Blue-urns

Drew Willy looking much better today.
From the WRs that stood out today: Moore, Watson, Kelly, Denmark, and Urrutia looking good all with some nice catches.
Our D-line looks sick good. It'll be better than last year.
In terms of punting, Hajrullahu and Renaud look even in terms of distance. Both consistently around 60 yards. My early prediction is Renaud is our punter and Hajrullahu is our PK this season. Maher hasn't stood out enough to me to warrant using an import spot.
OT's are Jones, January, Neufeld, Peterson. The rest of the OL are practicing as centre or guard. Swiston injured but I believe he's a tackle.

Bob Wylie still absent from practice. Second practice in a row. Penton told me he's been told that's a question for coach O'Shea.
The OLs are mostly taking turns lining up all over the place. Goossen getting most of the reps at centre. Morley taking reps at centre and RG. Neufeld appears to be the starting RT...getting the most reps there.
Swiston standing on the sidelines not practicing. Including Swiston I count 15 OL here today.
Willy with a beauty deep pass completed to Kemp. Randle was the the DB.
Kevin Smith hurt himself in one on one drills. He's trying to walk it off on the sidelines.

Thanks a lot for the updates for those of us who can't make it.

Day 3 rookie camp, from the Mike O"Shea video:
 
Sum up the rookie camp..how was it?   -  Those last 12 plays were excellent. The effort is that last team period was what we need, guys were flying around….when they see it on film, they'll know what's expected, what they should expect of themselves.
 
Ed Tait says: O’Shea said he doesn’t need to try and temper his enthusiasm for the rookies’ collective work, knowing they’ll soon be going head-to-head against the veterans. Instead, he wants to embrace what he’s seen. -Wpg. Free Press
 
Quote - Mike OShea :"I don’t know that you should temper (his enthusiasm)," he said. "We talked about this after Day 1: everybody qualified things by saying, ‘Oh, it’s only Day 1.’ Sure. But as long as you don’t get blinded to the other facts that will arise as time goes on and the other practices take place, I think it’s quite OK to talk about a player who did well on the first day.
"I think it’s good to be excited."
Mike OS'hea is excited about our DBs. (explains this in video)
He says he'll talk to Kyle W. about potential cuts for Sunday.
"Canadian receivers will be held to a higher standard."
When talking about Canadian talent, Mike says they will not put anybody on the field based on anything other than 'do they make our team better' 
Mike feels that because they only have cut a couple of guys, that they have done a good job of bringing in the guys they wanted and that these players have come in and represented themselves well.
Excited for Sat. and the energy that players will be bringing in.
http://www.bluebombers.com/video/index/id/96503#
 
And to think - the difference in style and manner between Mike O'Shea and last year's coach……is extraordinary and we well deserve it.

Hajrullahu and Maher both hitting some beauty 60-65 yard punts. Hajrullahu hitting 35 yard FGs with ease. Missed several wide from 42 yards out. Maher looking much more comfortable with FGs beyond 40.
Walters and McManus on the field today observing. McManus now involved in helping a bit coach the receivers.
Lots of construction going on the West side of the stadium. Looks like they're building some small balconies right under the ribbon below the upper bowl.
Quinn Everett lining up at RG during early drills.
Bob Wylie nowhere to be seen. Appears someone else is working with the OL today.
Willy I thought looked better today. Nice strong accurate arm. Takes longer than Hall to get rid of the ball though. Hall sees what he likes and makes his throw. Willy likes progressing through his reads and takes an extra second to get rid of the ball, compared to Hall. Willy threw a nice short pass on the run.
Jason Vega showed up and is chatting with fans in the stands.

I'm not going to get into an argument about this. You have to remember the time frame. We had some damn good teams in the Brock era, but no one could hold a candle to the 1978-1982 Edmonton Eskimo teams. They were in a league of their own. Dieter just hit a really bad time in CFL history to be at the top of his game, I've never seen a team that dominant as the Eskimos were at that point since, other than perhaps the 1985 Chicago Bears.

