BC Lions Thread

[jerrym]

Here's a look at BC OL with TC on the horizon:

https://www.bclions.com/2021/06/29/p...down-o-line-2/

[jerrym]

Below is a look at the Lions WRs as TC is about to begin:

https://www.bclions.com/2021/07/05/p...n-receivers-2/

[jerrym]

Here's a look at the Lions 2021 top two draft picks, LB Jordan Williams and QB Nathan Rourke, after a few days of TC. Williams, who played at East Carolina and briefly in the American Alliance of Football, that it takes some adjustment even for American NFL players to get used to the fast pace of the Canadian game.

Williams looks to be fitting in well as he adjusts to the daily football grind he truly hasn’t experienced since 2019 and his brief stint with the Orlando Apollos in the now-defunct Alliance of American Football.

“Jordan is proving to be everything we saw on film for him at East Carolina,” Ralph explained. “His lateral movement, his instincts are all there. From day one, he has come in ready physically and mentally. He’s been progressing every day. Watching him on the field moving around has been music to our ears.”

Williams himself has enjoyed his tenure in Kamloops and is doing his best to approach every practice situation as if game action isn’t too far way. Three weeks from tongiht the Lions will be battling the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“It’s a fast-paced game,” Williams said. “Guys who came from the NFL had had difficulty adjusting and the same on the flip side. It’s the same game of football but there are different things you’ve got to be good at. It’s a lot of faster-paced game, I’d say. When we see intensity like that, we tell the guys to keep doing it. We’re going to get the best out of each other in practice and when we get to the game, it’s going to be easier. I love that intensity and it’s going to get me ready when we go to Saskatchewan.”


Williams may be an ‘older’ rookie, but one of the things he’s taken in so far is all of the experienced CFL players on this defence and what they can do to help him adjust as quickly as possible. “There’s a lot of experienced guys who played with other teams. They tell you about tendencies and lead you to where the play is going to happen. Sometimes you call their bluff then they say, ‘boom, I told you. I told you the running back was going to cut that way.’


Rourke for his part, has looked steadily improved as each of the practice days has gone by. Patience will remain the key when it comes to evaluating the second rounder from last year.

“Coming in as a rookie quarterback is always tough but the one thing I love about Nathan is his demeanor,” added Ralph. “When you come in with that veteran approach as a youngster, it goes a long way in helping pick up various tendencies in the playbook. It helps he has a veteran like Michael leading the quarterback room.”

https://www.bclions.com/2021/07/16/c...s-blending-in/

[jerrym]

Franchise QB Mike Reilly has been on the sidelines for three straight days with shoulder soreness, giving more practice time to the backups, but raising questions about how serious an issue this will be.

[jerrym]

The Lions have released twelve players with the most prominent being former third round draft pick LB Noah Robinson, who played 16 games in 2019.

[jerrym]

DL coach Leroy Blugh has suddenly had to leave camp for personal and health reasons. It doesn't sound like he will be back this year.

[jerrym]

The CFL's #1 overall 2020 draft pick, Jordan Williams, who is a national because of his Canadian mother, is finding it a demanding task to adjust to the Canadian game.

He comes into training camp in Kamloops as a 26-year-old pure rookie, playing under a new set of rules and in a new country. Aside from The Spring League in San Antonio — an unpaid, developmental league that players dish out US $2,000 to play in — he hasn’t played since his final game with ECU in November of 2017. ...


And the 6-0, 232-pounder can, in the words of the late Bruce Lee, be like water. He can flow, and he can crash. He’s bred for the CFL game; he’s fast (his 4.48 40-yard dash would have been second among linebackers at the 2018 NFL Combine), excels in coverage against running backs or inside receivers, but also has the strength to body linemen (he set a school positional record for power clean at 374 pounds, and can bench 385). ...


The physical gifts are there, and now it’s a question of adjusting to the Canadian game. “The CFL is a fast-paced game; you’ve got to be really fast. Some guys that came over that did great in the NFL didn’t do so well in the CFL,” he said. “It’s the same game of football, but there’s different things you have to be good at. Things I have to work on? I’d have to say the play clock. You’re not used to first down, second down, punt. First down, second down, punt. You’re like ‘It’s third down! It’s time to get a stop!’ But they’re punting already.”



