Mini camp

No reason given for his retirement. If he was a member of the Canadiens, camera crews would be set up on his front lawn demanding to know why. I doubt we`ll ever get the reason from Als reporters.

Jonathan Hefney was at mini-camp possibly as a replacement.

Couple of more items from Kirk Penton:

  • Hefney was looking good

-Kicker Ricky Schmidt was trying out.

So why is Kirk Penton there and not Herb ?

You seriously asking? You know the answer. :smiley:

Well it's cause last year they claimed they sent Penton because the Bombers were there but that's not the case this year...

for sure he will not step right in and play. Noticing though the benefit for Drew Willy, Crompton, Lefevour, etc. Coming from NFL they are already pro football players. Going through pro training camps seasons with a pro team on roster and or/PR can speed up their process. When they step on the field they have command of the huddle. Being good enough to earn that spot is something they will need to do.
I think most Qbs now coming in just have to look around the league and see who the QBs are to realize there is plenty of competition. Just stepping into the Montreal situation he knows who Crompton and Lefevour are. They played at top college levels and also had 3 years or so in the NFL.
Other starters Collaros, Mitchell, are young Qbs that may have not played in the NFL but certainly knowing where they played how good they are.
I am sure he is well aware of his former peer Troy Smith struggles by now. And although Sunseri is younger and was only in his second pro season comes from some pretty good football stock and struggled when called upon.

The Blue Bombers are holding their mini-camp in Bradenton starting Sunday. The Eskimos started theirs today same place as the Als at Dodgertown. So I assume he will report on all 3.

And good for the Winnipeg Sun for sending him even with the Jets in the playoffs. Penton does as good a job as anyone covering the CFL and not just the Blue Bombers.

It`s kind of ironic in that the Sun newspaper chain was recently sold by Quebecor to Postmedia, also owners of the Gazette. But while Penton gets to hit Florida, Herb stuck in Montreal.

Ricky Schmitt had a very good season in 2013, well outdistancing (pun intended) Sean Whyte in average and net average; last season he went from Sask to BC and his numbers dropped significantly, but he still was just a tad ahead of Whyte. Interesting option for JP and TH to consider if one of the place-kickers has a brilliant TC.

Given the nature of football, I don’t know that any player’s “concussion situation” necessarily needs to be “that bad” for them to decide to walk away. As a young player who likely has a degree, and an alternative means to earn a living, hopefully his retirement is predicated on his deciding that he wanted to avoid his concussion history becoming bad enough to force a decision.

According to Boulay in le Journal that`s exactly the case:

Steven Lumbala a annoncé sa retraite au cours des derniers jours. Une sage décision avec les commotions cérébrales qu’il a subies en 2014 et un boulot bien payé dans le domaine pétrolier.

Again compliments of Kirk Penton, Cody Hoffman looked good, Kris Redding tore his achilles:

[url=http://www.winnipegsun.com/2015/04/17/cfl-snaps-chad-johnson-michael-sam-not-at-als-camp]http://www.winnipegsun.com/2015/04/17/c ... t-als-camp[/url]

I guess we can complain that a reporter is not there or an unknown QB was shaky.
My takeaway here is that the teams starting QB from last year has looked good.

This team will be very improved on offense this year. Hoffman spells the end of Chad Johnson IMO. Als will have to cut/trade 10 players before camp, Johnson will probably be one of them.

Another good story by Penton:

[url=http://www.winnipegsun.com/2015/04/18/too-early-to-tell-if-alouettes-are-old-or-experienced]http://www.winnipegsun.com/2015/04/18/t ... xperienced[/url]

I like Tisdale's comments at the end of the article. These vets are real Pros, there won't be an ego problem on this team just a bunch of guys who want to play football and have fun doing it. Rider fans have entire treads making fun of HOF guys like Lewis and Logan. This is going to be a fun season :wink:

I agree. This has all the makings of a fun and likeable team as long as the newcomer vets do not bring “Well this is the way we did it” baggage from their old teams. Old habits can die hard.

Very encouraging. If they can all stay healthy, one thing’s for sure: there will be nowhere to hide for an opposing team’s weakest cover man. Green, Stamps, Lewis, Giguere, London as your starting 5 – that’s quite a murderer’s row of receiving talent.

Sure doesn’t make me long for the Thyron Anderson / Kwame Cavil era. . .

Thats a real pro group of receivers. Should help Crompton or any QB. With AC as Receiver Coach and his success with Lavoi combined with Shonert as OC I would not be surprised to see the true TEs actually being used as TEs. In red zone and now with two point conversion moved up.

I agree; these are guys who, in addition to having “good hands”, know how to get open. That makes the QBs job easier.