ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
MISSISSAUGA – Argonauts GM & Head Coach Jim Barker has a clear plan in place for his quarterbacks for Saturday afternoon’s pre-season opener versus Hamilton.
Pre-season coaching habits usually suggest that key playmakers start the game and are then removed by the time the second half rolls around. Tomorrow, Barker plans on an unconventional roation of both vets and rookies, all in the interest getting the most out of the two quarterbacks currently leading the way to become the team’s opening game starter.
“I feel great about it. Guys are running good routes, timing has been great and everyone is getting separation. From that standpoint we feel very positive about the things we have done.”
– Argos QB Cleo Lemon on the progress made in the team’s passing game
“Our number one thing right now is finding our starting quarterback,” Barker said Friday. “They need to be put in situations that are as equal as we can make them.”
The equality that Barker strives for includes a split system where incumbent starter Cleo Lemon will begin the game and play the majority of the first half with Danny Brannagan possibly seeing a few series late in the second quarter. Dalton Bell will begin the third quarter and mirror as close as possible the amount of reps that Lemon. It’s possible that rookie QB B.J. Hall will finish the game.
Both Lemon and Bell will play with a unit that closely resembles that of the starting offence from last year, and both will also have a chance to take snaps with a set of rookies throughout the day.
Perhaps a little unconventional, but if you ask the quarterbacks they just want to go out and show what they can do regardless of the rotation or time restraints.
“Whatever comes my way, I will be ready,” said Lemon. “I am not concerned with whether or not I get these reps or those reps, whatever Coach decides, I will be good to go.”
Lemon is entering this season with renewed optimism after an up and down 2010 season. He believes that the development of the oft-criticized passing game is ahead of where it was last year, and Saturday’s game should go a long way in proving so.
“I feel great about it. Guys are running good routes, timing has been great and everyone is getting separation. From that standpoint we feel very positive about the things we have done,” Lemon said.
Bell, who comes into his second year, says that although it is tough to show the coaching staff the strides he has made in two quarters or less, he is confident that he will make the best of his rather limited opportunity.
“If it was up to me, I would like to play the whole game,” Bell said with a smile. “I’m not calling the shots here so hopefully I can get in there in the third quarter and prove that I can move the ball and put points on the board.”
Bell and the Argos will go up against a Hamilton Tiger-Cats squad that has an entirely different agenda than that of their provincial rivals.
The ‘Cats will dress very few starters with RB Avon Cobourne, SB Dave Stala, SB Arland Bruce lll and DE Stevie Baggs as some of the notable scratches.
The Argos aren’t going to approach the contest any differently, as Barker subscribes to the belief that each player’s preparation should not change just because Hamilton is resting a select number of playmakers.
“Football is a one-on-one game and either our guys are going to win those battles or they are not. In terms of who is playing across from them, you have to respect anyone who has come this far. When you go into a pre-season game you have to respect that the person [across from you] is a good football player and the minute you lose that respect, you end up being beaten by a guy,” Barker explained.
The Boatmen, too, will rest some of their key contributors on offence as both Chad Owens and Cory Boyd will be absent from the lineup along with Rob Murphy, Chris Van Zeyl and all-star defensive tackle Kevin Huntley.
With Boyd on the sidelines it will be up to second-year Argos RB Dwayne Wright and rookie tailback Chad Kackert to carry the ball for the Double Blue, which is something that doesn’t concern Lemon.
“We have backs that we are confident in and we are a team that believes in running the football and that is what we are going to do,” he said.
Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m. at Rogers Centre and you can listen to the game on TSN Radio 1050 or follow the game live on argonauts.ca. There is no television broadcast of this game. For tickets, please call 416-341-ARGO (2746) or click here to purchase online.