Williams has shown the vets and coaching staff that he’s more than just a chiseled mass of potential. “He’s getting better every day. More and more, he’s getting more comfortable with the system, more comfortable being around the guys,” said defensive back Garry Peters, the oldest member of the secondary (29) along with T.J. Lee (30). A lot is put on his shoulders, because at the end of the day he’s not a rookie. I told him the other day, ‘Look. You’re the quarterback of the defence. You are a leader.’

https://vancouversun.com/sports/foot...ordan-williams

[jerrym]

Canadian QB Nathan Rourke has been named the #2 QB and former Redblack QB Will Arndt has been released.

“He’s going to be our No. 2 guy,” said head coach Rick Campbell via videoconference. “He’ll be dressing for our first game behind Michael Reilly.” The Victoria-born, Oakville-raised dual-threat passer was a second-round pick out of Ohio University in the 2020 CFL Draft. The two-time Jon Cornish Trophy-winner passed for 7,475 yards and 70 touchdowns while also adding 2,639 yards and 49 touchdowns on the ground as a member of the Bobcats.

B.C. released former Redblacks’ quarterback Will Arndt on Monday, leaving Rourke as the primary backup to Michael Reilly. Former Michigan passer Shea Patterson also remains on the roster, though he remains behind Rourke on the depth chart.

https://3downnation.com/2021/07/26/b...2-quarterback/

[jerrym]

BC faces a challenging job building back its fan base. Much of it sounds so familiar to Argo fans.

The average league attendance has slipped from 27,767 in 2011 to 22,917 in 2019 according to cfldb.ca, but that number is skewed by three anchors — notably, the three teams in the biggest urban centres in Canada — Toronto, Montreal and B.C. For a league that makes its bones at the gate, that’s bad news for the three organizations. The Lions have had the biggest dip in the past decade, from their peak of 30,366 in 2012, to just 17,803 in 2019, a stunning drop of more than 40 per cent. By contrast, the Riders’ 2011 attendance was 30,896 — not far off their 29,939 total in 2019. ...


The Lions president has been working tooth and claw to reverse the team’s recent fortunes, and is kicking off a marketing blitz leading up to B.C.’s first home game on Thursday, Aug. 19. They struck a two-year deal with Corus to bring the Lions back to the airwaves on AM730 and other radio stations across the province. “We’ve been out of the market not too far off of two years. We want to make sure everybody knows we’re coming back,” he said. ...


The diminishing fan base is a problem that has yet to be solved, though not through lack of trying. The Lions have tried various initiatives through the years, the latest being the Truly Den — a bar/viewing area targeting younger fans. The venue is capped at 50 per cent capacity as per provincial health regulations, but LeLacheur hopes when they are eased, they can make real inroads in attracting new, younger fans. The league and teams are betting heavily that the legalization of single-game sports wagers will be their saviour, with estimates from $7 billion to $27 billion flooding the market in the next five years, with the CFL getting a substantial slice of that. Sportscaster Don Taylor thinks the team is targeting a lost generation, saying fans of legal age are already NFL fans, hoovered up by the ever-present marketing behemoth to the south. ...


The Argonauts have more Grey Cups than any other team in the CFL, and the best winning percentage in the championship game (74 per cent). Their last title came in 2017, not even four years ago, but fewer than 15,000 fans came through the gates per game. They are consistently at the bottom of attendance in the CFL, despite there being more than six million people in the Greater Toronto Area.

“I don’t think anything hurts the CFL more than an empty BMO Field in a city where there’s (six) million people, and you can’t draw 10,000 people? It looks horrible, that that city doesn’t care,” said Taylor. “The fact that (the Argos) can’t get 25,000 people to consistently show up at BMO Field is a complete and utter failure, and it reflects terribly on the leadership of that organization,” said Hodge. “I don’t think you can fix that overnight, but there surely is a way to fix it, because the product is, at least in my opinion, as good as you’ll find anywhere.” “I think, to me, No. 1, before anything else, is they have to decrease their ticket prices — especially for kids. Get some kids under 19 into that building,” he said. “I think the Lions … have to realize their place in the market, and that they’ve lost a generation, they if don’t want to lose another one, they’ve got to get kids in that building. And if that means decreasing the ticket prices, that’s what they have to do.” He also cited a lack of presence at local football events, from flag football — soaring in popularity — to high school, junior and minor football.

https://theprovince.com/sports/footb...-lease-on-life

[jerrym]

Mike Reilly's shoulder and elbow problems throughout camp raise the question of how durable he will be this year, and possibly lead to Canadian QB Nathan Rourke playing more than might be expected by a rookie.

