By Jamie Nye

Saskatchewan Roughriders close out rookie camp happy with prospects

Jun 4, 2011 | 1:12 PM

The Saskatchewan Roughriders put a close on three days of rookie camp not expecting to make any cuts before main camp begins on Sunday.

The Canadian Football League has given teams an extra few days to take a look at prospects before they have to cut down to 68 players (not including draft picks, juniors and undrafted free agents) by Wednesday. The Roughriders believe they'll take full advantage of that, which will see over 80 players on the field at 8:15 Sunday morning at Mosaic Stadium.

Head Coach Greg Marshall hopes to see continued improvement from the younger players when they join the veterans, “I think we got better each day, I think the guys got a little more comfortable with what the expectations were, how we practice and what we're trying to accomplish so I thought it was a positive deal overall.”

As for the eventual cut down day, Coach Marshall believes the players should know they've done themselves proud, “The thing I'm most happy with is the fact that there are not guys out there that are making it easy. I think there are some talented people out there and each day certain guys stood out and they took turns but I was encouraged by what I saw.”

The veterans are trickling into Regina to get started, as they'll officially report for their first meeting on Saturday. Jerrell Freeman, Montez Murphy, Kye Stewart, Weston Dressler and Cary Koch were seen on Friday taking a look at the new competition. As they prepare for what Marshall describes as a 'necessary evil' in two-a-days, Marshall is ready to get everyone on the field.

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“You got to build the foundation, you got to put in the time and you can't just show up and think you'll pick up where you left off last season. (The veterans) know what training camp is about as we've got to build the foundation that's going to make us successful during the regular season.”

The Roughriders top draft pick, Craig Butler, missed the second half of Friday's workout with a hamstring injury that the team believes in minor. Butler and Derek Pegues were the only players that didn't participate as Pegues continues to struggle with his own leg injury.

The team is auditioning two more kickers that they're considering bringing in for training camp and Marshall says it's just the team doing their due diligence to make sure they have options in the kicking game because of Luca Congi's injury.

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