After last season’s disappointing finish in the Canadian Football League’s (CFL) West Division basement, the Saskatchewan Roughriders are eager to improve all over the field at training camp.
“We got to play a little bit faster, we got to play a little bit smarter, we got to make sure some of the things that we didn’t see last year, we’re seeing now,” Riders offensive co-ordinator Stephen McAdoo said in Saskatoon.
READ MORE: Saskatchewan Roughriders 2017 Training Camp Preview – Offense
After trading quarterback Darian Durant in the off-season, all eyes at this year’s camp are on the competition in the pocket.
“We’ve got five, good young quarterbacks, and they all did some good things,” Riders head coach and general manager Chris Jones said after practice on Sunday.
One of those quarterbacks is 34-year-old Vince Young. He’s adapting to the Canadian game after a career in the American system, and he hasn’t played a professional game since 2011.
“My whole focus today was making sure the timing of the receivers and the offence, making sure I’m translating the words in the huddle and making sure everybody is in the right place,” the Heisman Trophy nominee said.
“He’s good in the meetings, the more he hears it. We installed 11 coverages last night and we probably ran seven against him today. I wanted to throw a lot of stuff at our quarterbacks just to see who could adjust,” Jones said.
READ MORE: Meet Vince Young: Saskatchewan Roughriders newest QB
The head coach added that he had seen definite improvements in Young since mini-camp in Florida.
In this post-Darian Durant era, leadership in the pivot position will fall on Kevin Glenn’s shoulders. He has 16 years of CFL experience and has played on every team in the league except for the Edmonton Eskimos. This is also his third stint with the Roughriders.
“As players, we’re grown men but we’re still students. It’s like a teacher and a student. We still have to come in here humble and understand that we need to learn, and the coaches are the teachers and they’re going to teach us the playbook,” the 37-year-old from Detroit, Mich., said.
READ MORE: Saskatchewan Roughriders 2017 Training Camp Preview – Defense
Training camp is all about improving one play, one day at a time, and there is still plenty of time left in Saskatoon.
“I’m looking at the things that we’re doing well, but I’m definitely honing in on the things that we’re doing wrong that we got to come back to the drawing board, get inside and do better on. That’s the big thing about it — we got to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes we did today,” McAdoo said.
The Roughriders are training at Griffiths Stadium through Thursday.
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