[Foxhound]

Interesting that the much touted Shaq Cooper won't be part of the Lions' opening game lineup.

[jerrym]

Unlike last week, Nathan Rourke has been designated the starting QB early in the week.

[jerrym]

The kicker Yamasaki has to go. He hasn't shown either accuracy or the ability to kick long FGs.

[Mocha]

The kicker Yamasaki has to go. He hasn't shown either accuracy or the ability to kick long FGs.

I was trying to google last night who else they had in camp, but I couldn't find anything. Do you recall if they gave another FG kicker a try? I wonder if Yamasaki was on point during camp but is freezing up during actual games, or what?

[jerrym]

I was trying to google last night who else they had in camp, but I couldn't find anything. Do you recall if they gave another FG kicker a try? I wonder if Yamasaki was on point during camp but is freezing up during actual games, or what?

The Lions are bringing back American Stefan Flintoft who was in TC but who was a punter not a kicker. Australian punter Jake Ford may take over kicking FGs but has limited experience in that. I am surprised they are not going after a more experienced FG kicker and didn't have one in camp. Surely they could find one in U Sports football. But that would have meant believing in Canadian talent.

American Stefan Flintoft, who Yamasaki beat for the role in training camp, looks set to step in at least temporarily. The UCLA product is a primary punter who has never kicked in game, but the Lions believe he can be a three-tool player. Australian Jake Ford, who fulfills the team’s Global requirement at punter, will continue in the role but could be asked to do double duty thanks to his experience kicking in The Spring League.

https://3downnation.com/2021/08/13/b...ess-next-week/

[jerrym]

Below is a summary of Canadian BC Lion QBs since the beginning of the franchise (towards the bottom of the page):

https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.ne..._Cgy_vs_BC.pdf

[jerrym]

Here is some background on the Lions new owner.

https://www.bclions.com/amar-s-doman-owner/

[jerrym]

BC Lions have released Canadian RB Jamel Lyles, who had 86 yards on 11 carries in his rookie 2019 season, in addition to 114 yards from 6 KRs, and 3 receptions for 10 yards. He had been Canada West Rookie of the year in 2015.

[jerrym]

BC has added three players to its roster: Canadian RB/WR Marcus Davis, and Americans OL Phillip Norman and DB Austin Joyner.

Davis– a fourth-round draft pick (31st overall) of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2018, the Victoria native enjoyed a solid career at UBC (2014-17) where he racked up over 3,000 yards from scrimmage in his first two seasons and helped the T-Birds win a Vanier Cup in 2015. Prior to his University career, Davis was a standout in B.C. High School Football with the Mt. Douglas Rams, winning three straight provincial titles with the program.

Norman- Returns to the Lions after making 13 starts on the offensive line in 2019, 11 of those coming at centre, and attending 2021 training camp in Kamloops. The native of Sebastian, Florida spent all of 2018 on the Lions’ practice squad after four productive four years at Bethune-Cookman.

Joyner- the Marysville, Washington native attended 2021 camp with the Lions with his most recent game action coming in 2020 with Alphas of the US Spring League. In 29 games over four seasons (2015-18) with the Washington Huskies, Joyner registered 67 total tackles, two interceptions, three pass knockdowns and also helped the Huskies win a PAC-12 championship in 2016. He suited up in the Fiesta Bowl against Penn State the next season.

https://www.bclions.com/2021/09/03/l...austin-joyner/

[jerrym]

Lucky Whitehead, who is fourth in the CFL in reception yardage, says he signed with BC, not for the money, but primarily to get a chance to be a starting receiver rather than just a Bomber returner.