Rod Pedersen
CFL.ca
“Right now I’m in a frame of mind where … like I’ve said for several months … that we’re going to go with the quarterbacks that we have. We’re going to develop the quarterbacks that we have. We have starters here that we think we can win with.” – Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Ken Miller.
I suppose it’s high time we start to put faith in the words of Coach Miller. He’s the one who was a Coach of the Year finalist in the CFL in his rookie year of 2008.
The above quote came after yesterday’s Day 2 workout at Roughrider training camp at Mosaic Stadium. Miller was pressed about the “Ryan Dinwiddie Talk” and whether the Riders were interested in the free agent and former Winnipeg quarterback.
The Leader Post’s Murray McCormick did a little further digging and discovered Saskatchewan only looked into Dinwiddie’s availability at the request of new Rider offensive line coach Bob Wylie, who had worked with Dinwiddie with the Blue Bombers.
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This topic came up on Sportsline last night on 620 CKRM. The question was posed by CJWW Saskatoon’s Dave Thomas who asked, “When’s the last time the Riders recruited and developed a quarterback? Kent Austin?”
It turned out to be a great question.
Although I’ve heard that argument before, some say Austin wasn’t “groomed” here.
You of course know he was a 12th round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals and spent time with that club before landing in Regina as a find of then Rider head scout Dan Rambo.
We zeroed in on Kevin Glenn as the last true find of the Riders. He came here as a raw rookie out of Illinois State, although he never became an established starter here, Bomber GM Brendan Taman saw enough in him to give him that distinction in Winnipeg.
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However it’s not like the four current Rider quarterbacks are practicing with training wheels on. Darian Durant, Steven Jyles, Dalton Bell and Juan Joseph have all had their ups and downs – like everybody – but there have been more ups and downs.
“I think these guys have all played quarterback for quite awhile now,” reported new Rider slotback Jason Clermont on Monday. “They know what they’re doing. They know how to grab the ball, throw it, distribute it to all receivers, and they’ve been doing that all week from #1 through #4.”
The fact is Durant performed remarkably in 2008 when he finally got his chance to shine and no one will ever know how many straight games he would’ve won had he not cracked his ribs in Week 6.
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As for Durant himself, he truly feels it’s his time to shine.
“I think the word I would use is ‘ready’,” Durant said Monday. “I see it as an opportunity for me to establish myself and turn this province back into the winners that they’ve always been. My goal is go out there and distribute the ball properly and let the playmakers make the plays.”
How about that? Durant’s time in Saskatchewan goes back to 2006 and that fateful season which saw G.M. Roy Shivers get fired and head coach Danny Barrett not have his contract renewed. But Durant says he wants to get this province back to being winners like they’ve always been. Clearly he wasn’t following Canada’s Team from 1991 – 2001. Or for that matter, from 1977 to 1988. But that’s okay.
And the other notable in what Durant had to say was that he just has to get the ball into the playmakers’ hands. In other words, HE doesn’t have to be the star. But everyone around him does.
“I’m excited about our receivers,” Durant reported. “With the addition of Jason Clermont, and throughout our whole receiving corps, we have fast guys, big guys, and a variety of talents so it’s going to be exciting.
All that remains to be seen is the health of RB Wes Cates. If he can’t go in Week 1 against the B.C. Lions on Friday, July 3 at Mosaic Stadium, then what’s the contingency plan? That’s what we need to find out today.
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Global TV’s Warren Woods took a mild swipe at the Rider training staff on Monday, wondering aloud why injuries to players such as Wes Cates and Leron Mitchell haven’t healed in time for the new season.
“I am absolutely pleased and confident in the care that we have provided the young men who have been injured last year,” said Ken Miller. “I think our medical team is better than it has ever been and I have every confidence that we’re handling everything exactly as we should. These situations have just been unfortunate and we have some residual effect because they were very serious injuries.”
“With Wes, it was a shoulder situation and when they (the doctors) went it, they found several loose bodies in there and so they had to do more extensive work than what they’d originally thought,” Miller added. “There is tenderness and soreness. His range of motion is back, but he has to continue to work on strength so he’s able to take the hits.”
Rod Pedersen is the Voice of the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Check out his award-winning blog at www.rodpedersen.com
