Kirk Penton ‏@PentonKirk 1m

DT Ryan Lucas hobbled today at practice. Cory Watson still on the sidelines. #Bombers

Does anyone else think that Pencer ought to have been a lot more prominent in the training camp reports by now? He's had two years to prepare for his Big Moment and I haven't hear his name mentioned so far.

Generally speaking, the less you hear about OL, the better...

Usually they practice so far away you can't see much. I remember when they had TC at St Johns-Ravenscourt being ten yards away from the one on ones with the DL. Geez, you could feel the ground shake. They were having a light practice once and a rook knocked off Bill Frank's sun hat. Holy crap, I thought he was gonna explode. Also you could hear what the coach (Joe Faragelli at the time) was saying.

I have no problems seeing everything going on at IGF.

 

 

Does anyone else think that Pencer ought to have been a lot more prominent in the training camp reports by now? He's had two years to prepare for his Big Moment and I haven't hear his name mentioned so far.

Generally speaking, the less you hear about OL, the better...

 

Usually they practice so far away you can't see much. I remember when they had TC at St Johns-Ravenscourt  being ten yards away from the one on ones with the DL. Geez, you could feel the ground shake. They were having a light practice once and a rook knocked off Bill Frank's sun hat. Holy crap, I thought he was gonna explode. Also you could hear what the coach (Joe Faragelli at the time) was saying.

 

I used to love those practices.  So close to the action that you could feel it.  Great way to pick up tips too when I was young enough to actually play.

Wow! St Johns Ravenscourt that's going back, you recall a new HB in town was he ever small, I said to my friends he will never last, they will kill him. It was Mack Herron.

3rd day view from Chad Wassing (from the Blue Bomber website)

 

 

Here are a few notes from what I observed. This includes all the biases and errors prone in such an observation from a regular Joe like me, so this is for entertainment purposes only, folks.

 

- The Bombers may have a problem on their hands. All three main contestants in the running back battle look great. Nic Grigsby put a sick move on a linebacker (EJ Kuale?) out of the backfield for a catch that had his teammates oohing. Paris Cotton has speed to burn, and showed it going around the end on a big run. Will Ford, while he didn’t catch my eye with anything spectacular, sure did look like a veteran back there.

- The Offensive Line has a lot of good import talent. Dan Knapp, Jarvis Jones, Quentin Saulsberry all stood out to me. It’s pretty hard to judge the hogs during practice, but if I were Glenn January, I’d be bringing my work boots every single day of Training Camp.

- Receivers Aaron Kelly, Clarence Denmark, Nick Moore and rookie Mario Urrutia should have the quarterbacks drooling over their options. Honorable mention to Julian Feoli-Gudino, who looks like a good bet to see some significant time on the field this year.

- Last year’s fan favorite, receiver Brett Carter, was on the field wearing number 88 but didn’t practice. He spent the practice observing with Cory Watson, who also sat out today.

- Speaking of the quarterbacks, Drew Willy and Max Hall both looked good today. An impartial observer would probably be unable discern which was the starter and which was the back up. In fact, it looked more like a 1 and 1a situation.

- Kicker Lirim Hajrullahu looks to have an edge on American Brett Maher, and not just because of his Canadian passport. Hajrullahu appeared to have about an extra five-to-eight yards on his field goal attempts. Both were fairly accurate from 40 yards off the tee, but the Canadian’s leg looks stronger from up here in the stands.

That's it for today. Go down and see it for yourself, people. Free football!

 

 

Interesting for me:

Love to hear there's a battle at RB position. (I mean the names alone…Paris Cotton…the great Grigsby) - fantastic.

Aaron Kelly's name keeps popping up as doing well in TC.

The number 88 hasn't been retired.

Max Hall keeps on choogling along. (CCR reference)

Lirim wants us to learn how to write/pronounce his name. (by doing well)

 

 

 

With Aaron Kelly, has he been that good or is it that he usually makes a spectacular catch or two? I was there Sunday and while he made a few nice grabs, he wasn't amazing.

Not surprised at all Kelly is showing well. He gets an undeserved bad rap around here but all he does is do what's asked of him.

Not surprised at all Kelly is showing well. He gets an undeserved bad rap around here but all he does is do what's asked of him.

While i do agree to an extent, i dont see him as a moore or stegall (and thats fine) and he isnt expected to be at this point.. Im thinking hes supposed to be a 3rd 4th option and will be very good in that role.. also, his knowledge of marcel's offense is huge when you factor in the inexperience of our QBs..

Not every rec needs to be a simon, bruce or milt..

