Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Kent Austin knows exactly what the Hamilton Tiger-Cats must do in order to make a positive jump forward during the 2013 season.
“Overall fundamentally as a football team, across the board, we were not a great fundamental football team last season,” Hamilton’s general manager and head coach said.
Austin will preach football basics at the 2013 Tiger-Cats training camp as he and the new Hamilton coaching staff look to install a fresh philosophy with the Black and Gold.
The shift in mentality started immediately after the 49-year-old was hired back in December; his fingerprints are all over the team already. Players were released and brought in for training camp with a couple of characteristics in mind. 
“We’ve made a lot of personnel changes that we believe has helped the team become more athletic and faster,” Austin said. “We needed to get faster as a football team on both sides of the ball.”
With increased speed in the fold, Austin and his staff will now focus on assessing the new talent on the Ticats roster.
“We want to see our players ability to absorb what we’re trying to implement, where their skills really shine and where they don’t, where we might have to piece the puzzle together a little bit differently and move our players around, but all of that is part of the process and that is why you go to camp,” he said.
Every player at training camp – veterans and rookies alike – will recognize that it’s a fresh start for all. And with a new set of coaches in charge each individual is going to have to prove themselves.
Since there is a new bench boss and staff in Hamilton, let’s bounce around the Ticats position groups and take a look at where some of the fierce competition for starting and roster spots will be.
Quarterbacks
Henry Burris enters camp as the undisputed starter at football’s most important position. Coming off a career-best 5,367 passing yards and 43 touchdowns in 2012, it appears Hank, entering his 14th CFL season, still has plenty of high-level football left in him.
“The guy still has talent to play,” Austin said. “Henry is very eager to learn and he has the respect of his players which is important.”
Burris is entrenched as the number one pivot, but the backup quarterback job needs to be filled. Coming into camp, Dan LeFevour and Brian Brohm appear to be the main competitors for the number two quarterback spot. LeFevour has a year of being around the CFL game under his belt; he dressed all 18 games last season with the Ticats. Brohm is a newcomer to the Canadian game.
It will take some time for him to get acclimated to the three-down brand of football, but during mini-camp he showed arm strength and accuracy, and didn’t look out of place at all.
Running Backs
During his rookie campaign in 2012, Chevon Walker emerged as a dynamic, explosive back. The speedy ball carrier amassed a combined 992 rushing and receiving yards on just 145 touches in 14 games, eight of which he started. The team feels confident Walker can carry the load at running back as long as he can keep himself healthy.
Rookie CJ Gable appears to have the inside track for the backup spot. Gable is a bigger back than Walker, listed at 215 pounds. The USC Trojan product is solid in pass protection and despite being a so-called bigger back, he’s a very good receiver, has good hands out of the backfield and can get down the field on vertical routes too. Lindsey Lamar is a ball carrier to keep an eye on as well. He’s a quick, smaller type scat back.
Receivers
If electric playmaker Chris Williams does not end up on the field for the Ticats in 2013, it appears Bakari Grant, Onrea Jones, along with Canadians Andy Fantuz, Dave Stala and Sam Giguere are the front-runners to claim the five starting receiver spots for Hamilton. Although, whether two or three Canadian receivers start is up in the air based on how the team plays with the ratio.
Regardless of what the Ticats do with said ratio, expect Giguere to earn a starting nod, the team believes he is primed for a breakout year in the new offensive scheme. A couple import rookies who could surprise with their training camp showings are Eric McCree and Justin Hilton.
McCree has some size (6’3”, 208 pounds) and is a strong, physical player who has some ability to make plays after the catch. Hilton has some nice length to him, runs really well, knows how to create separation and catches the ball consistently.
Offensive Line Hamilton has built some nice depth along the offensive line. In 2012 when all five starters, from left to right, Brian Simmons, Peter Dyakowski, Marwan Hage, Tim O’Neil and Marc Dile were healthy, the team felt pretty good about the group. The Ticats would love to see the inside Canadian duo of Hage and Dyakowski stay injury-free for all of 2013.
Simmons had a stellar 2012 campaign at left tackle and should only continue to get better at that spot and the same could be said at the other tackle spot for Dile. It seems like off-season acquisition Greg Wojt could earn a starting role, perhaps supplanting O’Neil, at right guard.
Hamilton feels like they have some younger tackles with potential who could push the veterans and have solid non-import depth along the offensive front, especially after Pascal Baillargeon and Cody Husband got lots of playing experience because of injuries last season.
Defensive Line
One of the biggest non-import signings Hamilton made in the off-season was landing the number one overall pick from the 2010 CFL Draft, Shomari Williams. Coming off of a career-best 59 tackles in 2012 with the Roughriders, the Ticats would like to see Williams cement himself as a starter at defensive end during camp.
Greg Peach and Brandon Boudreaux will compete to start on the opposite end of Williams. However, depending on the performance of Williams and how the team uses the ratio, Boudreaux and Peach could be on the field together at times as well. Inside at defensive tackle, free agent non-import pickup Brian Bulcke appears to be a favourite to earn a starting assignment. The Black and Gold coaches are high on Hasan Hazime as well, who should provide non-import depth along the defensive front.
It feels like Hamilton would like to go with an import at the other defensive tackle spot. Terrence Moore, who was with the team at the end of least season and has dropped some weight to tailor his game more to the
CFL, along with Torrey Davis seem like the main competitors for the last starting spot in the defensive trenches.
Linebackers
Four athletic linebackers, Jamall Johnson, Simoni Lawrence, Markeith Knowlton and Marcellus Bowman will wage a fierce battle for three starting positions. Lawrence was brought over from Edmonton in an off-season trade because the Ticats like his length and explosive instincts.
Everyone in Steeltown, fans, coaches and players alike would love to see Knowlton regain his Most Outstanding Defensive Player form from 2010. The 30-year-old comes into camp fully healthy after going through a tough 2012 year injury-wise. The team believes its only been injuries that have held him back. So if Knowlton stays healthy expect him to solidify a starting spot in camp.
Defensive Backs
If you take a close look at the Ticats list of defensive backs, one trait stands out – height. Not one cover man is smaller than 5-foot-11. It’s definitely a trend in football to have length to go against bigger receivers. Length can compensate for a number of different things. Often times if you’re just a little out of position athletically, length can bail you out. The larger defensive backs are what you really want in the secondary.
It would be a shock if free agent signees James Patrick and Evan McCollough, along with Dee Webb didn’t earn starting jobs in the defensive backfield. After those three spots, there are two left to fill which will strictly be based from the best performances at training camp, regardless of non-import or import designation.
Kicking Game
Expect 2012 East Division All-Stars Josh Bartel, who impressed in his rookie season as a punter, and veteran kicker Luca Congi to have strong camps and handle the kicking duties for the Ticats. 2013 draft pick Brett Lauther is a kicking prospect the team is high on and it will be interesting to see how he develops.
Ratio Flexibility
Every position, besides running back and linebacker where the team is clearly going with import starters, has plenty of non-import depth. Not just depth in terms of numbers, but quality.
The Ticats are not locked into starting any particular Canadian at a certain spot because they setup enough flexibility so they’re not forced to start anyone at any position. Hamilton has plenty of flexibility to adjust the ratio a number of ways. There are some teams in the CFL that start more than the seven required non-imports already. That’s the goal you need to have that way there is no last minute scrambles, when eventual injuries happen.
It’s such a sweet smell the aroma of three-down football is back in the air with training camps set to open. Let’s all take a deep breath in and get ready for another exciting season across our great country.
