June 10, 2012

Training Camp Diaries – Day 8

ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF

MISSASSAUGA–There was a late start today as practice kicked off at 1:30. Luckily there is only one scheduled, because it is undoubtedly the hottest day of the year thus far. Some players did seem at home in the warm weather; Chad Owens even had a long sleeve shirt on. 

Speaking of Owens, he was added to the laundry list of receivers with no pads on during practice. He was still working on his game despite not being able to practice, as the ‘matrix’ glasses made a return. He and Jason Barnes were tossing the ball around and sharing the glasses. 

The oven mitts also made a return. This time it was Evan McCollough and Jalil Carter who were sporting the kitchen wear. It is still unclear exactly what the reason is for these, but we promise to get to the bottom of this… 

The tempo was definitely a little off early on, probably because of the heat and the grind of camp starting to take a toll. The players were still loud, though, especially Ahmad Carroll. Luckily his play throughout camp has backed up the talking. 

The defence looked solid in early 12-on-12’s. Defensive backs were covering well down the field and the D-line was getting to the QB. After an average showing in yesterday’s mock game you could tell they had something to prove. It could have also been the fact that Chris Jones tore a strip off of them after yesterday. 

Jarious Jackson had a productive day, with his best coming from a one-on-one drill where he dropped the ball in Jarmon Fortson’s hands right overtop the defender. Afterwards, Maurice Mann went to Fortson and made sure he acknowledged the man who got him the ball. “Go thank your Quarterback for that pass,” said Mann. “He’s the reason why you eat.” 

The pace picked up in part two of 12-on-12’s. The coaches were as loud as ever, demanding more out of their players, and they responded.  

Defensive Back Pacino Horne had his best practice of training camp. First he intercepted a ball right out of Spencer Watt’s hands during one-on-one’s, and then during red-zone play he swatted away what seemed to be a touchdown pass. 

After his showing yesterday, Dontrelle Inman was the focus of the defence, and Ahmad Carroll made sure that wherever Inman was, so to was he. Carroll certainly has a presence about him. 

On the lines, Stephen Good and Derrick Summers were battling hard against one another during their one-on-one. No true winner came of it, but both players certainly would not give an inch to the other.  Armond Armstead was also in full gear for the first time in 3 days.  

In the last 12-on-12 of the day it continued to be all defence. Jasper Simmons read Ricky Ray like a book and intercepted him in the endzone. Shortly thereafter, Milanovich blew the whistle and ended practice, completely frustrated at his offences play.  

It’s back to early morning starts tomorrow. The players will be heading to the upper field at UTM at 7:30 and will run two back-to-back practices.