Thanks for the updates,. Sitting the hotel bar in Vancouver enjoying a martini and reading the updates. Wishing was Winnipeg and could attend training camp. Keep up with the updates!

If it comes down to the upside of Mario Urrutia or "steady as she goes" Aaron Kelly, who would you take? Reality is that it could come downtown this decision.

If it comes down to the upside of Mario Urrutia or "steady as she goes" Aaron Kelly, who would you take? Reality is that it could come downtown this decision.

Downtown Eddie Brown?

Id take promising rookie with kelly on speed dial as he could bring the same stuff to the table minus knowing the offense as well but at a cheaper (id assume) price and higher ceiling..

Thanks for the updates,. Sitting the hotel bar in Vancouver enjoying a martini and reading the updates. Wishing was Winnipeg and could attend training camp. Keep up with the updates!

Martini? Holy bigshot

Personally, I could care less what RB's and receivers do when there is not full contact.  All you can judge them on is their route running/cutting and hands, the other half of the game is doing it when you're about to get rocked by someone.  The RB's might look great now, but if they can't break a tackle they aren't of much use to us.  

 

Kelly should do well in 1 on 1's or skelly, this is what, his 4th CFL training camp?  With the same OC.  Kelly is pretty much a one trick pony at WR, fly route jump ball, never productive coming into the field.  If he's our best option, Danny Mac should go on another road trip. 

Thanks for the updates,. Sitting the hotel bar in Vancouver enjoying a martini and reading the updates. Wishing was Winnipeg and could attend training camp. Keep up with the updates!

Martini? Holy bigshot

Bigshot? No. Just love the taste of gin in a martini glass. Still the boy who grew up I'm the north end of Winnipeg. I think this is the year I return for a game in the new barn.

I just hope we have a game on Monday. I'm dying to watch some cfl.

 

Not surprised at all Kelly is showing well. He gets an undeserved bad rap around here but all he does is do what's asked of him.

While i do agree to an extent, i dont see him as a moore or stegall (and thats fine) and he isnt expected to be at this point.. Im thinking hes supposed to be a 3rd 4th option and will be very good in that role.. also, his knowledge of marcel's offense is huge when you factor in the inexperience of our QBs..

Not every rec needs to be a simon, bruce or milt..

 

And he's a good fourth option to have. His size gives you matchup problems in the red zone and he's good to deliver a strike to running a slant or when you need a guy to break off his route at the first down marker. It's not like he has a massive case of the dropsies like many in this league have. Yes he's a slow runner but that's fine as long as you catch the ball which he does. I find most people who say they don't like him simply leave it at that and don't go into detail about what they don't like (perhaps mostly because there isn't a laundry list of things he does wrong). We could certainly do much, much worse.

I just hope we have a game on Monday. I'm dying to watch some cfl.

 

From what I understand it's pretty much guaranteed to be played. Apparently the earliest players in Alberta could go on strike is on Tuesday and it seems unlikely the players in other cities would go out sooner than that.

Kelly is a good player, Mike just has a hate on for the guy for no real reason.

Any reports from Riderville on how Jade Etienne is doing.

Personally, I could care less what RB's and receivers do when there is not full contact.  All you can judge them on is their route running/cutting and hands, the other half of the game is doing it when you're about to get rocked by someone.  The RB's might look great now, but if they can't break a tackle they aren't of much use to us.  

 

Kelly should do well in 1 on 1's or skelly, this is what, his 4th CFL training camp?  With the same OC.  Kelly is pretty much a one trick pony at WR, fly route jump ball, never productive coming into the field.  If he's our best option, Danny Mac should go on another road trip. 

 

 

 

                            ………...Don't get too excited about training camp….

Kelly is a good player, Mike just has a hate on for the guy for no real reason.

Any reports from Riderville on how Jade Etienne is doing.

From what I can pick up from the Riderfans website, Etienne's career is continuing as it did here in Winnipeg.  He sounds like the #6 NI receiver and nearly invisible- not likely to be around long.

 

 

Not surprised at all Kelly is showing well. He gets an undeserved bad rap around here but all he does is do what's asked of him.

While i do agree to an extent, i dont see him as a moore or stegall (and thats fine) and he isnt expected to be at this point.. Im thinking hes supposed to be a 3rd 4th option and will be very good in that role.. also, his knowledge of marcel's offense is huge when you factor in the inexperience of our QBs..

Not every rec needs to be a simon, bruce or milt..

