Rider Camp

Two weeks till Rider camp and after the dust settled from last weekend's CFL draft, the final pieces and some interesting new twists in the Riders took shape this past week.

Six rounds of drafting doesn't really mean anything as diehard Rider fans know how Rob Bagg was undrafted out of Queens University but fought his way onto the roster.

The Riders signed Windsor Lancers defensive back Daryl Townshend who is notable for being 6'1″ 190 pounds. Big defensive backs are at a premium and Townshend is the second Canadian defensive back brought in this year to say he is getting a look at safety. Which logically suggests that James Patrick, who had a stellar season last year at safety, is going to defensive halfback, probably to replace Omar Morgan, who was our shutdown guy last year.

The addition of Townshend, who has size going for him, along with Craig Butler, another defensive back who is apparently pretty good on special teams, means unless former Rider draft pick Tamon George shows a quantum leap in play this year, he will likely be cut. The Riders seem willing to want to have a Canadian in the defensive secondary, and safety is usually that position. Having size among defensive backs also helps in preventing leaping catches like Jamal Richardson made against us in last year's Grey Cup.

Another signing will be former University of Saskatchewan linebacker Peter Thiel. Thiel is not only a good linebacker and Saskatchewan boy, but also a good special teams player. After the players quit under former special teams coach Jim Daley last year, the Riders will be younger and hungrier on special teams. Thiel also provides some Canadian depth at linebacker behind Mike McCullough because the Riders only had Cory Hucalak as a filler last year.

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I was kind of hoping the Riders would sign University of Regina Rams receiver Brendan Owens, who is pretty good, but apparently he got picked up by another team. Marc Mueller, the Rams quarterback, was signed by the Edmonton Eskimos as probably a bit of publicity considering Edmonton is coming to Regina for an exhibition game June 17th and what better way to stick it to the Riders by the Eskimos by having Ron Lancaster's grandson take the field in his first professional moment as a member of the Eskimos and not the Riders.

However, the Riders seem determined to push their quarterbacks as they are qorking out Blake Bolles, former QB of Missouri State who was ranked 25 out of 85 NCAA quarterbacks and apparently are also working out Justin Willis of SMU who played quarterback there but also played wide receiver in Europe last year. He as good size and speed and apparently will be looked at as a slotback, but his ability as a QB might present the Riders with a receiver who may be able to throw like Jason Armstead used to do a couple of seasons back.

The Riders apparently have a couple of free agent camps, but the interesting thing is they are not looking for offensive linemen, defensive linemen, tight ends or full backs. By my rough count, the Riders have 14-16 offensive linemen signed for camp, the Riders haven't really used a tight end in years, the fullback job seems to be between Neal Hughes, Chris Szarka and Graeme Bell and the biggest surprise seems to be no active searching now for defensive linemen, since that seemed to be a big need heading into the offseason.

But, when you look closer at the potential starting defensive line for the Riders, they will definitely be bigger. Brent Hawkins says he is back from last season's shoulder injury, bench pressed 500 lbs to prove it, and is 6'3″ 244 lbs; Keith Shologan is 6'3″ 295 at defensive tackle; Dario Romero is 6'3″ and 300 at the other defensive tackle position and Tearrius George is 6'4″ and 277 at the other defensive end position.

Which sort of begs the questions of what do the Riders do with Shomari Williams, the number one pick in last year's draft who saw some time at defensive end? Williams is undersized compared to these guys and I would think the Riders would move him to outside or perhaps start grooming him for middle linebacker to better take advantage of his speed and not let his size become a liability.

Oh, expect to hear the Riders announce the signing of Ronnie Drummer, a slotback from Duke University who runs a 4.25 40 yarder. While the Riders have a plethora (I always wanted to use that word) of Canadian receivers, with the absence of Andy Fantuz and Rob Bagg going on the nine game injury list to start the season, the Riders may be looking for size and speed, regardless of nationality, to better stretch the opposing defenses. I'm looking forward to the continued development of Cory Koch and am watching with interest if Jordan Sisco, who went to Indianapolis last year, will demonstrate why he should be the latest Canadian ace to join the Canadian Air Force.

Keep these dates in mind with the Rider rookie camp starting June 1 and June 5 is the start of the main camp. The Riders may take five quarterbacks into rookie camp, but a few days of that will help determine who has an arm to deal with the Canadian field and the Riders will take four quarterbacks into the main camp.