Nobody is getting a little chubby other than you perhaps. The people who reported from training camp are just reporting what they saw, nothing more nothing less. If you don't like the reports because they might be enthusiastic then don't read them!

Those of us that remember Dieter Brock in his prime still hunger for a guy that could huck a ball 50 yards with a flick of his wrist. Dieter could throw a football through a car wash and it would be still be dry on the other side. Yes that gives me a chubby, and I'm proud to say it.

I don't remember Darrel Hackney being any good outside of his strong arm.

It'd be hard to argue that with what Hall showed, in limited time, under trying circumstances last year, that he isn't the shoe-in back up QB…until further notice.
Despite the blue-pill effect of the strong armed Marve and Brohm, they still have to prove where to turn at the snap of the ball.
Willy and Hall..then we'll see.

I'm having a hard time following your point.
 
They traded for Brohm. So? They signed Marve too. There's obviously interest in both of them.
 
And now you seem to be backing off your solid stance a bit. You're opening up to the possibility. That's good. But I'm just having a hard time seeing where you really stand.

Funny how people watching the same practice see different things
 
QB's
 
I thought Marve was a standout, my wife who only knows a small amount about football, said to me "look at that #16...does he ever have an arm" What I liked about him is that not only does he zip the ball in there but he appears to be very accurate.
 
I also thought Max Hall had a good day as well.
 
Nothing wrong with Willy...he will get there the more he plays
 
I thought the QB from the Bisons...name escapes me...also has a very good arm. Too bad he will never be a QB in the CFL
 
Brohm didn't really do anything to impress me at this point.
 
Receivers
 
We have some big dudes. I actually thought Urritia dropped a few that he should have had, he was not the standout for me.
 
I like Braylon Bell #88 who is also a very big dude, and he was catching almost everything thrown at him, and moves in a very fluid motion, and makes the catches look easy.
 
The receiver I really liked was #71 CJ Tarver. He has to be the smallest guy on the field. He has really good moves and always catches with his hands and makes the
catches look easy as well. I don't recall him dropping a ball all practice.
 
Brescasin....looks like a bigger and stronger Etienne to me, perhaps not as fast but much better at route running than when I first saw Jade. Only problem for me is that he seldom
catches with his hands, and that is likely to be a problem for him, unless he can correct that.
 
Jaymar Johnson also had some good moments, but not consistently.
 
Jason Barnes and Donavan Kemp were not two of the best.
 
Running Backs...I can only say that we will have very good competition at this position.
 
I liked Nic Grigsby, and at first I thought Kevin Smith just looked slow, but later on though he had some moves. Interesting how we have several pretty small guys and he stands out as
being considerably bigger.
 
I didn't have any problem with Cotton Paris either, both those guys look like they can play.
 
I also really liked Errol Brooks...has really good moves and is very fast.
 
CJ Tarver is listed as a RB/KR but he played mostly receiver.
 
I didn't really pay any attention to the OL
 
One defence Matt Pierce stood out for me, hustles all over the field and always looking to make a play.
 
Briggs and Eisho seemed to be platooning every play.
 
Etch at one point yelled out "practice like professionals" He was mad.
 
He also had a good tongue lashing for Briggs at one point.
 
Bob Wylie is "huge" and it's all around the middle. I really fear for his health!
 
liram hajrullahu booted some great kicks with lots of hang time.  Brett Maher was pretty good too, but shanked a couple.
 
Lots and lots of off sides which can be expected when no one had their timing down yet.
 
Well that's my take on Day 1...might go this afternoon as well.

Deal.  When he turns 50 we're cutting him, no questions asked.
 
The knee I had operated on feels pretty normal and functions well, way better than when I was trying to just rehab without surgery.  The other knee never got injured badly enough to deserve surgery, so it just aches all the time.  It's aching as I type this.  Having had surgery on knees is completely different these days,  AP ran for 2000 yards on his surgified knee.

