Weather: Cool breezy temperatures awaited the players who dawned pads in the morning session. Mid twenties temperatures and nice breezes kept things comfortable in the afternoon.
The original plan was to concentrate on defense today, but that was curtailed somewhat when the Lions decided to rope off access to the area between the two practice areas. As most of the defensive drills were in the far field, it was tough to get a lot of good looks at who was shining and who wasn’t. So in this report we’ll just give you some observations and tidbits were seen and heard throughout the day.
The club did release two players Monday, running backs Charles Pierre and Amos Allen were both told the bad news, with Allen not returning for the afternoon workout. Pierre was told prior to the morning session.
The offensive star of the day was Paris Jackson who was getting open and making catches, including a beautiful one handed grab in traffic in the morning. Rookie running back Andrew Harris continues to impress. His speed and cuts are very impressive and he looks like he belongs, which could be the reason for the early departure of two other backs. There was also suggestion by Lowell Ullrich on the TEAM 1040 this morning that Stefan Logan may return to the Lions sooner than later and that the team is starting to get that feeling as well. This isn’t to suggest Logan will be returning in the next few weeks, but just the situation on Pittsburgh may not be leaning in his favour.
Overall offensively the team looked much crisper, with many more completed passes mainly do to the fact the timing was better and the players becoming more comfortable with the offense. All the quarterbacks had some nice completions throughout the day.
Defensively, Caesar Rayford had a strong day, along with Xavier Mitchell who absolutely owned Matt Morencie in one on ones in the morning. The secondary looks lively and cohesive. The allowed completions, but without hitting that can hardly be considered accurate. The coverage seems to be there, but they did get beat for big gains by Andrew Harris, Paris Jackson, Ryan Grice-Mullen and Terrence Scott. Korey Banks picked off a pass in the afternoon session, and had a strong afternoon. Javy Glatt looks like he’s really worked on his speed in the off-season.
Sean Whyte continues to impress punting the ball under undefended conditions. The patient kicker has been regularly kicking 50-60 punts both days of camp.
The club worked on a lot of what seemed to be special teams like drills in the afternoon. Ball pursuit, shedding blocks, stripping/punching out the ball and every player including the QB’s and kickers took part.
One tidbit that came out of camp today was that this would be the last camp in Abbotsford. The Lions will hold the camp in either Victoria or the Okanagan next year, and well the club hasn’t officially announced anything, more than one source was saying it was going to be Victoria. The club wants to spread the camp around the province to emphasize they are the “BC” Lions.
Paris Jackson was the star of the day when he stopped to sign the team photo of a young fan, looked behind him and saw all his teammates coming and said “Hey guys, if you have tome come and sign this kids picture!” Every player in the vicinity came over. Nice move by a guy who always has time for the fans.
