Ticats wrap up mini-camp surrounded by optimism

Jacob Dearlove
Ticats.ca

HAMILTON — The Tiger-Cats’ three-day mini-camp concluded Wednesday afternoon, and the feeling among coaches and players was overwhelmingly optimistic.

“It felt good to be back out with the guys,” said offensive lineman Mike Filer. “We had a pretty intense three days; tempo was high, confidence was high, that’s a big thing.”

Filer was happy to get re-acquainted and back to work on the offensive line with friend and teammate Peter Dyakowski. Feeling stronger and leaner than ever, Dyakowski is just happy to be back on the football field after missing virtually the entire 2014 season with a knee injury suffered in the 2013 Grey Cup.

“One of the luxuries, I guess, of missing a whole year of playing is that I didn’t start the year banged up,” explained the veteran Canadian lineman, “rather than spending December and January healing old things, I was just working on getting stronger, cutting down.”

Dyakowski enters the season 20 pounds lighter than his former playing weight and believes this will allow him to be a more effective player on the Ticats’ offensive line.

Elusive receiver and kick returner Brandon Banks was thankful to get back to work with his teammates as well.

“Just being back out here with the guys, it felt good, I got kind of bored at home,” joked Banks. “I’m happy to be back out here catching the football and being around football, it’s pretty much all we know.”

CFL referees and officials were in attendance on Wednesday, allowing the players a chance to get a better feel for the new contact rules between receivers and defenders. (Click here to read more about the new CFL rules). Along with a look at how the rules will be policed, the players were afforded the opportunity to dialogue with officials after calls to get a better understanding of why a flag was thrown.

Ticats Head Coach Kent Austin expressed the importance of having immediate learning after the calls are made, explaining that having officials at practice will help inform the coaches on how to prepare their players better. Austin hopes to have referees at training camp and even in-season practices to minimize infractions when game time rolls around.

There have been questions that the new rules may result in an influx in penalties around the league, but the head coach doesn’t share that concern; rather, he sees the changes as a chance to improve Canadian football.

“We don’t need to focus on the amount of flags,” explained Austin. “What we need to focus on is policing the rules properly, the coaches coaching to the rule properly, and players playing to the rules properly, to make our game better.”

When asked what he thought of having the officials at practice, Brandon Banks was quick to acknowledge that the new rules cater to his strengths as a player.

“I’m loving it, it seems like they made all the rules for me. It’s going to help my game a lot, it’s going to help me score more touchdowns hopefully and put our team in better positions.”

The three-day mini-camp was more than learning about rule changes, though; it was a chance for new players to learn the Ticats’ system, and in some cases, some of the finer details of the Canadian game. Coach Austin was impressed with the level of understanding amongst the new players despite all that was thrown at them in such a short period of time.

“We’ve got some smart players, and guys that also are committed to learning as quickly as they could; we threw a lot at them on both sides of the ball.”

Newly-signed American receivers Tiquan Underwood, Terrence Toliver, and Deon Anthony, who are all new to the Canadian game, had an especially steep learning curve to work with, but the transition was made easier by two fellow Americans who previously made the cross-border transition.

Luke Tasker and Brandon Banks, who shared the team lead in touchdown receptions in 2014, each took on advisory roles over the course of the week, explaining the nuances of the waggle and how to use motion effectively; both receivers were impressed with what they saw.

Banks, who embraced the mentorship role, calling himself “Coach Banks”, was quick to point out the importance of the new receivers in Hamilton’s offence.

“Especially with the offence that we have and how many passes we throw [in] a game, we need big guys like that. Bringing them in adds another threat to our offence, so I’m happy; I don’t have to jump for the balls anymore now.”

Quarterback Zach Collaros is excited about the new group of talented receivers he’ll get to throw to in the upcoming season, and said he looks forward to seeing the competition between them in training camp. After experiencing his own learning phase in last year’s training camp, Collaros has returned to the Ticats feeling more comfortable with his own responsibilities, which has allowed him to spend more time tutoring teammates.

“I feel a lot farther along than we were even for training camp last year,” expressed Collaros. “I felt better, things started to slow down and I was able to really get my eye fixes and work those things rather than trying to remember what my progressions are.”

With mini-camp wrapped up, players will go their separate ways for the next four weeks, before re-convening for spring training camp in late May/early June. While everyone has different plans, the majority of them include more training and ironing out specific aspects of their game leading up to the season.

There is plenty of work ahead for the entire team, but there is a lot to feel good about with the conclusion of mini-camp.

“The team overall is feeling great, you can really feel the energy that we’ve got with this group, we’ve got great leadership,” said Dyakowski. “The group that we have is fantastic and you can tell the guys are gelling already.”