Cumberland Panthers kick off the 2014 season this Saturday!

No one cares what I think about the possibility of a stoppage in play in the CFL, so I won't even address it.  Instead, I will direct my attention to those who want to play.

This Saturday, the three Cumberland Panther OVFL clubs face off against the Metro Toronto Wildcats.  The bantam, junior varsity and varsity games start at noon, 2:30PM and 5PM respectively.  Admission is $5 and all games will be played on field #2 at Millenium Park.

I was actually quite surprised to learn (or be reminded) that the Panthers' senior club was 0-8 last year.  They are normally far more competitive, but it may be that they happened to field  a fairly young team.  They are returning leading passer Thompson Richards (1348 yards, 10 passing touchdowns), leading tackler Will Karam (a linebacker with 43 in total, 32 of which were solo) and top receiver Brandon Smith (30 for 385 and eight scores).

Smith is joined by 2013 junior varsity all-star receiver Kurleigh Gittens who recorded 47 catches for 760 and five touchdowns at that level. He also averaged more than 13 yards on punt returns, including a score.

All Panther home games, as well as those of defending champs Myers Riders, are now listed at the middle right of the page.  The Panthers play at Millenium throughout the season, and the Riders usually play at Minto (Nepean Sportsplex) but I noticed that their June 28th match up against the Toronto Thunder is being held at Carleton.  The two teams have their annual head-to-head match-up on July 12th at Minto.

Looking forward to seeing things get underway!

Ottawa Sun: Analysing The Ottawa Redblacks Picks

Had some computer issues during and just following the draft (nice timing) which prevented from gathering information about the guys that were picked. I did track the results on the "Draft results" page (appropriately enough), tricky as that was with three trades within the first four picks.

Copied below are, courtesy of Tim Baines and the Ottawa Sun, comments from head coach Rick Campbell and/or general manager Marcel Desjardins about each player.

Antoine Pruneau, DB, Montreal 

Desjardins: "He'll be able to compete at multiple positions for us on defence. He's very athletic, but the main thing we draft any player for is to contribute on special teams. We have no doubt he'll be able to do that." 

Campbell: "He's a competitor. He'll be a guy athletically that can come in and compete right away. He strikes me as a kid that whatever you're telling him to do, he's going to be thrilled to do it. He has one of those infectious attitudes where he's thrilled to be on the football field and wants to compete." 

 

Scott MacDonell, WR, Queen's 

Desjardins: "He's a big, fast receiver who catches the ball well. He's physical, can block well and will be able to do things on special teams for us. He's a guy we had rated quite high. When we made the trade to go from 10 to 13 in the second round, we were a little leery that he may not be there, but it worked out." 

Campbell: "He's a guy with upside. He's got a lot of room to grow. The thing that's real interesting about him is his size -- you can use him for multiple things, he's kind of a hybrid guy, a guy with versatility." 

Nigel Romick. DL, St. Mary's 

Campbell: "He's a freaky kind of athletic guy. He's 6-foot-5, runs 4.6something. He runs real well for a big man. They moved him around in college because he was one of their better players. We hope to use him more as a defensive end. But definitely with his body size and the way he runs, he can come in and compete on special teams right away." 

Aaron Wheaton, OL, U of T 

Desjardins: "He's a big man who's athletic, but he needs time to develop and get better."
Campbell: "You need offensive line depth. As we build this football team, we need offensive linemen to come in here and compete. There's no reason he can't come in and compete right away and see where his growth goes." 

Hugo Desmarais, OL, Laval 

Desjardins: "He's a player who last played on Laval in 2011. He went to spring camp in 2012 and hasn't played since because of supposed concussion issues. Based on our information and what he's telling us, it's not really concussion related. A 6-foot-6, 300-lb. offensive lineman who played a bit at Laval, we just felt we had to take a chance on that guy. We talked to him beforehand. He's excited. He wants to play. He hasn't played in a bit, but you can't have enough of those guys. We're happy we got him, but we'll see how it goes." 

Campbell: "He's a project with upside, a kid who was recruited to NCAA schools so obviously he has the physical skillset to do it. Whether that happens, as you get into the later rounds. it's worth taking a chance on guys who have that much upside." 

Stephon Miller, DL, Windsor 

Desjardins: "He's a good athlete, good size, 250 lbs., he moves around pretty good. These types of guys are players who can contribute initially on special teams. Our defensive line coach Leroy Blugh will work with this guy and get him to be a better player." 

Campbell: "The thing I liked about him is he's a hard worker. You can watch him on film and tell that he likes playing football. He strikes me as a kid that will come in here and won't be phased by the competition. He's just going to throw it in there and do what he does. A lot of times kids with that trait can come in and contribute on special teams because they just play fast and don't think twice about it." 

Vincent Desloges, DL, Laval 

Desjardins: "He's a very good football player, probably not as athletic maybe as other players in the draft. He's advanced from a technical standpoint, he does a lot of things well. He was a difference maker for them as a defensive end. He's a guy who really hustles all over the field and who's going to come in and maybe play for us on special teams right from the beginning." 

Alexandre Bernard, LB, McGill 

Desjardins: "He's a player who didn't think he would be doing anything in the pros. We were aware of this, so this is a bit of a chance selection. We thought he was a very good football player who made a lot of plays. He may or may not be at training camp, but we'll see how that plays out. He hasn't been doing anything since the end of last football season because he wasn't anticipating this. He may be a guy we have to wait on, maybe it's during the season on the practice roster, maybe it's next year for training camp." 

Kevin Malcolm, LS, McMaster 

Desjardins: "He hurt his knee last year, so he's not coming to camp. We know that. He's a very good long-snapper, he does want to pursue the CFL. He's a guy who a year from now he's fully rehabbed and ready to go. We'll obviously keep tabs on him next year when he's playing and we may have a future long-snapper for the RedBlacks." 

Campbell: "He's a CFL-capable long-snapper when you watch him on film which is a big thing. There aren't a lot of guys out there. The thing about long-snapping if nobody talks about it, that means you're good at it. All of a sudden, when it's not good is when you have all the conversation. So definitely, he's a guy worth taking."

The one I'm most curious about is Desmarais, naturally, since his story is a little unusual.  The name was only vaguely familiar when he was announced as the team's choice in that round, which is explained by the fact that he hasn't played in two years.  But he was getting a fair amount of hype at the time, so this is another low risk, potential high reward choice in what was largely considered to be a weak draft.

The team took a little bit of heat for trading away the first pick overall to Calgary for offensive lineman Jon Gott, a move I have no problem with.  For all that Pierre Lavertu was said to be pro-ready, that remains to actually be seen, whereas we know that Gott was a regular contributor on the Stampeders line for the past couple of years.  It seems that Gott's girlfriend lives in Ottawa so at 28 years of age, the possibility of keeping him around for the remainder of his career seems strong.

This is not a typical expansion team building for three or four years down the road.  The expansion draft was designed to give Ottawa a chance to be competitive right away, and this transaction is a step towards that.  Agree with it or don't, but there's undeniably some logic behind it.