Thanks to all who posted info, it's greatly appreciated.  I tried to throw a few likes around.  Don't spend them all in one place.

Random-ish thought: I think Hall will be a very good backup QB for us.  Can easily come in and do the job if Drew is struggling.

My Rookie Camp Thoughts:
 
Willy and Marve stood out as the two best QBs on the day. As previously mentioned, in the team skelly drill Marve rolled out fast and delivered a bullet to Kemp. I actually exclaimed 'Wow!'.
 
Paris Cotton has my vote for best RB on the day, didn't seem out of place at all.

REC Urritia is huge and caught everything thrown at him. Kemp dropped at least 3 in the single skelly drills, and the coaches had to scream at him to go get his dropped ball more than once. He seemed disheartened.
 
Didn't catch much of the O-lineman other than the 4-6-8 (Right side of the line) holes seemed to be a lot more succssful than the opposite side.
 
 
D-line Gatling stood out to me for his motor, he was constantly right in the scrums and never gave up on the ball.
 
Briggs and Eisho didn't look out of place at all IMO, which is a very positive sign.
 
DBs looked alright, most of them were beat on the deep balls but I wouldn't look into it much.
 
Liam booooooomed a few punts, and Maher looked pretty good as well, minus a couple of shanks.
 
 
Edit: I also noticed the player who was sprinting up and down the sidelines all practice.. who was it? I don't think it was Aaron Woods. But man he could fly!

I agree with a lot of what AKAChip said.  Honestly I mostly  watched the QBs and the receivers.
 
QBs - Willy looked pretty good.  Good zip on the ball.  Quick decisions.  Nothing overly flashy but I thought he was throwing the ball accurately.  
 
Hall was his usual self, decides where he's going to throw it, and it may be into a swarm but he does get it there.  
 
Marve may have the tools but he was showing a lot of "deer in headlights" not knowing where to go with the ball at times.  
 
Would say that Brohm had him beat out in that respect, but a lot of the time Brohm was just making the easy throw (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).  I think Brohm also comes off as the stiff, sit in the pocket NFL QB, but I may be wrong.
 
WR - Mario Urrutia was getting a lot of throws and looked fairly shifty and speedy with the ball in his hands (especially for a big guy).  Agreed that he had some of the better hands today.  
 
I would say C.J. Tarver had pretty good hands as well.  He is a very interesting player.  At times it didn't even look like he was trying to outrun people, but was still outrunning them.
 
Kemp, well, let's just say Mike that you didn't stay long enough to see some of his good work.  I know what you mean though, early on he was flat out dropping balls and didn't look super great.  But in 1 on 1s he looked dominant against some of the DBs out there.  Ran crisp, fast routes and made some of the DBs look silly.  But also dropped one in Skelly late.
 
Taylor Renaud looks to be one of the depth guys that could stick around.  He had more than one good catch out there today.  But again, the level of competition he was facing wasn't exactly stellar.
 
I don't know if I have any more to share, but I'll let you know if I think of something.

Disagree with this. Maybe it was only one practice but this guy has all the tools. I'm in love.
 
Brohm was easily the weakest of the QBs and while I like what Hall brings to the table, he is what he is. Marve has zip on his throws and one particular example I have is on one play, he showed great mobility on a roll out to his right while being chased by a lineman and while on the run fired a bullet to Donovan Kemp. Perfect throw and a good example of what he can do. It's early, but I think he easily gets the project 3rd QB job on this squad.
 
Yantz surprised me as well. He has a much better arm than I expected. I liked Willy as well. Good arm and he looked like a leader out there. The talent at QB in camp this year is light years ahead of last year. I finally see what other team's fans see when they have a young QB who comes in and really impresses. I know it's early and I can't get too excited but damn. I'm impressed. Nothing like Clement from last year or other first year camp QBs that we've had in the past.
 
