Andrew Lahodynskyj/Argonauts.ca
Justin Dunk
Ticats.ca
It was a busy 12 hours for the Ticats coaching staff. Coming off their pre-season finale — a 57-20 trouncing of the Montreal Alouettes — the Tiger-Cats brass had a long night of reviewing the game tape and an early morning discussing personnel decisions before Saturday’s 4:00pm league deadline.
“It was a late night and an early morning of film sessions,” head coach Marcel Bellefeuille said. “I met with every single player today that’s here, and gave them some feed back on their training camp, on the expectations. Some were ‘sorry to let you go’ and those were tough, especially the guys that you feel like are good players and they work hard, high character guys…those are tough. Some of them were relief, ‘I’m still going to be here.’”
The game tape really made the six decisions very clear in the bench bosses mind.
“Some of the things became clear to us after watching the film again,” Bellefeuille said.
One of the closest competitions throughout training camp and the pre-season was the backup running back spot, and against Montreal Terry Grant pulled away from Glenn Milner, just like he burst through the hole on his 55-yard touchdown scamper in the fourth quarter.
“I have to admit you know, not too many players can make that run he made at the end of the game,” Bellefeuille conceded. “He’s just so explosive and not just that run, the pass he caught out in the flat running that option route, that dynamic that he brings is just exceptional, that really cemented it for him.”
“We could only keep two, Avon and someone else to back him up,” Bellefeuille said. “Also, knowing that Marcus Thigpen could play running back as well, we made that decision and Terry was just too much of an explosive player to pass on and it was important to keep him.”
Grant’s speed and explosiveness matches very well with the up-tempo and explosive offence that Bellefeuille is hoping to see from the black and gold.
“Guys that have the ability to shorten the field so you don’t have to be perfect in your execution all the time,” he said. “Explosive plays create points and more points and you saw that from both Grant’s [against Montreal] and other players as well.”
Another backup job was claimed with two defensive ends being let go. Rookie Darius Powell won the right to play behind incumbent Ticats starters Stevie Baggs and Justin Hickman.
“He’ll have that opportunity to develop and backup those positions,” Bellefeuille said. “He’s one of the guys that probably has the most upside in terms of rushing the passer and winning one-on-one battles with the tackles, he continually improved throughout camp and from the first game to the next game.”
There are still more players to be released to get down the required roster number mandated by the CFL.
“We still have another four or so to go and will do those by Saturday morning before we get on the field,” Bellefeuille said. “We’re going to go back and look at the body of the work, watch some more film, meet again and talk about them and spend a little more time to make sure we make the best decision we can.”
An important decision has to be made about which man will be putting foot to ball for the Ticats this season. Some Tiger-Cats faithful may not have given Eric Wilbur, who punted for the Ticats after being signed in August of 2010, much of a chance to beat out the odds on favourite Justin Medlock, but he has almost gone kick for kick with his left footed counterpart.
“I don’t think people outside of our locker room realized that [Wilbur] could do that,” Bellefeuille said of Wilbur’s performance during training camp and the pre-season. “He’s 4-5, Justin’s perfect in the pre-season, and a number of kicks over 40-yards. Both guys punted so well and kicked off well so it’s a tough, tough situation.”
“Both guys had exceptional pre-seasons and played well in both games and have really made it a tough decision.”
Like the kickers the battle at the receiver position has heated up quickly, especially after Bakari Grant made two acrobatic catches versus the Alouettes, Aaron Kelly who has had a consistent showing all camp long and Chris Williams who hit pay dirt on a punt return and caught three passes himself – not to forget Marquay McDaniel who almost had 1000 yards receiving in 2010.
“It’s another tough challenging situation. We’ll spend another night on it and a day tomorrow and see what we come up with,” Bellefeuille said. “We’re trying to figure out what the best situation is, not just depth wise, but the upside of these players.”
The Ticats brass did not want to make any rash decisions on some of the close calls on players looking for roster spots, so they will take more time before they get down to the proper roster number in advance of Saturdays cutoff time.
“The first thing we don’t want to do is rush to judgement, some are really close. Some are more challenging than others,” Bellefeuille said. “We don’t have to get down until Saturday, so we just didn’t want to make any rushed decisions on the last few decisions that we have to make.”
