By CJME staff

Roughriders set to open 2015 training camp

May 31, 2015 | 11:30 AM

Questions will soon become answers as Roughriders training camp opens on Sunday in Saskatoon. 

It’s been a long winter for Riders and their fans since the season came to an end in the West semifinal against the Eskimos in Edmonton. 

Now, the wait is over. 

“For this year, my mind set right now is to go into it and build a championship team,” said head coach Corey Chamblin. 

This year’s camp will have a much different feel than the one last season. First off, the Riders haven’t lost nearly the number of impact players they did a year go. There’s no potential players strike looming and there’s no talk of a repeat this year to potentially cloud anyone’s head. 

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It was for all of those reasons Chamblin feels his team didn’t get off to the best start during training camp last year.

“That’s no excuse, but that’s one thing that we had,” he said. 

Now, Chamblin is hopeful the group is re-focused on their goal of winning a Grey Cup.

In order to figure out which players will be best suited to reach that goal, Chamblin will be evaluating talent over the next 20 or so days not only on the field, but off of it as well. 

“I don’t think you can separate the person from performance. When I look at these guys, there’s some guys who are very poor off the field but they have extreme skill. But, for the most part, whatever they do off the field and the way they live their life. There’s a lot of time they live it on the field,” said the coach. 

Before camp began the Riders had the rookies on the field for a couple of days. The goal of those workouts was to get those players up to speed. 

Some of those players will be fighting for jobs, perhaps even starting jobs with the team. That will be their top priority. 

The team’s top priority is to try and keep everyone as healthy as possible.

“You don’t want anybody losing their job because they’re hurt. If a young guy gets hurt and it’s significant four-to-six weeks, he’s done. You hate to see that” said general manager Brendan Taman.

“Hopefully we can maintain our health and then the battles will take care of themselves.”

Those battles will be intriguing right from the start of camp. The Riders are looking for starters at wide-side linebacker, defensive tackle, and centre. However, positions could always be won anywhere depending on how a player performs. 

The Riders will practice twice a day until their first pre-season game June 13 against the Eskimos in Fort McMurray. They will remain in Saskatoon until June 17 before returning to Regina ahead of their final pre-season game at Mosaic Stadium June 19 against the Stampeders. 

The Green Zone will broadcast live from Saskatoon for the duration of training camp keeping you up to date every step of the way.

The regular season opens June 27 at Mosaic Stadium as the Riders host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. 

VIDEO: Green TV – Riders training camp preview