Here are some photos from the morning session of day 3:
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Training Camp Report – June 8th
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.
Day 2 Photos:
Training Camp 2009 – Day 2 – Afternoon Photos
Here are our photos from day 2 at BC Lions training camp. These photos are from the afternoon session. Stars of this session were Andrew Harris, Terrence Scott, Korey Banks, Paris Jackson and Geroy Simon.
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Training Camp 2009 – Day 2 – Morning Photos
Here are some photos from today’s action at the day two morning session of BC Lions training camp. Standouts this morning included Paris Jackson, Xavier Mitchell, Caesar Rayford.
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Training Camp Report June 7th
Training camp officially got underway at WJ Mouat Secondary school in Abbotsford Sunday. Lots of teaching and instruction happening today, in a no pads workout.
Weather: Perfect. Partially cloudy, nice breeze throughout the day.
We concentrated on the offense today, tomorrow we’ll concentrate on the defense.
Receivers:
Terrence Scott, Otis Amey, Ryan Grice-Mullen. All three of these guys have speed to burn. Grice-Mullen has the inside track on a spot, but the other two had a strong morning session. Grice-Mullen made a great 40 yard catch down field in traffic for the play of the morning. Noticeably absent was Jerel Myers, no official reason was given, but no one seemed concerned. To the recievers credit, the DB’s were interfering and holding up at will today, hopefully not a sign of bad habits forming.
Running Backs:
The Lions look to have a lot of packages for backs catching passes out of the backfield, and Ian Smart was excelling today. Tough to judge the running backs today, as plays were basically being walked through with no hitting. Junior phenom Andrew Harris looked as good as anyone, showing great hands, and great speed. With the territorial exemption available to use on Harris, the Lions can be patient and keep him around on the practice roster. Lowell Ullrich writes that Wally Buono was quite impressed with the blocking skills of Damian Sims.
Quarterbacks:
I’ve heard some say the QB’s were bad today. I would say the timing was off, with lots of new faces, rookies learning routes, and rust all contributing to a sloppy session overall. All four QB’s overthrew receivers at some point and the timing should/will get better. Of the four, Zac Champion seemed to look a little nervous out there, and seems to know that newcomer Travis Lulay could pose a real threat to his job.
Offensive Line:
The departure of Martin Bibla was elaborated on by the media in attendance as well as Wally Buono following the morning session. It appears as though Bibla was not impressed at how he was being treated by coach Dan Dorazio, and told Buono he was foreseeing a “conflict”. Bibla chose to quit and that was the end of that. The Lions brought in Washington State product Trevor Lesuma was brought in to replace Bibla. The departure and results of Rookie camp have moved Justin Sorensen back to the right side (his natural side). Walter Stith and Darren Marquez will battle it out for Murphy’s LT spot. Both Stith and Marquez had decent first days, and Stith looks to have bulked up on his already gigantic frame. It was learned that the club also released non-import Lorne Plante. Sherko-Haji-Rasouli was away on personal business.
Quote of the day:
“Remember this feeling boys, you won’t feel this way again.” – Brent Johnson to his teammates at the start of the morning session, likely referring to the beating their bodies will begin to take for the rest of the season.”
Photos:
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