Toronto Argonauts Rookie Camp + Training Camp thread

[paulwoods13]

Thanks for the observations and thoughts, Shatto.

Hear, hear! Great report, Shatto.

[Neely2005]

Anyone going to practice today? It's been moved to the Downsview Park Soccer Bubble.

https://www.argonauts.ca/2017-traini...edia-schedule/

[Jon Gonzo]

After watching two T.C. practices --here are my impressions:
Offense-3 receivers have looked extremely good--Green, Fuller and Posey. They have taken most of the 1st string reps. The only question revolves around Green being ready to start the season. Paden may be in for a fight, as Worthy and Edwards appear to be having stellar camps. Worthy has the advantage, in that he looks to be the designated kick returner, at this time. Others such as Morgan, have shown flashes of excellent work but the question is, whether it is enough.
Whitaker appears to have a lock on the RB spot and the battle is for the back up position. Cross has been getting a fair amount of time on both the 1st and 2nd string offenses. Coombs has been predominant as both slot back and running back and has been getting a lot of 1sr string reps.
On the OL with Deane looking slightly injured, Holmes, McEwen, Watman and Van Zeyl look to be 4 National starters. As others have mentioned, Campbell (Jamal) seems to getting an opportunity to win the LT position but there are some good looking Internationals who will challenge him.
Defense--Lemon, Laing, Bishop and Butler have looked impressive as a starting defensive line when they go with 4 down lineman. Cash looks to have some type of injury and Waud was in, what looked to be, an air cast.
If McFadden is not ready to start the season and if Woods doesn't sign, Plummer will be the starting MLB. He has looked quite good but the question is, is he good enough?
They often go with 6 DB's with one occasionally morphing into a LB. Consistently, the starting 6 have been Owusu-Ansah and Gabriel at CB Mitchell at free safety and Sears, Murray and Vaughn. Owusu-Ansah has looked particularly good in the one on ones. For me, Berry, Alford, Harris have all shown good coverage skills at one time or another during the drills.
Odds and Sods--Onyeka has been getting a lot of playing time, mostly with the 2nd string defense but also occasionally with the 1st string. He certainly hasn't looked out of place when he has been out there. If Herdman is going to make this team, he will have to show he can contribute on special teams but so far his lack of foot speed make that look unlikely. Didn't realize that Brandon Harris, who is only 27, was drafted in the 2nd round of NFL draft and 60th overall.
The above are my impressions only. The coaches, who have decades of professional football experience and have seen all the practices, viewed film and have observed what type of character the players demonstrate, are obviously, in a much better position of evaluating the talent, than someone who is simply a fan, such as myself.
With the rest of training camp and an exhibition game, some players will cement their positions, while others will drop back and still other will come to the fore and show they should be on the team. Though it is stressful and demanding on the players it is an exciting time for us football fans.

Thanks Shatto. You have a keen eye. Being an out of towner, I love this kind of stuff & even send it along to my father. He's in his 80's, so social media is a non-starter (;

[AngeloV]

Big highlight of Fan Day for us was meeting AngeloV! We rarely agree, right! But I love your passion. Now all we need to do is find another 11,000 of each of our personal profiles and the Argos are totally out-of-the-woods!

It was my pleasure. I'm glad some don't confuse my passionate defence of the organization as being a bad dude. I am far from that.

[1971GreyCup]

It was my pleasure. I'm glad some don't confuse my passionate defence of the organization as being a bad dude. I am far from that.

AngeloV. You don't look at all like Conredge Holloway! It reminded me of in the past when I've met radio personalities. For years, you have a visual your brain creates in the absence of information. We hope to have an opportunity to chat at the games this year.

[AngeloV]

AngeloV. You don't look at all like Conredge Holloway! It reminded me of in the past when I've met radio personalities. For years, you have a visual your brain creates in the absence of information. We hope to have an opportunity to chat at the games this year.

I'm sure our paths will cross again, likely at practice in Downsview. I've seen you there before, but didn't know you then. By the way, I played 1 year of QB in high school at 295 lbs. Got down to 245 for my senior season and junior ball. Damn Greek upbringing.

[Tobin Rote]

AngeloV. You don't look at all like Conredge Holloway! It reminded me of in the past when I've met radio personalities. For years, you have a visual your brain creates in the absence of information. We hope to have an opportunity to chat at the games this year.

[1971GreyCup]

FAN FEST

Toronto Sun
Richard Mantauh

There’s probably no correlation between the number of people who show up for Fan Day at training camp and the number who will show up at BMO Field during the season. But still the Argos were pleased with having more than 500 fans on hand on Saturday at its practice at York University.
After the 1½-hour session, the players were eager to greet their supporters, many of whom donned their Argos gear for the day.
“It was fun,” Trestman said. “It was good for the players. It lit a little bit of a fire under them. They were ready to go.”
“It’s good to have the fans out,” Willy said. “This league is so much built on its fans so it was good to see them out there supporting us.”
Also on hand and as popular as ever was Argos legend Pinball Clemons.

