The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have kicked off their annual mini-camp.
Mother Nature gave the players and coaches pretty much all they could handle on Day 1 with a dose of steady ready and cool temperatures.
Forty-six players are listed on the mini-camp roster, along with an additional seven, count ’em, seven kickers.
It’s clear the Ticats are throwing a bunch of fishing lines into the water in the hopes of pulling one out and catching a bona fide kicker.
And who knows, someone else could emerge at the main camp beginning in late May.
While the Ticats are using the mini-camp to potentially find their kicker of the future, the three days of chucking the pigskin around at Tim Hortons Fields has a bigger purpose.
Mini-camp accomplishes a couple of goals.
Number one, it gives the coaching staff a good idea of where their incoming rookies and negotiation list players stand, in relation to the established veterans who are already here.
Secondly, mini-camp provides a massive boost to first-year CFL players.
And I’m not talking about rookies coming out of the CIS.
No, I’m referring to those first-year players who have no idea about CFL rules, let alone the Tiger-Cats’ gargantuan playbook.
But everyone has to start somewhere, including those wide-eyed Americans who will just be trying to keep up with their Canadian colleagues this week.
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