Bert Faibish
Ticats.ca
If Bob O’Billovich keeps this up, CFL players will soon pass citrus fruit and wine as California’s chief exports.
On Saturday the Ticats General Manager, Head Coach Marcel Bellefeuille and area scouts wrapped up a tryout camp in Cerritos, California, something he has been doing for most of the last two decades.
“I started holding the camps down in California maybe 15 years ago and kept doing it while I was with Toronto, Calgary and B.C.,” said O’Billovich.
Forget the sunny weather, beautiful landscape and picturesque beaches, the main draw to the west coast area for Obie is the way they play ball.
One of the main differences between the CFL and NFL is the emphasis the Canadian game has on passing because of the fewer downs. Football at the collegiate level in the area fits that to a tee.
“For a long time the conferences we scouted heavily were the Pac-10, WAC and Big Sky conference because they threw the ball more compared to the east coast football like the Big Ten,” said Obie.
“California has always been a good place to find speed guys and guys that were more acclimated to the passing game, on both sides of the football,” he added.
Obie has built a reputation as a great evaluator of talent over his long and decorated CFL career. One of the keys to his success has been his willingness to search every nook and cranny for football players than can help his team win. He is responsible for discovering former CFL Most Outstanding Defensive Player Cameron Wake as well as Hall of Famers Mike “Pinball” Clemons and Darren Flutie.
Obviously he has an eye for talent.
That’s why it came as no surprise when last year he brought home Deandra Cobb and Justin Hickman from his California camp, both of whom would go on to make major impacts on last year’s playoff team. Cobb especially will cement his status as a major find if he can match the outstanding numbers he was able to put up last year.
“We think that he has a very good chance to be one of the premiere backs in the league this year,” said O’Billovich.
It’s not just for the Tiger-Cats that Obie has been finding gems in California, Antonio Warren and Dante Marsh are two other names that he snatched up after one of his tryout camps and turned into very good CFL players.
This time around, the Ticats went into the camp with a specific focus on positions they were looking for and are very pleased with some of the talent they were able to see.
“We signed seven guys from this camp last year and we may end up with more than that this time around,” said Obie.
“This year we found some guys we’ll be looking at to be kick returners, some real speed, lightning-quick guys,” he said,
However even with a specific focus on positions there was room for some pleasant surprises.
“We also saw a couple of linemen, a couple DB’s and some receivers that looked very good,” said O’Billovich.
“Even apart from those returners there were several guys that ran 4.3 so it was a good
camp,” he added.
Fans can look forward to learning more about some of the players from this year’s camp in the coming weeks as the Ticats get set to open training camp.
