For many, the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ upcoming mini-camp represents quarterback Zach Collaros’ on-field debut with the Green and White.
For others, Collaros’ efforts on Tuesday and Wednesday in Bradenton, Fla., won’t take centre stage.
“For us, it’ll be status quo,” said Jeremy O’Day, the assistant vice-president of football operations and administration for the CFL’s Roughriders. “We’re going to work all of the quarterbacks the same amount of time.
“Anyone who’s down there will be interested in watching (Collaros) throw, but they should be just as interested in seeing the rest of the guys throw, the receivers catch and the defensive backs cover. It’s not like Zach is a brand new player to the league who you’ve never seen play before.”
The Roughriders acquired Collaros from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Jan. 3, sending a second-round pick (10th overall) to Hamilton in exchange for the 29-year-old pivot.
Saskatchewan subsequently released veteran QB Kevin Glenn, who started 17 games during the 2017 season. That left the Roughriders with four quarterbacks under contract: Collaros, Brandon Bridge, Marquise Williams and David Watford.
All four of those men are to be in Bradenton for the mini-camp, which will provide them with another opportunity to immerse themselves in the Roughriders’ playbook and to get familiar with first-year quarterbacks coach Steve Walsh.
The Roughriders’ offensive coaches and the quarterbacks gathered in South Pittsburg, Tenn., in late March for meetings, so they’ll continue their interaction in Florida.
The mini-camp also will allow Williams and Watford to show their wares more than they did in 2017.
Williams didn’t join the Roughriders until training camp was underway and Watford wasn’t signed until October. The team’s expectation now is that the young QBs will have what O’Day called “a better flow” during mini-camp and beyond.
O’Day also stressed that no one has been guaranteed anything when it comes to the quarterback depth chart. League observers may have a perceived order for the pivots, but nothing has been etched in stone — meaning mini-camp could have an impact on the depth chart.
“We’re looking forward to all of those guys stepping up to see what the order is going to be and who’s going to be falling into what place,” O’Day said.
The quarterbacks are to be joined at the camp by a smattering of CFL rookies as well as players who are on the Roughriders’ negotiation list and others who initially were seen at the team’s off-season tryout camps.
O’Day said the mini-camp will comprise between 35 and 40 players, many of whom will be playing on a CFL field under CFL rules for the first time in their lives.
“The guys who pick it up the fastest are the guys who end up sticking (and being invited to training camp) because they’ll get the confidence of the coaches,” O’Day said. “It’s a hard thing to do, but they have to be able to pick things up quickly. If they can’t, then they’re really going to struggle.
“A lot of that happens in this camp. You’ll see guys who we had at tryout camps or free-agent camps who did well when we told them which route to run — when they were doing a really specific movement — but when they have to start thinking on their own and worrying about snap counts and timing the waggle, that’s when they start to struggle mentally.”
That said, there likely will be a few CFL newcomers who earn jobs based on their performances at mini-camp.
In 2017, defensive end Tobi Antigha, linebacker Alexandre Gagne and receiver Antwane Grant showed well at mini-camp and stuck with the Roughriders for most (if not all) of the season. Antigha, in fact, was named Saskatchewan’s top rookie after appearing in 17 regular-season games.
Even if only one player who attended an off-season tryout camp or was signed off the negotiation list makes the Roughriders’ final roster for 2018, the team will have got its money’s worth out of mini-camp.
“It’s a fun time of the year because you can put (the players) together and see how they do,” O’Day said. “You’re excited about them all, but sometimes you get excited about a guy and then he struggles when he goes up against guys who are a little higher quality. And sometimes there are guys who you don’t expect to do much and all of a sudden they’re doing really well in the camp.
“You’re never really happy when you watch a one-on-one because if one guy does really well, that means one guy isn’t doing so well. You want them all to compete and, if a guy has a bad (repetition), you hope his next rep is better. We want to create the best competition possible.”
The other thing about mini-camp is that it allows the coaches to get on the field for the first time since the end of the previous season. It therefore represents another step down the road toward the 2018 campaign.
“From a staff standpoint, you might even argue that (mini-camp) is more fun than training camp,” O’Day said. “Training camp is when you start getting a little more pressure on you. Right now, we’re still in the off-season and you’re just happy to be on the field. There really isn’t any pressure yet.”
