Finally, we have the first pre-season game! LFG

Both games are on CFL+, no regular TSN this year.

Position battles to watch;

DB, (22)Burrell, and (37)Texada lead this race through camp so far. (41) Williams isn't far behind. It will also be a big pre-season for (26)Woodbey and (0) Allen, who showed strong flashes last year but are fighting an uphill battle for AR spots. Bonus, the Canadians are having a tough battle as well (7)Stuart, (29)Ball, (16)Kelly are all fighting for a chance to play. Kelly needs to sustain some high-level play, as Ball has been a strong overachiever, and Stuart has tremendous attributes. (36)Javier is a sleeper pick as well. He spent time on the Riders' PR, played pre-season in the NFL, and had a knack for big plays in college to go with great size. (13)Addison, a former WR convert who immediately produced at DB, has incredible size and is another big-play college guy to watch.

DL, (90)Dixon, and (54)Jenkins are front-runners at DE, (35)Bailey, and (43)Gatkuoth have high hopes to provide us meaningful reps from the depth chart. 95(Hooper) is a depth-sleeper as well. While (91)Pace is the new DT to watch.

Of course, the OL will be a great watch, with mostly names we are all familiar with. Wallace's step forward in camp has been huge; this could be his coming-out party. And Eli now gets the chance to be C 1, while everyone gets the chance to finally be free of Kola. (62)Viebert, and(64)Ellsbury are lesser known guys to watch. I like a lot of what Viebert brings, and with a step forward this year could make a tough decision. Ellsbury is our no. 1 option at C if Eli doesn't work out.

Lber, we see a ton of returning guys and more CFL bodies than we could possibly carry. (39)Smith and (34)Shay are the ones we all hope have a big game and manage to move up the depth chart.

Rb/TE will be interesting to watch. (73) Daniels could be put in for blocking immediately, which could come at the expense of the 3rd rb. (25)MCI has flashed a significant step forward as a ball carrier in camp, on top of that huge play late last year. While (22)Peterson showed us a whole lot in relief of Brady last year. (35)Rocker, the token import RB of the year and winner of best name in TC, would only be fitting if he became the TC MVP.

WR, it's an ugly group today. No reason to mince words. (86) Clericius moving to the slot should be a good watch. They seem high on (82)Cobb this year in camp, after stapling his butt to the bench most of last year. (83)Nield will need to translate what he flashed last year in a big way for us. (17) Singer has had some plays in camp. Corcoran, Desrosiers, Hurford, Jack, and (89)feel good story Tachinski are all going to play significant reps. Hopefully its not like a rerun of Baywatch when they are out on routes.

(44)Keegan, the punter's rival this year, has been quiet after coming to camp late. (36)Lidster, Sergios intern has as well.

(79)Harrison is a former JET KR of the year winner and will see some KR work. (87)Davis, a very tall, slim-built converted QB from the arena leagues, will likely see some KR work today. (17)Singer, a WR to watch, has also gotten reps on teams this camp, though he doesn't have as much experience doing it as the rest. (35)Rocker may possibly do it this pre-season as well, as he was kind of a do-it-all back in college.

Stuart was picked on, but he was around the play just a few steps behind. As a rookie probably should expect that. The key will be processing faster and reacting without thinking.

41 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

So do we think Smith will actually get a rotational shot this year? To me, you could start him and have Kyrie as the DI as he can back up both spots, contribute on teams and a smaller role might help keep him healthy but that seems like something the club usually doesn't do.

You start smith and use Kyrie as the naturalized player. Save the DI spot.

Will that happen? I think its a matter of time. MIght not happen at the start of the year (though it should) but I think by late season he will be starting.

43 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

I haven’t seen him in practice, so I’ll take your word for it on his potential at lb. His processing looked more than just a step behind to me.

Hes looked pretty good in TC from what Ive seen. Great flow to the ball guy. Work to do in cover, but great instincts, plays fast and strong.

4 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Stuart was picked on, but he was around the play just a few steps behind. As a rookie probably should expect that. The key will be processing faster and reacting without thinking.

They picked on his side late. But what was happening is the switches in Jys split field cover zone weren't happening. With the PA cameras, it wasn't clear that 1 guy was messing everyone up, but the whole side was struggling. But the deep cover assignment was the most problematic, which wouldn't be stuarts assignment.

Elgersma needs a lot of seasoning, and i believe he will work hard. Realistically, he should be 3rd string. He may throw great in practice but the game is moving too fast for him right now.

Loved Smith/Shay/Singer

Very worried about Tui. He needs to be a lot better.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by GCn20

32 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Elgersma needs a lot of seasoning, and i believe he will work hard. Realistically, he should be 3rd string. He may throw great in practice but the game is moving too fast for him right now.

Loved Smith/Shay/Singer

Very worried about Tui. He needs to be a lot better.

Elgersma, yeah pretty much. We will see how game 2 goes but I think he will essentially be qb3. If perkins’s runs short yardage maybe they’ll roster elgersma as 2 but functionally use perkins as 2.

I’m not worried about eli yet, he barely played C. Ellsbury played most of the snaps. But his performance sure does lead to us being thin at C.

3 hours ago, wbbfan said:

Elgersma, yeah pretty much. We will see how game 2 goes but I think he will essentially be qb3. If perkins’s runs short yardage maybe they’ll roster elgersma as 2 but functionally use perkins as 2.

I’m not worried about eli yet, he barely played C. Ellsbury played most of the snaps. But his performance sure does lead to us being thin at C.

Tui didn't play much but he was not good...worse than Kola bad...still early tho. It was mental mistakes and that probably from being less than 2 weeks on the job. Hes gotta get better before the season tho

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by GCn20

Elgersma will be QB2. Lots of drops on easy catches by recievers.

23 minutes ago, CrazyCanuck89 said:

Elgersma will be QB2. Lots of drops on easy catches by recievers.

I'm not certain about that. Game 2 will be very very important.

4 hours ago, GCn20 said:

Loved Smith/Shay/Singer

What did you love about Shay? The only times I noticed him was when he tried to blitz.

42 minutes ago, CrazyCanuck89 said:

Elgersma will be QB2. Lots of drops on easy catches by recievers.

2 drops and a bunch of bad decisions. I’m very high on him but let’s give him some time.

2 minutes ago, Jesse said:

2 drops and a bunch of bad decisions. I’m very high on him but let’s give him some time.

Elgersma has all the tools. With Collaros & Condell tutoring him he'll be fine. Just needs time as you say.

Edited 46 minutes ago46 min by SpeedFlex27

Perkins looked better and did more in one quarter than Wilson did in 3 seasons.