Riderville Report : Over a week into Rider training camp

By Greg Urbanoski

We’re over a week into Rider training camp and on Wednesday at 8 p.m. we get the first look at the Riders as they open their exhibition season against the BC Lions. So what have we got?

The Dwayne Jarrett experiment is over. The second round NFL draft pick of the Carolina Panthers and former USC receiving legend came to camp last week, had one practise, injured his foot and retired. The unofficial story may be that Jarrett came to camp expecting he would make the team, saw the competition, and realized if he made the team, he would be maybe 30 years old after his contract expired next year and there isn’t much of a market for 30 year old receivers in the NFL. Rider Head Coach Cory Chamlin does not want people who do not want to be here and Jarrett may have been unwilling to put in the work needed to make the team.

Jarrett’s retirement does not hurt the Rider import receiving competition. Justin Harper and Sinorce Moss have impressed in camp with their combination of size and speed respectively. The great news of the return of Robb Bagg from knee surgery means Weston Dressler and Chris Getzlaf will have more room to roam and will open the Riders passing game.

Of course catching the ball is one aspect of the battle. The other thing to watch on Wednesday will be the play of the offensive line, particularly the perimeter players. The Riders swung a trade with Toronto, picking up offensive tackle Chris Patrick for a conditional pick. The trade was open news because of a Rob Murphy tweet in Toronto a few days ago before it was officially announced, and the reasons for the trade are still being dissected.

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If you made the Rider practise in Saskatoon on the weekend, you may have noticed the Riders defensive line dominating the offensive line. The Riders want better play from Xavier Fulton, who was obtained by trade from Edmonton for an conditional pick (which will likely be the pick we got from Edmonton in the Hugh Charles trade, which means we traded Charles for Fulton) and Dan Goodspeed, who is one of only two returning starters on the offensive line.

The trade for Patrick may be either to provide depth for the offensive line or to provide options in case BC’s defensive line bang our tackles like gongs on Wednesday. Adding to the complicated formula going on has been the injury to Chris Best, who has a foot injury and is listed week to week. The early betting line has Best either back for week one or missing week one at the most.

This means Patrick Neufeld has been seeing more reps along with Alexander Krausnick-Groh at Best’s spot. One would think Ben Heenan, the Rider’s first round draft pick, would be a natural, but Heenan is finding out playing offensive line for the Huskies does not expose one to the same competition as provided by a professional team.

I am cautiously looking forward to seeing how our defensive line is playing. While Brent Hawkins seems to have one defensive end spot nailed down, Kenny Rowe is serving notice to Odell Willis the other spot is still very much up for grabs. Mick Williams and Tearrius George are battling for the one defensive tackle open while Keith Shologan is the other certain starter. Everyone who has seen the defensive line in action has been impressed with the energy of this unit and if that energy results in more sacks, no one will be complaining.

Once you get past the defensive line the situation becomes hazier. The Riders are still looking for a Canadian middle linebacker with Mike McCullough and Shomari Williams battling for the starters spot while Sam Hurl will be interesting to watch. The outside linebacker situation is fluid and looks like it will depend on what combination of defensive looks the Riders will bring.

In the defensive secondary, James Patrick is back at safety, but after that the situation is again a little uncertain. The defensive backs will be more aggressive but which ones will again will be interesting to see.

The moves the Riders have made resulted in Brendan Taman getting a one year extension to the end of next year as Rider GM. The announcement made sense because Chamlin’s contract extends to the end of next year, initially longer than the guy who hired him.

Taman has been aggressive in making moves to try to upgrade the Riders and fill holes when they emerge. When it comes to American recruiting, the impact of Chamblin cannot be overstated. He has a lot of American contacts and those have helped deliver some impressive recruits. However, the important thing is to see what happens when the lights turn on and the game kicks off on Wednesday to see how those recruits respond under game conditions.