Day one of bomber rookie camp... my review will deal mostly wwith the wrs lbs rbs and dbs... the oline and dline were at the far side of the field and were harder to evaluate.
some guys i will brag up and some guys i will be very haqrd on, dont jump to any conclusions its only day one but its also the best way for me to convey what i saw, i will be brutally honest, gimme a few to sort through my notes and make another post
BY POSITION:
QBS:
Steven Jyles: an up and down day for mr jyles, who couldve shined with pierce struggling, showed some of his arm strength but passes were also a little of the mark for a good portion of the day.
AlexBrink: mack loves this guy, but hes going to have some work to do, he was very accurate on short balls, showed a nice release, but what i really hated to see was him throwing the deep ball. Every single time he threw a deep ball the receivers had to wait around or even turn back just to get the pass, the arm strength wasnt there today, i hope its jitterrs. so did any qb have a good day for the bombers? well im glad you asked because i saved the best for last
AdamDimichele: Kid had a big day, was accurate in all ranges and all types of routes, he also hooked up with dj hall and terence jeffers harris for the two longest and biggest plays of the day, drawing oos and awhhs from the fans. both balls were perfectly placed, he had a lot of zip on his balls and was leading the receivers well. big up to adam today!!!
RBs
Emmanuel Marc: guy is fred reids twin in the face, on the field? yet to see, slipped up a few times trying to make cuts in one on one drills, has decent size and agility, rbs were not featured a whole lot today, more to come
chris ionnides: lined up as a rb today, had trouble hanging onto passes, again didnt really get to evaluate running aspects of th rbs today, so thats all i can say for now
senecal: same thing, trouble catching the ball
wr: (2nd most exciting battle of the day)
kenny strickland: battled hard all day, a few tough drops, but he hustled all over the field, coaches loved his efforts, hel have to improve his hands if hes going to have a chance of sticking tho. dispite having one amazing catch on a poor ball from jyles
travis shelton: saw glimpses of the speed weve been told about, consistant in the receiving drills, didnt stand out but thats also good because i cant remember any drops from him, would love to see what he will do as a kick returner
jabari arthur: not the best day, footwork seemed a little slow in early drills, despite his size didnt seem to battle well in tight coverage, the vets on the sidelines were ragging him a bit, was not the worst receiver today, but he will need to step it up as well.
scott mchenry: well, he tried! his footwork was poor, he had trouble getting any seperation from defenders, dropped 3-4 catchable passes, and made a few routine passes way to exciting by bobbling them and finally bringing them in. the coaches were constantly instructing him every drill, looks to need quite a bit of work.
corey watson: welcome to the cfl corey, a draft pick well spent imo, was the only non import reciever t really impress today, he battled for every ball, had speed over the top, and made a few nice grabs on long balls. could easily be fighting for a starting spot this year imo... he was the only receiver that looked competitive with the BIG 3
and by the big 3 i mean the three most hyped imp recievers, who were also the three best on the day!!!
dj hall: this kid appears to be everything he is hyped to be, has incredible burst off the line of scrimmage, and the speed to take it over the top, which he did and caught a beautiful ball from dimichele in stride in a one on one drill, second best pass play of the day, hall consistently showed his skills catching balls in tight coverage, he also showed very soft hands and was able to catch the ball away from his body with ease. his big frame helped him blow up a few dbs on jam plays and he made some rediculous double moves taking defenders out of their socks on several plays. look for this guy to make some noise in main camp
will franklin: we didnt see the blazing speed he is said to have, but he sure showed us a lot anyways. will has very smooth hips, his cuts are clean and precise, he was able to get seperation from defenders and there was not a single glitch when it came to his hands today, he quietly was one of the best receivers on the field, would like to see a little more physicality from him in tight coverage, but most of the time his double moves had him open and avoiding those situation anyways.
terence jeffers harris: get excited bomber fans, another very young, very talented reciever, seems to be well rounded, decent size, good speed, and good hands. He also earns my top offensive play of the day when he leaped high above double coverage and pulled in a perfectly time dimichele pass and secured the ball to the ground with several defenders ripping at the ball. harris was hard to cover in the one on ones and caught anything within five yards of him, great first day for the youngster...
