Edmonton Eskimos reach another milestone in training camp

The Edmonton Eskimos completed Day 12 of training camp on Thursday morning which marked the end of two-a-day practice sessions.

Head coach Jason Maas was happy with the way his team has worked over the last 12 days.

“I thought practices got better as the camp went on, they were physical the whole time,” Maas said. “Our discipline really showed up the few practices and that’s what you want to see. You want to see growth every single day.

“Ultimately the test will come against Calgary in the game to see if we can carry it over from practice to a game.”

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The Eskimos will hold one practice on Friday, a walk-through on Saturday and then host the Calgary Stampeders on Sunday. That game will be carried live on 630 CHED, starting with the pre-game show at 3:30 p.m. and the kick-off at 5 p.m. on The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.

The Eskimos on Thursday welcomed back Marcell Young to practice. The seven-year defensive back, who recorded 60 defensive tackles last season, missed the last week of training camp because of injury.

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“It felt good to get back out there and compete with the guys a little bit and make some plays, it was fun to get back out there with the team,” Young said.

“When you’re not out here on the field working with your guys you know you feel a little bit distant so I felt like I am part of the team now.”

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One player from the Eskimos secondary who remains out is two-year CFL veteran Forrest Hightower who has been out with injury since late last week. It doesn’t look like he will play on Sunday against the Stampeders and his status for next Thursday’s pre-season finale in Winnipeg is also up in the air.

Maas said Hightower may be a CFL veteran, but him being not available to practice will put him behind those who have been able to practice.

“Being a veteran in the league is different than being veteran in our system,” Maas said. “Everyone here would be going into their second year as a veteran, they’re a step ahead mentally and usually when you’re a step ahead mentally you play faster than a guy who’s behind you. That’s not a fair comparison when you’re not out here.”

Running back John White, receiver Shamawd Chambers and defensive end Marcus Howard were the other veterans not practicing on Thursday.

The Eskimos will hold one practice session Friday morning starting at 8:20 a.m.