 

And he's a good fourth option to have. His size gives you matchup problems in the red zone and he's good to deliver a strike to running a slant or when you need a guy to break off his route at the first down marker. It's not like he has a massive case of the dropsies like many in this league have. Yes he's a slow runner but that's fine as long as you catch the ball which he does. I find most people who say they don't like him simply leave it at that and don't go into detail about what they don't like (perhaps mostly because there isn't a laundry list of things he does wrong). We could certainly do much, much worse.

 

 

3 TD's in 24 games.  Take out his 3 biggest plays last year, and he's averaging 20 yards receiving a game.  That's while playing a lot of boundary WR, one of the primary targets of a CFL offence.  He's doing something wrong, because he was completely unproductive aside from 3 long balls down the sideline in half a season, like worse than Jade.

 

 

 

Not surprised at all Kelly is showing well. He gets an undeserved bad rap around here but all he does is do what's asked of him.

While i do agree to an extent, i dont see him as a moore or stegall (and thats fine) and he isnt expected to be at this point.. Im thinking hes supposed to be a 3rd 4th option and will be very good in that role.. also, his knowledge of marcel's offense is huge when you factor in the inexperience of our QBs..

Not every rec needs to be a simon, bruce or milt..

 

And he's a good fourth option to have. His size gives you matchup problems in the red zone and he's good to deliver a strike to running a slant or when you need a guy to break off his route at the first down marker. It's not like he has a massive case of the dropsies like many in this league have. Yes he's a slow runner but that's fine as long as you catch the ball which he does. I find most people who say they don't like him simply leave it at that and don't go into detail about what they don't like (perhaps mostly because there isn't a laundry list of things he does wrong). We could certainly do much, much worse.

 

 

3 TD's in 24 games.  Take out his 3 biggest plays last year, and he's averaging 20 yards receiving a game.  That's while playing a lot of boundary WR, one of the primary targets of a CFL offence.  He's doing something wrong, because he was completely unproductive aside from 3 long balls down the sideline in half a season, like worse than Jade.

 

Everyone was unproductive last year.

 

If he's having a good camp he deserves credit for having a good camp.

 

He seems best suited on the wide side which we've reserved for NIs in recent years.  At least he can do more than a Hargreaves decoy run. Or the Poblah dive for the ball and get hurt.  Lining up anywhere else on the field his value is probably lower than players we already have.  Highlight reel yet not particularly amazing is an odd combo.  Chris Brazzell 2.0?

Kelly would be a guy I'd keep around as the 4th import receiver, unless we have a returner who can fill that role.  He may not be a gamebreaker but he is at least somewhat reliable and can play both WR and SB.

 

 

 

 

Not surprised at all Kelly is showing well. He gets an undeserved bad rap around here but all he does is do what's asked of him.

While i do agree to an extent, i dont see him as a moore or stegall (and thats fine) and he isnt expected to be at this point.. Im thinking hes supposed to be a 3rd 4th option and will be very good in that role.. also, his knowledge of marcel's offense is huge when you factor in the inexperience of our QBs..

Not every rec needs to be a simon, bruce or milt..

 

And he's a good fourth option to have. His size gives you matchup problems in the red zone and he's good to deliver a strike to running a slant or when you need a guy to break off his route at the first down marker. It's not like he has a massive case of the dropsies like many in this league have. Yes he's a slow runner but that's fine as long as you catch the ball which he does. I find most people who say they don't like him simply leave it at that and don't go into detail about what they don't like (perhaps mostly because there isn't a laundry list of things he does wrong). We could certainly do much, much worse.

 

 

3 TD's in 24 games.  Take out his 3 biggest plays last year, and he's averaging 20 yards receiving a game.  That's while playing a lot of boundary WR, one of the primary targets of a CFL offence.  He's doing something wrong, because he was completely unproductive aside from 3 long balls down the sideline in half a season, like worse than Jade.

 

Everyone was unproductive last year.

 

If he's having a good camp he deserves credit for having a good camp.

 

He seems best suited on the wide side which we've reserved for NIs in recent years.  At least he can do more than a Hargreaves decoy run. Or the Poblah dive for the ball and get hurt.  Lining up anywhere else on the field his value is probably lower than players we already have.  Highlight reel yet not particularly amazing is an odd combo.  Chris Brazzell 2.0?

 

 

What does suited for the wide-side mean?  A guy you don't want to throw the ball to?

Kelly is a good player, Mike just has a hate on for the guy for no real reason.

Any reports from Riderville on how Jade Etienne is doing.

I don't hate him, I just don't think he's what you hope for out of an import receiver. A new scouting staff should be able to produce better than that.

Kelly is good enough until we get Matthews back