How many free agent camps did we have this year?

[MisterJones]

There are many people to replace and I heard the team was concentrating more than ever on these free agent camps and sending Roy Shivers all over looking for talent. HOw many camps did the Lions put on does anyone know? Don't take this thread in the wrong spirit either. I'm not complaining not when I compare our team to the lazy Riders who don't even put any on which is stupid of them and I hope they continue that. Does anyone also know how we compare to the Stampeders for this to?

[Rammer]

I believe there were 8 tryouts, plus 1 for the local talent, with the following results...

http://www.bclions.com/page/team_tryouts

BC Lions free agent camps have now concluded for the season. The Lions thank all participants for attending our camps in 2009.

The club congratulates the following players who attended a Lions free agent workout and have been offered training camp contracts.

Atlanta, GA

Marcus Richardson - LB - Troy
Damian Sims - RB - Idaho


Dallas, TX

Darren Marquez - OT - Southern Illinois


Washington, D.C.

Emmanuel Marc - RB - Delaware State


Portland, OR

Anthony Russo - WR - Washington
Robert Long - WR - Northern Colorado
Terence Scott - WR - Oregon

[MisterJones]

I believe there were 8 tryouts, plus 1 for the local talent, with the following results...

http://www.bclions.com/page/team_tryouts

BC Lions free agent camps have now concluded for the season. The Lions thank all participants for attending our camps in 2009.

The club congratulates the following players who attended a Lions free agent workout and have been offered training camp contracts.

Atlanta, GA

Marcus Richardson - LB - Troy
Damian Sims - RB - Idaho


Dallas, TX

Darren Marquez - OT - Southern Illinois


Washington, D.C.

Emmanuel Marc - RB - Delaware State


Portland, OR

Anthony Russo - WR - Washington
Robert Long - WR - Northern Colorado
Terence Scott - WR - Oregon

Thats not bad. A friend of mine from Hamilton says that Obillovich came up with some really good players in their free agent camps this year. Its no surprise he stresses them coming from the Lions program and the success we've had with them. Even 7 players out of 8 camps is good even if half of those make the team. Like I already said, I didnt start this topic as a form of complaining because when you compare us to our Saskatchewan rivals there is no comparison. They are cheap and don't even put these free agent camps on. I'm more concerned with what Calgary is doing anyways as Hufnagel knows what he's doing and Tillman will run the Riders into the ground sooner or later.

[Rids]

It is interesting to see the different approaches to answering the question of "How do we find new talent?"

BC went coast to coast this year while Calgary held only one mostly invitation camp at a complex in Florida. Saskatchewan stays north of the border and sends out plane tickets to bring in various players they watched over the fall. Myself I would lean towards the camp set up although some of the players I have talked to won't go because they believe it's just a money making scheme now that they are all $80-$100 to register.

The big question I have is why aren't there any in the mid-west beside the ones in Texas which to me is south anyhow. I would've thought that Denver would be a logical spot due to being an airline hub city for the fly in players and maybe draw from different areas than California, Oregon, Texas, Louisiana, Florida and Maryland. Anyhow just my ramblings on it.

[MisterJones]

It is interesting to see the different approaches to answering the question of "How do we find new talent?"

BC went coast to coast this year while Calgary held only one mostly invitation camp at a complex in Florida. Saskatchewan stays north of the border and sends out plane tickets to bring in various players they watched over the fall.

I'm glad to hear Calgary only had one camp in Florida. I know Saskatchewan has only one scout as well and we have four doing scouting so thats a laugh. We'll see which model works best when we quickly replace our lost players with talented ones that Roy and the other scouts found while the lazy Tillman and Saskatchewan get worse. Tillman's teams have never impressed me with their talent and I won't include Toronto's Grey Cup teams when Tillman was there because he inherited the talent. Just like he inherited Roy's talent in Saskatchewan. I think Tillman really isn't a football man in assessing talent. As for Calgary it remains to be seen what Hufnagel builds. I feel good about our talent evaluators in BC though.

[Rids]

Well Calgary signed 17 out of their sole Florida camp last year with a fair number of those being on the roster at some point during the season. Haven't heard a final number from this year's camp. It's not just a single camp but an invite for players that they have contacted throughout the fall NCAA/semi-pro seasons.

Going around the rest of the league: Edmonton had 9 tryout camps in the States plus 1 at home, Winnipeg had 4 tryout camps, Toronto had 1, Montreal had 3, Hamilton had some but not sure how many. Saskatchewan was the only club not to hold an open American camp date.

[Tighthead]

Anyone ever hear Caravatta tell his story about a local flag football star showing up at one of Obie's local tryouts? Classic.

[MisterJones]

Well Calgary signed 17 out of their sole Florida camp last year with a fair number of those being on the roster at some point during the season. Haven't heard a final number from this year's camp. It's not just a single camp but an invite for players that they have contacted throughout the fall NCAA/semi-pro seasons.

Going around the rest of the league: Edmonton had 9 tryout camps in the States plus 1 at home, Winnipeg had 4 tryout camps, Toronto had 1, Montreal had 3, Hamilton had some but not sure how many. Saskatchewan was the only club not to hold an open American camp date.

Thats greatly informative Rids. Thanks. I had read before that the Eskimos were really beefing up on their scouting. I think its teams like us and the Eskimos even though I hate them that will really be teams of the future. So the Riders don't put any free agent camps on and have only one full time scout? The teams that are chinzy on finding new talent like the Riders and Eric Tillman will continue to get depleted over time and go down. I'm sure glad we have an ownership that is committed to winning.