Todays Offensive 3 Stars = 1. Dj Hall 2. Adam Dimichele, 3. Terence Jeffers Harris
il post the defense review later, my fingers are sore and im hungry lol
I've read some reviews from others and they don't agree with some of your comments. They felt Pierce started off a little shaky but overall was good. Bob Irving also has apparently reported that Pierce and Arthur were both good today. He also apparently talked about Strickland, Watson and Suber.
suber was awesome, if make a D analysis il expand on that, the little guy can really ball
and as for pierce and arthur, maybe just wishful thinking by others... he started off very shaky, yes he did get better, but he still missed ALOT of throws, i made ticks beside every pass that was off by a qb today and pierce`s ticks almost double the next closet. i really hope that doesnt continue. and as far as arthur, like i said, not the worst today, but he had some drops, and didnt use his size to his advantage, he didnt impress me. doesnt surprise me that media would brag them up tho... who would really wanna hear that pierce had a bad day, i think hel do great this year and i support him, but purely observational today = bad first performance
well everybody is gonna have a different opinion. i was told the qb's were there today just to throw balls.. from all accounts, it seems pierce brink and dimichele were the best...ive heard a few say jyles looked awful..
i would even lean towards towelie and say it sounds like AD was the best of the bunch, most consistent atleast. good to hear.
id imagine all 4 qb's will stick around regardless.
u also have to take into account that it was just day 1 of rookie camp.. for the qb's id say the real competition starts sunday aswell as the pre-season games.
alot of guys were probably just going through the motions, ive also heard it was less intense aswell, telling me that lapo is waiting for sunday for the real fun to begin.
good review tho.
DAY 1. whatever. it wasnt make it or break it day for any of these guys today.
guess thats the thing, if u dont go like myself, i may have to take a day off and go check it out but.. you're gonna hear other peoples opinions..
judging by the highlights on the news tho, id say AD was the best qb of the bunch. HALL was the best receiver up there with watson and subler and tate stood out defensively as did samario houston.
thanks for the update, good detail.
Another viewpoint for today courtesy ed tait at the Freep
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exactly just my opinion... some people on bluebombers.com are saying peirce looked good.. no he didnt lol... het was ok at the end. but you are right killer, they were just arms today, not really being evaluated yet most likely.
on the defensive side, Suber was like glue, all over the receievers, my only criticism would be what i heard the one coaching keep repeating to him, he would blanket his guy stride for stride but wouldnt turn
his head around at the end, but thatl come.. he played very well.
tate was also very good in coverage, and make some plays on the ball and almost had a couple picks, these two newly signed dbs really made a good impression,
db bernard hicks also made some plays on d knocking away a few passes, his speed is very good, and he plays aggressive, he got burned on a play because of it, but other than that a very solid day from hicks too.
you mention houston, i didnt notice him a whole lot so i wont comment, but thaine carter had a decent day from what i saw, looking like he is game ready.
the one lb that really stood out (for the wrong reason) was giancarlo rapanaro who was recently signed... he had a lot of trouble in coverage, and even in just the db and lb drills he was always kind of a step behind and the coaches were over trying to help him out quite a bit...
if nayone disagrees please share, this is not necessarily the way everyone saw it, but overall id say its fairly accurate, just dont let anyone over hype the play of pierce or jyles. today wasnt that great for them
Thanks for posting...I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on the day... :thup: :thup:
.....early...early days....You can count on the 'jitters' playing a role in some of the play today...I wouldn't worry about most of the qbs. not shopwing much today...Rookie camps turn these guys into nothing more than' ball slingers'... look for them to show-up when the vets hit the field '....Nice to see Dimichelle getting in the groove early though :thup: It sounds like the receivers are going to put on one helluva show ....Good size and good hands on a few of them... :thup: This DJ Hall guy sounds very intriguing...' .......Thanks for the review and info. on the opening day towelie.... :thup:
anytime, il do it again tomorrow, more abreviated prob, just stick to the guys that really stand out, that way avoid the controversy lol. plus i may work late.. reciever and db look like intense battles so far, itl be interesting to see how these guys run with the vets, it looks like hall can play though, he really stood out in all areas.
craver and glover will be pushed hard... craver had a good season, and a decent camp last year, but to me hicks tate and stuber are playing like hefney and jovon did.... cant wait to see how it plays out
Thanks for the great work Towelie! Very hard to judge on the first day. Good reading.
GOOD!!! :thup:
Thanks Towelie. Greatly appreciated.