ESKIES FAN FEST TWEET Morley Scott

#Esks estimate 3500 to 4 k for Fan Day. Lots of beer and merchandise sold. Easily most successful and well attended Fan Day. #CFL

[jerrym]

FAN FEST

Toronto Sun
Richard Mantauh
But still the Argos were pleased with having more than 500 fans on hand on Saturday at its practice at York University.

Hopefully, this is a sign that things are getting better attendance wise this year.

[Wobbler]

I'm a bit amazed that we still have six QBs in camp. For preseason game 2 we'll need to give Ray a couple of series to warm him up, and we'll need to resolve the battle for #2 (a quarter each for Willy and Fajardo?). That doesn't leave much time for Prukop and Bethyl-Thompson to audition...

I am assuming that Mathews is the odd man out, obviously. Who knows, though; maybe the tape will show that his receivers let him down last night and Willy's salary will be an issue.

[R.J]

According to Mike Hogan's twitter feed - Wilder looks to have won the backup RB spot, as Malena has been released.

[ArgoGabe22]

According to Mike Hogan's twitter feed - Wilder looks to have won the backup RB spot, as Malena has been released.

And the fact that Malena's injury probably didn't help him.

[Argo57]

According to Mike Hogan's twitter feed - Wilder looks to have won the backup RB spot, as Malena has been released.

Glad to hear, should only improve as he gets familiar with the CFL.

[ArgoRavi]

And the fact that Malena's injury probably didn't help him.

I doubt he would have been released at this time otherwise.

[Gill The Thrill]

I doubt he would have been released at this time otherwise.

Tough break for Malena, especially considering it was a good gain on his only carry. He was one of several short statured low centre of gravity guys who are quick in this years camp as I noticed on Fan Day. He was also being looked as a punt and kickoff returner, along with newbie Martese Jackson, who had some playing time Thursday and Canadian U of Guelph star Ryan Niewesteeg who was not either not dressed Thursday or did not see action.

I think you're going to have to add receiver Jimmy Ralph on your unstoppable force line Ravi. He looked good in securing the football at fan day and followed it up with good production in pre-season so far. They may opt to have him go back to the University of Alberta to finish his 1 yr of CIS eligibility, but if he continues to produce, he will be hard to ignore, especially as a Canadian.

As far as international receivers go, Cole Watson had a noticeable contribution on Thursday. I haven't noticed Devon Wylie at Fan Day or on Thursday, but he did contribute when he got playing time last year. Jeff Fuller is probably a lock, and so is SJ Green, but Armanti Edwards is not a lock for starting based on what I saw. I'm delighted Popp has brought in good talent in camp. The competition level for jobs is hands down better than it was last year, despite the late confirmation of Popp and Trestman being hired.

I think it's safe to say, we can look forward to a much more balanced team with more depth on all sides of the ball this season and not the steady dose of 17 pt losses we saw last season at BMO. Hopefully this team can get better week to week and build some casual fan interest by playing interesting football on offense and tough defence. Can't wait to see Bear Woods patrolling at linebacker.

[Wobbler]

In addition to letting Malena go, we also cut WR Justin Brown today. I don't think he played on Thursday... was he hurt too?

Two new INT WRs were signed:

The #Argos made a series of transactions this morning:

ADDED:
WR Ed Eagan, Northwestern St
WR Jamel Johnson, Alabama St

— Toronto Argonauts PR (@Argonauts_PR) June 10, 2017

Eagen is a WR/KR type and Johnson looks like a slotback.

[OV Argo]

In addition to letting Malena go, we also cut WR Justin Brown today. I don't think he played on Thursday... was he hurt too?

Two new INT WRs were signed:



Eagen is a WR/KR type and Johnson looks like a slotback.

The release of Stephen Hill and now Brown is interesting - 2 guys with very impressive NFL resumes, and yep, a lot of those type end up not panning out in the CFL. 2 new receivers added mid-camp?- whatever I guess, but there is lots of receiver talent still in TC - Green & Fuller, Posey, Wylie, Edwards from the Riders, Morgan & Worthy? - how many receivers do you need to audition late in camp? - this Watson guy comes out of nowhere and gets lot of ex, game playing time? And with Jimmy Ralph making an impression, to go with Jones & Noel as NI receiver talent. the Argos might think of going with at least 2 NI receiver starters; but not if the position is pencilled-in for mostly imports.

[Wobbler]

Davonte Wallace was cut to make room for Pfeffer, so the LT competition seems to be down to Mack and the Campbells.

[Wobbler]

Rush's new article indicates that SJ Green is coming along nicely, but I'll be surprised if he plays in the preseason. It does sound like there's a chance he'll be ready to go for game #1, though.

[Wobbler]

2 new receivers added mid-camp?- whatever I guess, but there is lots of receiver talent still in TC - Green & Fuller, Posey, Wylie, Edwards from the Riders, Morgan & Worthy? - how many receivers do you need to audition late in camp?

With six QBs in camp there are plenty of guys who want to throw balls. Gotta have lots of guys to catch them. ;)