It's really tough to gauge anything other than QBs, DBs and receivers so I'll just go over the DBs and receivers now.
 
The pick 6 was Matt Pierce from Hall, not Unamba from Willy but afterwards Unamba chest bumped with Pierce and I really liked that show of camaraderie. Unamba and Pierce are two of the less heralded DB prospects but from a straight up coverage standpoint, they both stood out the most. Still, the receivers on the whole were making the DBs look bad. It's nice to see since that's how 1-on-1's should be but with so much space. It feels like in years past poor QB play and other factors made the O look bad even in practice. Today wasn't like that at all and I'm glad. Hogan also showed decent coverage skills and no one looked flat out bad. Other than one nuts move from Donovan Kemp on a DB that I don't remember.
 
No receiver stood out all that much to me. Kemp made some nice moves and really nice grabs and showed very good speed but also had a bad drop late in the session. Urrutia and Bell are HUGE. Bell is skinnier in the mold of a Doug Pierce and wasn't all that noticeable but you can tell that Urrutia and Brohm have chemistry from their college days. Urrutia probably had the best hands of the session. Tarver is tiny. It looked like none of his equipment fit him but he looked to have great speed and good hands. I think his age will make him in tough to land a spot on the team and these smaller guys rarely get a shot in the offense but it was a good first day from him. Taylor Renaud also caught a few deep balls in good coverage. I don't have high hopes for him but it was nice to see him play well. Barnes made some very nice catches and also had some drops.
 
#45, who I believe is the FB from the Rifles is absolutely massive. In blocking drills with Buck he was knocking Buck off balance every time. He has hands of stone but I wouldn't mind having this guy blocking for me if I were a RB.
 
It looked like Garvin was missing from the session this evening and there was another player who was not in uniform just hanging on to a ball. If anyone knows who this was, I would appreciate the info.
 
Also ran into Gary Etcheverry in the parking lot and he smiled at me. This turned my impression of him around immediately. He will be the greatest coordinator this team has ever seen.
 
Overall, I like the talent crop this year. Didn't watch a ton of the D-line but even with limited reps Kenny Tate looks like an absolute beast. Makes me salivate at the thought of him starting for this team.

O'Shea MUCH more vocal at practice compared to Burke.

What I've seen so far...
Damn can Marve zip that ball...looks pretty accurate on his throws too
Willy has looked good. Accurate and nice zip on the ball or . You can tell the qbs and rec are feeling each other out at this point.
Grisby is quick, made some people miss
Tarver is also pretty quick and stood out to me with a nice side line grab, caught everything in his direction
Taylor renaud had an awesome catch near the side line on a corner
Urrtia is huge
Harjullahu had a few real nice punts

A few early observations:
Mario Urita is huge. Towers over guys who are 6'3". Not the greatest hands though; dropped a few short yard passes. But it's early.
Goossen lining up on the defensive side of the ball, opposite the centre in some early drills. Maybe Wylie is just getting him used to the extra yard from a different perspective. Goossen now taking reps at centre.
O'Shea walking around observing for the most part. Spent some time with the special teams early on. Now he's with the offense.
Buck throwing 20 yard passes to his RBs.
Wow does Marve ever have some zip on the ball!
Kevin Smith is here.

Day 1 doesn't tell us much, but IT'S FOOTBALL TIME AGAIN!  I'll take any info folks who are lucky enough to go out to the practice can give me.  I don't care if you're a wanna be GM or a Fan Boy or anything in between.  Just post your views and let me live vicariously through your eyes.  Thanks. 

Doesn't matter if it tells us nothing but its the start of the season in my books so it gets a giant huzzah from this guy...

For anyone attending camp tonight, please feel free to share your reports with us!
 
Camp is from 7 PM - 9 PM tonight.
 
Remember, everyone who provides a report will gain an entry into our draw for a gift card at the conclusion of training camp.

Breaking news: Old, bitter forum users do not like new thing. More at 11.