ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
MISSISSAUGA– Its day three of camp with new head coach Scott Milanovich, and his emphasis on high intensity practices has already started to take its toll on some of the players. A few standouts from the first few days were on the sidelines with minor injuries, notably Demario Ballard and Armond Armstead, who left the pads in the locker room for today’s practice.
The first twelve-on-twelve of the day was all defence. Pat Watkins picked off Ricky Ray on the very first play; however you can’t really blame Ricky, the ball hit Spencer Watt in the chest and bounced right into Watkins hands. Turnovers have been a bit of a recurring theme these past few days, and coach Milanovich mentioned after practice it is the main thing they need to focus on.
In round 2 of the twelve-on-twelve’s, Ray and the offence took the opportunity to bounce back. On the first play, Ricky threaded the needle through a handful of defenders to find Chad Owens, who emphatically ran it roughly 50 yards into the endzone. Not to be outdone, Cory Boyd went for another one of his big runs on the following play.
The defence has developed a trend in the past few days, making a point of picking up loose balls regardless of circumstance. Chris Jones wants them to pick up every loose ball as if it was a fumble.
Chad Owens was once again a stand out. Always trying to make himself and his fellow teammates better, he was using some high tech equipment to work on his vision. While the field goal unit was practicing he was sporting glasses that would flash in his eyes to make him focus on the ball. Maurice Mann described the glasses like “looking through the Matrix”.
Speaking of Mann, it was more of the same from the wide out on Tuesday, connecting with Ricky Ray on many occasions. For the first time this year they worked on red zone offence and defence, and the first two plays saw Ricky find his two former teammates Barnes and Mann for a pair of touchdowns. On the third play, Mann dove for a ball in the corner of the end zone and landed out of bounds on the track surrounding the field. He stayed down for a bit and left with an undisclosed leg injury.
On the second unit, Chad Kackert orchestrated a successful drill for the offence, finding the end zone on a short run in typical Kackert fashion while bouncing off multiple defenders. Mike Bradwell was also consistent again, hauling in a short screen pass before diving over the goal line.
The goal line drill ended on a big hit that created a bit of a mix up amongst the players, but the coaches were quick to calm the troops and it was back to business.
After a short break the 2nd practice started with an emphasis on special teams. Noel Prefontaine looked good, kicking the ball with a ton of force. The rest of special teams seemed ready and in synch, and Mike O’Shea seemed in mid-season form, making sure that every specific detail was executed properly.
After a day of maintenance to the fields, day four of camp heads back to the upper field of UTM tomorrow from 7:30 to noon