By Kevin Thompson
Ticats.ca caught up with head coach Marcel Bellefeuille for a Q&A session after Saturday’s Black and Gold Day and before Wednesday’s pre-season game in Winnipeg…
What are your overall thoughts on Saturday’s Black and Gold Day?
MB – “Very pleased, I thought we did a great job at execution on both sides of the ball, and on special teams as well at the third phase of the game.”
Which players impressed you during Saturday’s scrimmage?
MB – “Well a lot of players impressed me, I try to temper it because its not what they can do in one day but its what they do over a number of days.”
There were over 1,500 fans on hand for Black and Gold Day, how do you feel the players fed off their energy?
MB – “Well it’s good for the fans and especially the new players to get an idea of the passion this city for this football team and they have the opportunity to see that.”
There was a little bit of fisticuffs during the scrimmage at Black and Gold Day, you didn’t want the guys hitting but obviously guys are trying to make the team. What are your thoughts on a couple of the heated moments we saw?
MB – “Well you know emotions are high, men are fighting for jobs right now and their livelihoods, and they have families to feed and so it’s important to them. The fact that it is important to them I do feel good about that, we need to temper it a little bit because obviously we don’t want that translating into games but they understand what is at stake here right now and there is a lot of competition at this camp so people are going to get heated.”
How important was Saturday’s controlled scrimmage as an evaluation tool for you personally?
MB – “It’s very important because this is our first game type situation outside the preseason and when you have this many players and there is only so many snaps in the preseason you want to have every single opportunity you can to evaluate them. Going into the Winnipeg game at least we have an idea of what some of these players can do with a little pressure.”
Can you comment on the value of the referees at the scrimmage?
MB – “Extremely important, players start to see how important it is and penalties are. We charge penalties at practice but now we have people actually calling it and more importantly they see what the ramifications are for penalties as they see where the ball moves from in and out of field goal range and where people get first downs so that is the important part.”
Speaking of field goals, must be nice to have a guy without any effort kick a 52-yarder and go home like it’s another day in the park.
MB – “Well it is you know those are critical and at some point in the season your going to have to make a couple of those to win games in the last minute of a game. So the more practice we get like that in game type situations the better we will be.”
There were couple offside calls during the scrimmage. What do you have to do to get them ready again to face the same thing in Winnipeg?
MB – “Well it’s always a challenge, that part of it we call the ‘waggle’. You try not to have them but they are going to happen a couple times especially early. We want to have these being guys aggressive and attacking the line of scrimmage, and we would rather have that than have none and have these guys three or four behind the line of scrimmage at the snap and not attacking the defence at all.”
Since the first week of training camp has ended, can you comment on how the rookies are competing with the seasoned veterans on the team?
MB – “The rookies are competing extremely well and they are all poised to compete for jobs. There not just here to make the team, there is a number of rookies here that could displace veterans if they continue to have good camps.”
Which players are emerging as leaders of this Ticats team?
MB – “Well you know a lot of different players, but obviously we have some veterans in our offensive line so they lead well, our quarterbacks are doing a great job, on the defence some of our linebackers and secondary people that have been here for a few years are doing a great job as well.”
Can you comment on the training camp performances of your selections from this year’s 2009 CFL draft?
MB – “The draft picks are doing a great job, I really feel positive about them you know they are all competing to make this team and not just be here for training camp so we are really impressed with them.”
What are your thoughts on the competition for the kick returner position on special teams?
MB – “We got five or six guys that can do that and we will have to see how it goes in game type situations, so when we get into games we’ll have a better idea.”
How do you feel about the chemistry in the locker room at the moment?
MB – “Well the chemistry is excellent, I really feel good about the guys getting to know each other and throughout the year we will have a number of different events and opportunities for them to get together, opportunities to bond and spend time together. It takes time to build chemistry and I think we are off to a good start.”
The players practice and take part in meetings everyday. At this point, what percentage of the offensive and defensive playbooks has been absorbed by the players?
MB – “Well you know probably around 60 – 65% of the base offence and defence, and hopefully by the time we get out of camp we will be at 90%.”
There are a few days until the first preseason game, how many players will you be taking with you to Winnipeg?
MB – “We will be taking fifty-five with us.”
How do you determine which players stay or play in the preseason game?
MB – “Well there are a number of factors; it’s how much they play throughout the whole preseason so that’s what is important. So whether they play in the first or second preseason game, injury plays a part in that as well to make sure we have enough depth at each position so the guys don’t have to play too much so there are a number of factors.”
