By Jamie Nye

Saskatchewan Roughriders open season with first day of main camp

Jun 6, 2011 | 6:53 AM

Greg Marshall stood at centre field of Mosaic Stadium for the first time with his full team around him. The newest head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders set the tone early when he explained quite clearly on a field goal drill that if the defending linemen went offside, they might as well hit the showers as the team will be better off without them.

A simple message, which Marshall doesn't believe was any different than the message the team has been given in the past, “There is a certain way to do things and we're going to do things the right way, we're going to play hard and get after people and there is going to be accountability.”

The concern over who the go-to receiver would be for the Roughriders with Darian Durant's favourite target Andy Fantuz out of the lineup was put the rest early as Darian Durant hit Weston Dressler early and often when going up against the full defence.

A few receivers also caught the eye of the coaching staff as Terrence Nunn carried over his impressive play from rookie camp to main camp and former Eskimo receiver Efrem Hill was able to get open a few times during the day.

All and all, Marshall feels day one went as expected, “There were a couple of different wrinkles in practice that they're going to have to get used to but overall I think (day one) was pretty good.”

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The Roughriders started the day without three veterans, who were taken off the roster and added to the injured list. Rob Bagg (knee), Luca Congi (knee) and Leron Mitchell (leg) will not be taking part in most, if not all of training camp.

Later in the day, receivers Aaron Fairooz and Mark Jones joined defensive back Craig Butler (injured in rookie camp) on the sidelines with injuries.

The team did add another kicker to the roster, signing former University of Southern California kicker Jacob Harfman to compete with Eddie Johnson and Christopher Milo in the kicking game.

Roughriders training camp will continue Monday with the first workout at 8:15 a.m. and the second starting at 10:30 a.m.

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