SASKATOON — Dan Clark has had enough.
Luckily for the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ veteran centre, the CFL schedule-makers seemingly had his best interests at heart.
After just seven days of training camp, the Roughriders are to open their pre-season schedule Sunday against the host Edmonton Eskimos (3 p.m., TSN, CKRM).
“By this point of training camp, you’re tired already of hitting your own guys; you want to hit somebody else,” Clark said. “Whether they put the ball out on the grass here (outside of Griffiths Stadium on the University of Saskatchewan campus) or in the parking lot, everybody’s ready to play a game.
“Maybe it is a short week, but everybody has to be ready mentally and physically to play a game.”
In normal years, the Roughriders have had two weeks of training camp before suiting up for their first pre-season game. This year, they had six days of practices and one day that featured only a walk-through — and game day already has arrived.
Dan Clark
“It’s different,” defensive end Willie Jefferson said. “Trying to speed things up and getting the tempo going a little faster is making things (in camp) not as smooth as they usually are. But we’re getting a lot more plays in, a lot more reps and a lot more stuff accomplished in meetings.
“That’s a plus, but at the same time, there’s a lot more on your mind trying to get more plays in before that first game.”
On Saturday, the Roughriders announced their roster for Sunday’s game and a number of veterans — including Jefferson — won’t be playing.
Defensive linemen Zack Evans, Charleston Hughes and Eddie Steele, defensive backs Crezdon Butler, Mike Edem, Ed Gainey and Jovon Johnson, and receivers Rob Bagg and Chad Owens are among those who aren’t going to suit up.
Head coach-GM Chris Jones also revealed that David Watford is to start at quarterback, with Marquise Williams and B.J. Daniels to follow. That means Zach Collaros and Brandon Bridge will be spectators as well.
Holding out veterans will give Jones and his staff an opportunity to evaluate most of the team’s newcomers — and to do so a week earlier than normal.
Jones has said he likes having a game so early in camp, suggesting it’ll allow the coaches to see quickly which players can perform in game situations and which ones turn into (in his words) “Casper the Ghost.”
That could make the decision-making process easier.
“Just like always, there’s going to be somebody who we have high expectations for who doesn’t quite reach what we think and then, vice versa, there’s going to be somebody who we’re thinking a little less of who shows up and plays well and we go, ‘Oh,’ ” Jones said. “There are going to be some hard decisions coming down the road.”
Jones pointed to quarterback, defensive tackle and defensive end as three positions the staff will be focusing on during Sunday’s contest. While that directly affects Williams, he isn’t getting caught up in the fact that the coaches will be watching every little thing he and his fellow QBs do.
“If you go in thinking it’s make or break, you’re going to go out and break yourself,” said Williams, who’s participating in his second training camp with Saskatchewan. “You’ve just got to have fun, do what you do, distribute the football to the playmakers and let those guys be the flashy ones.”
Rookie defensive back Jeremy Cutrer said he was set to play a game on the second day of camp, hoping that it would help him show the coaches and the veterans that he deserves to be part of the team.
On Sunday, he’s expected to start in place of Johnson at field corner.
“I’m not used to — boom, boom, bam — going straight to a game like that, but I’m ready to go,” said Cutrer, who previously in his career had a stint with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. “Yes, the game snuck up on me, but it’s a quicker way for me to show them that I’m ready.”
Chad Geter
Defensive end Chad Geter also is preparing for his first CFL pre-season game — and he too is raring to go.
“It’s going to be a great experience for me, playing at a professional level,” the rookie said. “But I can’t get mind-blown about it. I’ve got to stay even-keeled and be like I’ve been at practice: Do what I do, focus and go as hard as I can.”
Usually at this point of camp, veterans and rookies alike are preparing to run into teammates during the Green and White intrasquad game. This time, they’ll be colliding with players in the green and gold of the Eskimos — and Clark can’t wait.
“It’s going to be a good training test for all of us, even the Edmonton guys,” he said. “Instead of having a regular scrimmage against ourselves, we get to compete against another group and actually have the live bullets going. That’s going to be great.”
After Sunday’s game, the Roughriders will return to Saskatoon to resume training camp. Their second and final pre-season game is set for June 8, when the Calgary Stampeders are to visit Mosaic Stadium.
