Saskatchewan Roughriders
CFL.ca Staff
With files from Riderville.com
REGINA — While all eyes were on Darian Durant this weekend at the Riders’ Florida mini-camp, Head Coach Corey Chamblin was busier looking for potential starters on defence.
The team held its annual mini-camp at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. a week ago, the spotlight on a veteran offence, newly-hired Offensive Coordinator Jacques Chapdelaine, and Durant’s first time back in the huddle since season-ending elbow surgery last September.
But while football fans enjoyed Durant’s return under centre, the coaching staff had a keen eye on the rookies playing defence.
Chamblin wouldn’t name anyone in particular, but the fourth-year head coach said the team is facing some difficult decisions.
“I’m not going to jinx anybody, but I will tell you this – on the defensive side, because of all the rookies, they’re all the same,” Chamblin explained. “What I mean by that is there’s no bum; there’s no bad guy where we’re like ‘hey, get him out of here’.
The Riders were among the league’s defences in 2014, finishing bottom-three in most major categories, including net yards. Many pundits blame the injury to Durant for the team’s late-season tumble, but as the season went on, a struggling defence appeared to be the greater source of Chamblin’s frustration.
As a result, the Riders strategically planned this mini-camp for both for veterans and rookies. On offence, the veterans enjoyed some much-needed exposure to Chapdelaine’s system. Defensively, rookies had a chance to learn the CFL game and compete for roster spots.
“There’s not much room on offence and guys understand that, but just on the defensive side of the ball there are guys that can start in a couple of positions and we’ll see some healthy competition there,” said Chamblin. “We’re deeper on offence than we are on defence.”
All of the defensive players, Chamblin added, showed well over the weekend. Some could even have a shot at starting come late June.
“I definitely see future Riders,” he said. “I saw one or two guys out there that may be starting day one, barring injuries or anything like that.”
“There are a couple of starters out there, I really do believe that,” he continued. “I’m looking at it from a defensive side first – there are some starters over there.”
Now that the rookies have made an impression in mini-camp, the next step will be getting through training camp. Not all of this weekend’s participants will make it to June, and it’ll be up to Chamblin and his staff to figure out who warrants a closer look.
That may be more difficult than the former defensive coordinator first imagined.
“You’ll see each guy do something positive and we’re thinking ‘this is pretty tough’,” said Chamblin. “It’s going to be pretty tough for us to make some decisions, especially at that linebacker spot.”
The same competition, however, is what deems the Riders’ 2015 mini-camp a success.
“I think this was an excellent camp,” added Chamblin. “I thought the guys adjusted to the things we asked them to adjust to. I think the talent level was on par across the board from the sense of there was heavy competition.”
“To see some of the things that they did – I thought it was an excellent camp and we accomplished the things we needed to accomplish.”
