Rogerio Barbosa/Montreal Alouettes
CFL.ca Staff
VERO BEACH, FLA. — If mini-camp sets the tone for the season, the Montreal Alouettes believe they’re off to a pretty good start in 2015.
The team wrapped up its annual three-day mini-camp on Friday in Vero Beach, Fla., taking in the historic Dodgertown and celebrating the significance of Jackie Robinson, while also getting plenty done on the field.
With a fast-paced camp that included almost every starter on each side of the ball, second-year head coach Tom Higgins says he’s more than satisfied.
“It exceeded expectations,” says Higgins on team’s first organized off-season activity. “You hope to have a certain level of things happen, but it was above and beyond.”
The veteran head coach says one of the key themes of this year’s mini-camp was the need to move on from last year’s playoff defeat, and instead begin building on 2014’s late season progress.
“The players came in focused. They haven’t seen each other in a while – the last time we saw each other as a full team was in the locker-room in Hamilton and now that’s all history,” adds Higgins. “Now it’s about moving forward.”
“They competed, they challenged each other, and the camaraderie that was created because we’re at an environment here in Vero Beach, historic Dodgertown – that’s why I started saying it exceeded expectations.”
A number of intriguing storylines highlighted the three-day event, led by the presence of veteran receivers Fred Stamps and Nik Lewis as well as former Alouette and current NFL player Andrew Hawkins. Also drawing plenty of attention was Anthony Calvillo, participating in his first mini-camp as a member of the Alouettes’ coaching staff.
By all accounts, a fast tempo on offence set the tone for practices.
“Loved our tempo,” says Jonathan Crompton, poised to enter his first training camp as the team’s number one pivot. “We came out and everybody was fired up and ready to go.”
“The first day is always a rush day, but guys came out with the install and did a great job with picking it up,” he continues. “The tempo we had was a lot more than I expected – I didn’t think we’d move as fast trying to learn everything.”
“It’s a good start and everyone’s excited – everyone’s already talking about when we’re getting to camp.”
Equally impressed was Calvillo, who knows a thing or two about running an offence. The CFL’s all-time leading passer says he didn’t expect the offence to pick things up so quickly – especially players that haven’t been here before.
“We knew there was talent there, but I was impressed by the fact that on day one, they flew in that day, we met with them for 45 minutes, threw all these plays at them and they went out there and executed them – and they did not have a lot of mistakes.”
“That says a lot for the group, and even the guys that were in the second and third groups were also doing a great job,” he added. “That was impressive, just to see how they can absorb all that information.”
While the Als are excited to improve upon an up-and-down 2014, the defence isn’t about to rest on its laurels following a dominant season. That unit believes it has plenty of room to improve, and may have a little extra motivation in the way last year ended.
| Images: Als’ 2015 mini-camp |
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Football is in the air in Florida, as the Montreal Alouettes have completed their annual mini-camp in Vero Beach. Get your fix with all the best images.
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“All we’ve gotta do is look at the Hamilton tape from last year,” says Bear Woods, asked about how this unit can improve. “They got in the end zone on us. The defence was on the field and we got scored on, regardless of the situation.”
“Whether it was a turnover or special teams put us in a bad situation, we got scored on as a defence and we’re very hungry.”
All in all, Friday marks the end of a productive week for the Montreal Alouettes. The weather was beautiful; the team was inspired by an important part of North American sports history following Jackie Robinson day; and critical gains were made on the field ahead of training camp.
“It’s been extremely smooth and very organized,” says General Manager Jim Popp. “This facility is fantastic. We’ve had great weather. The people here at Dodgertown treat us great.”
“The players are very relaxed,” he continues. “It’s a great atmosphere for them to learn. They’ve taken to the field and they’ve worked very hard.”
“We’re very pleased with where we are today and hope this carries forward into training camp.”
Before then, the Alouettes have some tough decisions to make. This is the first season the league expanded the rosters to allow more competition in mini-camps, and the Als will have to cut down their list from 85 players to 75.