[B.C.FAN]

The Lions had two camps in Dallas, Washington and Atlanta, and one each in Portland and Las Vegas. Portland, as usual, produced the biggest crop of signings. Las Vegas was the only location that came up dry. This was the schedule:

Saturday, March 28, 2009 - Atlanta, Georgia
Sunday, March, 29, 2009 - Washington, DC
Saturday, April 18, 2009 - Dallas, Texas
Sunday, May 3, 2009 - Portland, Oregon
Friday, May 8, 2009 - Dallas, Texas
Saturday, May 9, 2009 - Las Vegas, NV
Saturday, May 16, 2009 - Washington, DC
Sunday, May 17, 2009 - Atlanta, Georgia

[David]

The Lions had two camps in Dallas, Washington and Atlanta, and one each in Portland and Las Vegas. Portland, as usual, produced the biggest crop of signings. Las Vegas was the only location that came up dry.

Isn't that Roy Shivers's backyard? Oh, the irony!

DH

[Toppy Vann]

Well Calgary signed 17 out of their sole Florida camp last year with a fair number of those being on the roster at some point during the season. Haven't heard a final number from this year's camp. It's not just a single camp but an invite for players that they have contacted throughout the fall NCAA/semi-pro seasons.

Going around the rest of the league: Edmonton had 9 tryout camps in the States plus 1 at home, Winnipeg had 4 tryout camps, Toronto had 1, Montreal had 3, Hamilton had some but not sure how many. Saskatchewan was the only club not to hold an open American camp date.

Thats greatly informative Rids. Thanks. I had read before that the Eskimos were really beefing up on their scouting. I think its teams like us and the Eskimos even though I hate them that will really be teams of the future. So the Riders don't put any free agent camps on and have only one full time scout? The teams that are chinzy on finding new talent like the Riders and Eric Tillman will continue to get depleted over time and go down. I'm sure glad we have an ownership that is committed to winning.

I don't know why misterjones continues to slag Eric Tillman's record which as I read looks pretty good for a football CV.

You might want to check some background on this guy here as it is not a bad write up. Like him or not, he has a pretty solid record in football and the CFL.

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/ ... 6d3ac707c2

I am sure that every team including the Riders has active scouting for players going on. Given Tillman's background, I am sure he has some excellent contacts in the US college ranks and around the NFL. He may not be in the office these days due to other issues but he is no doubt working the phones. The last few years have seen some pretty good Rider teams and funnily enough that was when Tillman took over. It is also interesting that the ONE camp that the Stamps run looked horrid until Rids clarified that it may have been one camp but that it was not left to chance as to who would turn up.

[WestCoastJoe]

I am sure that every team including the Riders has active scouting for players going on. ... The last few years have seen some pretty good Rider teams and funnily enough that was when Tillman took over. It is also interesting that the ONE camp that the Stamps run looked horrid until Rids clarified that it may have been one camp but that it was not left to chance as to who would turn up.

Many (most?) of the players that attend the Lions camps are also there by invitation. It's not just a bunch of unknown wannabe's, with nothing better to do that day, who turn up unannounced. So the host teams have seen the film of the players on their negotiation list. Then, at the tryout camps they get a chance to press the flesh, meet the player, and put them through their paces, prior to signing them for Training Camp. And when a phenom such as (Derek) Cam Wake, driving to the tryout, goes to the wrong city, but has shown amazingly well on film, he gets signed anyway.

[Rammer]

I am sure that every team including the Riders has active scouting for players going on. ... The last few years have seen some pretty good Rider teams and funnily enough that was when Tillman took over. It is also interesting that the ONE camp that the Stamps run looked horrid until Rids clarified that it may have been one camp but that it was not left to chance as to who would turn up.

Many (most?) of the players that attend the Lions camps are also there by invitation. It's not just a bunch of unknown wannabe's, with nothing better to do that day, who turn up unannounced. So the host teams have seen the film of the players on their negotiation list. Then, at the tryout camps they get a chance to press the flesh, meet the player, and put them through their paces, prior to signing them for Training Camp. And when a phenom such as (Derek) Cam Wake, driving to the tryout, goes to the wrong city, but has shown amazingly well on film, he gets signed anyway.

IIRC Cam (Derek at that time) Wake only got the invite when another highly sought after DE didn't want to make the commitment to Canada/CFL/Lions, so a spot opened up for him.

[MisterJones]

I don't know why misterjones continues to slag Eric Tillman's record which as I read looks pretty good for a football CV.

I am sure that every team including the Riders has active scouting for players going on. Given Tillman's background, I am sure he has some excellent contacts in the US college ranks and around the NFL. He may not be in the office these days due to other issues but he is no doubt working the phones. The last few years have seen some pretty good Rider teams and funnily enough that was when Tillman took over.

I'll start by saying Tillman's grey cup win with the Riders was with Roy's players and I will admit a great head coach in Kent Austin. I will give Tillman the credit for choosing Kent Austin. As far as the active scouting you say the Riders have they only have one scout while we have four men all contributing to our scouting. Which approach do you think will win out in the long term? Only an ego driven fool would think he was good enough not to put these free agent camps on and someone else posted on here that the Riders are the only team in the CFL that don't do this. I think common sense is missing over there in Rider land and I'm glad for it and I think it will really start to show up this year with them in the basement and the Lions reloaded.

[TheLionKing]

Does the player pay their own way to these tryout camps or the club ?