ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
MISSISSAUGA–Once again, right off the bat the intensity was tuned to 100 with players sprinting from one drill to another and taking no breaks. This will be a well-conditioned team. The players seemed pumped and excited to go into scrimmages and one-on-one’s.
The rivalries continued during one-on-one’s with the receivers and DBs trash talking. The DBs started strong, but the receivers came back afterwards making many consecutive receptions. Among others, Chad Owens was very vocal pumping up his offensive teammates and leading the comeback. The one-on-one’s are quickly becoming the most entertaining part of training camp.
Speaking of Owens, he came back with a strong practice today after missing the end of yesterdays practice with cramping. Owens has seemingly taken it upon himself to develop some type of camaraderie amongst the receivers.
Cory Boyd had his best practice of training camp. He knocked off a big run on the very first play of twelve-on-twelve drills and was very animated in the huddle.
Ricky Ray is living up to the billing he came into town with, hitting multiple receivers on a handful of different throws. Maurice Mann continued to be his #1 option, and fellow former Eskimo Jason Barnes connected with Ray for a beautiful corner route pattern. Hopefully a sign of things to come.
Of note, Mike Bradwell may not have dropped a ball all day. The McMaster product was running crisp routes both in the slot and at the wideout position, and if he could get his hands on it, the ball usually stuck.
On defence, Anthony Cannon and Ejiro Kuale made their presence felt with every opportunity they got. If one of them missed a responsibility, they were extremely vocal about how upset they were at themselves.
The whole defensive unit was impressive when running blitz packages. Swatting balls at the line and getting to the QB on almost every play. Ricky Foley has looked explosive during the first two days at camp.
The youngest player at training camp may have made the most impressive play of the day. Jamaan Webb, a 19 year-old Defensive Back, stretched out and swatted away a perfectly thrown ball from Ricky Ray right out of the waiting arms of Maurice Mann. The performance earned him praise from his fellow defensive teammates.
The second practice saw more no huddle scrimmaging. The intensity was at its highest as controlled chaos unfolded on the field. In what seems to be a recurring theme, the offence started off dominant but the D came back to even the playing field. Ricky Ray simply seems unstoppable when in no huddle; he once again completed over 90% of his passes.
Camp continues tomorrow with day three. Due to field repairs, practice will be held at Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Oakville at 8:00am.