Game Week in Saskatchewan

Well, it is game week in Saskatchewan this week and as the Riders hit the two week mark for training camp there are some developments which will be very interesting to follow on Friday night when the Edmonton Eskimos come to town.

You can see the game on TSN at 7 p.m. The Riders hit Saskatoon on Saturday and then returned to Regina.

The bus trip took its toll on the Riders as they appeared a bit sloppy, but then again, they are really working on their special teams work and that will be a fascinating part of the team to watch on Friday.

Quarterback – Darian Durant is the only player guaranteed a spot, but no one has really stepped forward to claim the second back-up spot yet. Cole Bergquist had the early lead, and is making plays with his arm, but has not made that step forward in terms of consistency. Ryan Dinwiddie is in the hunt because of his football mind, but his arm does not inspire confidence with passes of beyond 8-15 yards. Chris Leak has sparked comparisons to Nealon Greene with his tendency to pull the ball down and scramble.

A wild card was thrown into the quarterback hunt with Terrelle Pryer, the former Ohio State quarterback who announced he was foregoing his senior year because he likely would have been suspended for NCAA violations in selling merchandise. Pryer has his CFL rights owned by the Riders, but he is hoping to be selected in the NFL supplemental draft or by the UFL.

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He is likely a bit scared of the CFL because the new contract is two years instead of one year and an option. I doubt he will get picked up by the NFL, partly because of the current labor situation and partly because while he had a good record at OSU, he needs to work on his fundamentals. If he comes to Saskatchewan, he would be a development project and by the time he was done in two years, he would be moving on to the NFL anyway.An interesting fight for back-up qb on Friday ight.

At running back, Wes Cates is still holding the lead, but while Cates is 136 yards short of second place in the Rider all time rushing list, I suspect we will be seeing Brandon West making a strong bid to spell him off like Calgary does with Joffrey Reynolds and Jon Cornish.

This would give Cates fresher legs heading into the playoffs, when you need people at their best. Hugh Charles hit the holes nicely today, but Charles is not an inside runner and the Riders will be looking to wear teams down with a consistent running attack. Neal Hughes and Graeme Bell continue to compete for the fullback spot, and I suspect that Stu Foord's time with the Riders will be drawing to a close. Foord is a Canadian version of Charles – he hits the line fast, but he is not an inside runner, and Greg Marshall wants to punish teams this year.

The receiving corps is starting to shape up and Weston Dressler will be Mr. Everything for the Riders this year. He is the big play guy, and the complement to Dressler will be Terrence Nunn, who runs some pretty nifty patterns. Chris Getzlaf will be the other receiver and I would think that Jordan Sisco might be the other, but guys like Cary Koch and Ernie Wheelwright will likely be stronger in that capacity. Sisco has been a bit of a disappointment, especially after watching how fearless he was as a Rams receiver going over the middle. We have a pretty good receiving corps, but the question is going to be how the coaches manage to work out the Canadian-American ratios.

The offensive line took another step towards getting finalized with George Hudson moving ahead of Marc Parentau at centre, and the other players being Alex Gauthier, Gene Makowsky, Chris Best and Dan Goodspeed. This means four Canadians on the offensive line, with Nick Hutchins and Dan Clark being kept for depth, with Patrick Neufeld. Alex Kausnick-Groh, our draft pick from Calgary, will likely return to university ranks because he is not at the level he needs to be to compete effectively. Age is becoming an issue on the Rider o-line and the Riders will need young talent to step in and start playing up to expectations.

Defensive line has Brent Hawkins at end, Keith Shologan at one defensive tackle, Dario Romero at another, and I would not be surprised to see Luc Mullinder at the other end. Tearrius George will need to show something in games and the coaches seemed intrigued by the different things players like Rodrique Wright and Montez Murphy provide, based on their size. Friday's game may clear up the status of players like Ryan Lucas. Shomari Williams was thought to maybe be headed to linebacker, but from what I saw Sunday, expect him to back up on the defensive line.

Linebacker has been competitive. Barrin Simpson is leading the way by example, but the talent here is just incredible. Jerrell Freeman is looking for a breakout year, Kye Stewart was looking good. Jeremiah Weatherspoon has been battling injuries and Cory Huclack has been seeing duty as a long snapper. Mike McCullough has a great football presence, but he is not as fast as the linebackers ahead of him. McCullough though is becoming the leader of the special teams and deserves respect for being a team leader.

Rider head coach Greg Marshall raised quite a few eyebrows last week with his thoughts on an all-American defensive backfield.

Canadian Leron Mitchell is still out from the broken leg he suffered in last year's Grey Cup and Marshall's comments might have put the fear of God into Canadian Tamon George, who plays corner. Tamon played pretty well on Sunday, but he needs to step forward by being more aggressive in his coverage, but not so aggressive that he incurrs penalties. The James Patrick at corner experiment seems to be over, with draft pick Craig Butler still hobbled with an injury. I found it interesting the Riders cut Ernie Russ this past week but he is still practising with the team and was even returning kicks during the special teams workout. I think Russ has a good chance of making the team because of his versatility, something that George hasn't yet demonstrated.

In special teams competition, Eddie Johnson is an experience kicking field goals, but while they are ugly, they have been going in. Jake Harfman from USC has a strong leg kicking field goals, but is not worth a hoot punting because of his inconsistency. Chris Milo seems to do well at both, but doesn't have the leg strength of Johnson. This will be another interesting battle to watch on Friday.