Next Game
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With Argos training camp just around the corner, Argonauts.ca has been preparing fans for the start of the 2009 season by breaking down the competition at each position as the Boatmen prepare to bounce back with a new coaching staff, new mentality and personnel.
After a year of uncertainly, Kerry Joseph heads into Argos training camp, rejuvenated, reloaded and the undisputed starting quarterback. The agile pivot will have the team on his shoulders as he tries to repeat the success that followed him in the 2007 season.
Joseph experienced a rollercoaster ride in his first season in double blue. After completing a season that saw him capture a Grey Cup championship as well as a CFL Most Outstanding Player honour, the pivot, best known for his work outside the pocket, found himself entrenched in uncertainty with the two-QB system of Michael Bishop and himself. Factor in an inconsistent receiving corps due to injuries and numerous dropped passes, and Joseph was looking forward to putting 2008 behind him.
Despite some glitches in the road, Joseph ended up finishing the ’08 campaign as the Argos #1 quarterback and, after being replaced by backup Cody Pickett for two games, the veteran Joseph took his game to a level that showed promise down the stretch. He finished the season with 4,174 passing yards and 17 touchdowns, including a career-high five-touchdown performance versus the Montreal Alouettes in mid-October.
Joseph hopes to relay some of that late-season promise into a full season of success behind centre, and although he knows that he will be slated as the number one pivot heading into the regular season under head coach Bart Andrus’ offence, he will also have to recognize that there are capable youngsters behind him willing to learn.
Cody Pickett had a brief period as the Argos’ starter after playing the role of backup for the last half of 2007 and the first half of 2008. The third-year Argo enters camp with significantly more game experience than last year after starting two games versus the Calgary Stampeders midway through last season.
Pickett’s other running mate behind Joseph, however, will have to be someone other than Reggie McNeal. The import speedster filled in at receiver last season and it looks like he may stay there after originally joining the Argos as a quarterback.
With McNeal staying to the outside of the field, competition for Pickett will come in the form of newcomers Kinsmon Lancaster and Stephen Reaves. Both are new to the CFL and will be looking to prove themselves immediately with Argos mini-camp occurring this week.
There is no doubt that 2008 presented its challenges to proven pivot Kerry Joseph, but perhaps a new outlook and a increased stability will go a long way in bringing the former MOP back to form.