being given plenty of playing time. Tedford plans to move Emmanuel Arceneaux into the short-side wideout spot occupied at times by Poblah for the team’s season-ending playoff disaster in Montreal last year. Poblah likely knew he was doomed the moment the Lions signed Austin Collie.

And with Poblah on the way out, players like Casey Chin, Steven Doege and Pascal Lochard may well be wondering about their prospects before long as well. The roster could still look different by the time Tedford weeds out the oversized lineup of rookie quarterbacks and things get going for real in a little over a week.
Link

Poblah split reps at wide-side wideout with Marco Iannuzzi at minicamp. This leaves Iannuzzi as the fifth receiver, and perhaps opens the door to a roster spot for Stephen Adekolu or Whitman Tomusiak
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I'm glad Poblah is released. Too many drops last season.
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Poblah reminds me of Akeem Foster, in that they both have size and speed but seem to lack the play making ability, or hands , or route running or some combination that adds up to not making it in the pros.

Poblah's release gives opportunity to others on a pretty deep NAT receiver group. :good:
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Poblah was given more than a fair share of opportunities last season and did not come through. It was a head scratcher at times. Poblah and Iannuzzi are two players who have been given more than enough time to shine and been lacking, while other players who showed more promise were mostly ignored.

Tedford has impressed me so far in terms of his decision making. I'm excited about the potential of our offence this season. Tedford is moving Arsenault back outside to short side wide out, which is a better spot for him and Tedford is also going to use an import tight end, who he can line up tight or spread out and who can catch the football...a personnel move I have been hoping for ..for a few seasons.

Hopefully Collie can come in and show his stuff and stay healthy.
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In addition to Poblah, the Lions also released Tim Brown, Andre Ramsay, and kicker Steve Shott.
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SammyGreene
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The_Pauser wrote:In addition to Poblah, the Lions also released Tim Brown, Andre Ramsay, and kicker Steve Shott.
Man, in about 40 seasons of following this team, has to be one of the most under appreciated players that I can recall. I get it that he may not be the greatest RB but he is an elite kick returner who was a threat every time he touched the ball. Good luck Mr. Brown.
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SammyGreene wrote:
The_Pauser wrote:In addition to Poblah, the Lions also released Tim Brown, Andre Ramsay, and kicker Steve Shott.
Man, in about 40 seasons of following this team, has to be one of the most under appreciated players that I can recall. I get it that he may not be the greatest RB but he is an elite kick returner who was a threat every time he touched the ball. Good luck Mr. Brown.
Bit of a bummer for TB but not unexpected. I suppose the only thing that surprises me is they didn't cut him loose earlier in the offseason. It was difficult enough getting him into the lineup last year due to ratio considerations. When they did get him in it usually was at the expense of Ricky Schmitt. The fact both he and Shott were released at the same time tells me they must have an INT punter or two signed but not yet announced. Keola Antolin can play the same role Brown has in the past. Lavelle Hawkins handled returns in the NFL too.
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To my account, there's been at least 12 players released/traded from last year:

Khalif Mitchell
Eric Taylor
Ernest Jackson
JR Larose
SJ Haidara
Dante Marsh
Matt McGarva
Akwasi Antwi
Kito Poblah
Tim Brown
Andre Ramsay
Steven Shott


Training camp is going to be real interesting.
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TheLionKing wrote:To my account, there's been at least 12 players released/traded from last year:

Khalif Mitchell
Eric Taylor
Ernest Jackson
JR Larose
SJ Haidara
Dante Marsh
Matt McGarva
Akwasi Antwi
Kito Poblah
Tim Brown
Andre Ramsay
Steven Shott


Training camp is going to be real interesting.
Make it 13. You left out perhaps the most obvious one: Kevin Glenn.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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Toppy Vann
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SammyGreene wrote:
The_Pauser wrote:In addition to Poblah, the Lions also released Tim Brown, Andre Ramsay, and kicker Steve Shott.
Man, in about 40 seasons of following this team, has to be one of the most under appreciated players that I can recall. I get it that he may not be the greatest RB but he is an elite kick returner who was a threat every time he touched the ball. Good luck Mr. Brown.
The underappreciated player has been a Wally era feature that continued on with Mike Benevides who seemed to revel in his ability to control a player like that.

It also happens at every level of sport but some teams like BC actually made a point of it with Brown.

I believe the number of those gone from BC from last year is 15.

I think I read that today.
Last edited by Toppy Vann on Tue May 26, 2015 2:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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