How do we live without Wayne Smith?

Hamilton Tiger-Cats
1

First, I hate to see the guy go. I loved watching him and Woodard pile downfield looking for second and third blocks after springing Troy Davis past the line of scrimmage. But, I am not the GM and what do we do without him?

We may be all right considering our our draft picks from last year? One of the realities of the CFL draft is you need to pick people with a year of eligibility left to get them before other CFL teams do. Let's analyze last years draft:

Round 1: Cedric Marcoux-Gagne - has a good chance of being an NFL draft pick this year. That's how much this kid improved in his senior year.

Round 2: Jermaine Reid - didn't have a spectacular senior year at Akron, but will probably get NFL training camp invites. Is a Jason Taylor type of end who could excel in the CFL.

Round 2: Peter Dyakowski - NFL size and had a great major bowl game. Might get drafted. Probably ends up anchoring our left side for the next 10 years.

Round 4: Chris Sutherland - had a great year while winning the Vanier Cup with Saskatchewan

Round 5: Michael Roberts - After practicing against Tedd Ginn Jr for 3 years at Ohio State, transferred to another school to get more playing time

Poor draft year if you consider what it did for us in 06. Fantastic draft year if you look at the "blue chip" prospects that are coming to camp this year.

Three big, Canadian O-lineman all playing at the top of their game coming to camp this year. Boy, will I miss you Wayne, but Craig Smith may have set the foundation for our O-line for years to come.

Sorry, Smith is doing a great job and I am glad he is still around.

2

Our O-Line stunk last year. Smith was on that O-Line. You do the math.

3

The answer will hopefully be C Gagne-Marcoux and/or OT Dyakowski. Obviously there's a backup plan in place.

4

he smith would be running down the field for 2nd and 3rd blocks but unfortunately we need a guy that can dominate the 1st guy. its nice to give extra effort on 2nd blocks but its pointless if your not taking care of priority number one. all running down the field does is make it look like your working extra hard.

5

Actually, NMO, pulling out and leading the blocking
on a sweep play was part of his job as an OG..

and he was one of the best at it..Jesse will miss him.

6

hmmmm our blocking was the worst anywhere! Something had to change and then there is the money factor again cut down!

7

Marcoux is too short to be drafted. He was injured this year and played less late in the year.

Dyakowski does not have the feet for the NFL, but played well enough late against good competition to maybe be a late second day draft choice. The problem is that he may miss camp and not join the team until the fourth or fifth week of the season if that happens.

8

Exactly, Ron. The fact that Wayne did so well as a guard when tackle is his natural position is indeed commendable. One of the big problems we’ve had is that apart from Woodard, our tackle play has been particularly suspect. The losses of Hack and Claridge (albeit brief tenure) in this regard cannot be underestimated. tackles need to help seal the pulling action of the guard on sweeps and the Randall experiment as an example proved lacking in that area. We need more mobility from the unit as a whole to kickstart our outside running game and to permit Corey to find viable cutback lanes outside.

Oski Wee Wee,

9

Actually guys my point is that if you watch wayne off the ball he isnt overly impressive. yes being able to run down field is an asset but an olines #1 priority is to establish the los. we can put morealle in at gaurd if running down the field was the only thing that mattered. hell maybe we can put in a guard eligible play for him. also i always thought wayne hopped too much out of his stance which might explain his problem at the point of attack.