Peter T. Kourtis – Argos Admiral Insider
TORONTO – Part of the rebuilding of the Argonaut offence from 2014 was to improve the receiving options for Ricky Ray and Trevor Harris. It sounds simple to go out and sign a couple free agents, but the Toronto Argonauts went outside the CFL comfort zone to snag their new signees.
They went out and recruited a new receiving corps that would be based on size. Some big, big size.
The Argos already had Chad Owens and a running back who can step out of the back field and receive short yardage passes in Brandon Whitaker, but General Manager Jim Barker decided it was time to add some large passing targets to the offence. He brought in three receivers who looked like tight ends in terms of sheer size, but they’re anything but your inside passing game options.
The three first-year CFL receivers include:
Tori Gurley 6’4 , 230 (NCAA) South Carolina
Vidal Hazelton 6’3 , 212 (NCAA) Cincinnati
Kevin Elliot 6’3 , 213 (NCAA) Florida A & M
Now if you know the CFL, the biggest and strongest and maybe last pure tight end was Ray Elgaard who was a hulk at 6’3 and 220 lbs. He was the epitome of a guy who could post up in a zone and catch a pass with a defender on his back. Looking at the height and weight of the newest Argos you’re amazed to see that they’re just as big as one of the best possession receivers the CFL has ever seen.
That’s what makes this year’s new Argos receivers so much fun to watch. If you have a chance to patrol the Argos sidelines at practices you also ending up doing a double take on player numbers when you realize the new additions look more like basketball players than they do football players. Height was on the shopping list during the off-season and in the one-on-one drills you see major leaps from the receivers to snag passes.
Lining up receivers of Elgaard’s build is a big change in philosophy for CFL teams who love to have the shifty speed guy hanging in the zone. Players like Geroy Simon, Milt Stegall, Darren Flutie and Ben Cahoon have dominated the three down game and none stand as tall as the new Boatmen trio. Even the record held in the CFL for most yards receiving in a season belongs to Allen Pitts who is 6’4 but played just below 200 pounds.
Through three weeks, Gurley has already proven his ability to shield the defender from the ball on most of his routes while creating safe passing targets downfield for Trevor Harris. Hazelton has shown impressive lateral and downfield quickness with an elite set of hands, and Elliot’s game is built on coming back to the line of scrimmage when his quarterback needs help.
If you could use one scouting report for the new trio, you could rubber stamp all three with the following :
“Can make a catch with a defender hanging on to him”
“An easy target for a QB to find at all times”
“Hard to bring down one on one”
Head Coach Scott Milanovich and Offensive Coordinator Marcus Brady still have work to do helping the trio adjust to the Canadian rules, as the waggle can be a tricky adjustment to any American import, but through three games the “Three Trees” have shown that the Argo offence will be a force to be reckoned with in 2015.
—-