Bert Faibish
Ticats.ca
Now that the pre-season, training camp and final roster cuts are in the past, the 2010 version of the Black and Gold is finally beginning to take shape.
The final stage in the journey to the final 46 happened Thursday, with the release of 14 players, seven of which found themselves on the team’s practice roster on Friday.
It has been a long and arduous process.
“We were on top of it, probably meeting twice a day about it, every morning and night and it was one of those things that continued to evolve,” said Head Coach Marcel Bellefeuille.
The difficulty of the decisions coach Bellefeuille and the rest of his staff have had to make is indicative not only of the talent brought to camp, but of the quality of the players already there.
Some players cut by the team may not be out of work long.
“Players are here because they have confidence, they believe in their abilities and sometimes I walk away from that meeting saying ‘we’re probably going to see you again’,” said Bellefeuille. “There’s a number of players that I wouldn’t be surprised to see us line up against at some point this season,” he added.
An injury to right tackle Jason Jimenez forced the team to make some alternate plans that may drastically change the landscape of the roster.
Yesterday, the Ticats made a deal with the Argonauts, acquiring Canadian offensive tackle Brian Ramsey to help solve the problems that Jimenez’s injury created.
“We feel good about what Simeon’s doing there, we had the opportunity to acquire an offensive tackle who’s played a lot of games in this league,” said Bellefeuille.
“We played against him in preseason, had the chance to go watch the tape and see how he played against our three defensive ends, and thought that Mr. Ramsey did a pretty good job,” he said.
The CFL’s ratio rules means that a good deal of strategy needs to go into every move made by a team.
“To play a Canadian you have to back him up with another one, so between Rottier and Ramsey we feel like we can fill that hole,” said Bellefeuille.
The loss of Jimenez, an import, presents a unique opportunity for the team.
“You have a loss but you also have an opportunity, which is to potentially play another Canadian and change our roster,” said Bellefeuille.
“We’re still tinkering with that part of it but it gives us some flexibility to play an extra American receiver or potentially have an extra American running back, which we didn’t necessarily have a week ago,” he said.
With the regular season opener just a week away, fans won’t have to wait long to catch a glimpse of the Ticats new-look roster in action, July 2nd against the Blue Bombers in Winnipeg.
