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billy he can practice all he wants, he still has not played his position. Despite dressing all season, I don’t believe he played more then a handful of downs at the linebacker. I would put him into the same position as Chris Best a rookie at his position until he starts playing. And yes you can say well a rookie only applies to a first year player. But with all due respect…he hasn’t played his position.

Couple of points…Austin…not defending Riser07, but you have pointed out he only has four posts. Maybe it is just because he joined the forum recently. There is no reason to attack.

BTW…you quoting Tony or anything from ridercult.com is no different then someone who says they have the insider track to rider (which what riders07 did). It may be accepted, but most of the time I just roll my eyes and say what ever.

You say we should listen to what Tillman says about Rucker or Williams. Well it is simple, last year we had 5 linebackers with at least 1 good year of experience. Now we are down to three with at least one year of experience at the linebacker position and one of those isn’t an every down player. So yes Tillman has no choice to say Rucker this Williams that.

It's always tough to see a talented guy leave and Stancil had a tonne of skill, ability and potential. But when a guy is only healthy for 22 games in three years you have to move on. Don't forget that when given the opportunity Mackenzie was great. I think it was against Edmonton he had 10 tackles and in the Western final made some great plays. No worries Rider Priders, the linebacking corps will be just fine.

Having a full year in the organization, where you learn the systems, the way the team plays, and what the coaches want you to do, is a lot different then coming in to training camp knowing nothing. They only play so man y games, but they practice a hell of a lot. A player can learn a lot on the bench. And get a heck of a lot better despite never playing the position in a game.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree

I agree with you billy that practice will make you better. But having played competitive sports, practice is significantly different then game situation. Very few teams play a full out game during practice, that is where experience at the position comes in. Can you adjust, do you get your reads right, play after play with very little input / teaching from the coach in between the play.

Both you and Austin are forgetting one thing when you use this argument. They resigned Domiguez for more than what they would have signed Hunt and Stancil. I’m not going to pretend that i am a stats guy but I know for a fact that Hunt played more games than him. Plus we have way more experience at WR than we do at linebacker, plus they are raving about all these receivers. Also I definatly wouldn’t call Mackenzie great, average at best.

I agree with you bigj, I think compared to last year we are definitely weaker at linebacker. I mean McCullogh is now the old man of the linebacking crew, and he is a spot player at best.

Mike dont get mad at me ok. But you and Tillman never agree on anything. He said this on Riderville. Renauld Williams has been the best player in practice so far. He was talking about on the team. He also said this. The Riders lbs are really good. Better than last year. He may be wrong. But that is what he said. Looks like he was wrong about Brian Jones. He failed his physical. Back problems from lifting weights is what they said. But he failed there physical. If Childs doesnt do anything Riders wasted a number 1 pick.

Austin I am not mad at you. But as I said anything that comes from Tillman and/or Ridercult.com at this time of the year has to be taken with a grain of salt.

Tillman has no choice in the matter but to say good things about Williams and Rucker. Even you can't beleive that losing Hunt who was the leader of the pack and now stancil can say our linebacker core is as strong this year as it was last year. And surely, Tillman can't say that after only 2 days of Training Camp.

Austin, my grade 11 football coach told us that "we are better than last year" but guess what we only won one game that year.

Then clearly you let him down, you underachiever, you.

Tell me this. Does your grade 11 teacher have 3 grey cup rings?

Are the lbs better this year? Maybe. Maybe not. I dont know. But I know this. ET knows a lot more about them than any of us.

Still with the “3 rings” bull, I see. The point is, every GM in the league, every coach in the league, regardless of 0 rings, or 20, says the same exact things about their players. The second after ET says, “the guys we have in camp this year aren’t very good”, he should resign…
The guys grade 11 teacher understood this simple concept. Why don’t you?
The fact is, we have basically the same LBs as we had last year, minus one all-star. Pretty hard to figure how much “better” they will be…

I can say the same as you. Still with same negative bull I see. Go suck a lemon. You are so arrogant. You think you know more than Rider coaches. More than the gm. They watch practice. They watch film of practice and games. But you know more. That is the real bull.

There is nothing negative or arrogant about what I said. Just a fact that GMs always say positive things about players, especially at this time of the year. I happen to think linebacker will be a very strong position for us this year. And that has been my position long before I heard you tell me how great ET says they are. I was never that upset at letting Reggie go because I was confident the guys we had behind him were going to be good–you know–the guys we had last year who apparently are better than themselves this year(?)…
Or did Austin make a mistake not playing them last year?

Based on what ET is saying you shouldn’t have any doubts at all. According to what you have been saying that ET says, they are better then Stancil and Hunt. So why the doubt?

Arius' point is correct, AP, and it's not a slam. Every signing announced includes something positive about the player. When have you evern heard an rb get signed and the GM say "Well, he's not that big or that fast, but we have 65 camp spots to fill, and we couldn't come up with anyone better, so we'll let our 1st team defenders practice tackling him for a week or so and then unceremoniously ship him back to Buggtussle Arkansas, where he can begin his career driving a skid steer at the local scrapyard."

It'll never happen. Instead, they'll find teh 2-3 best college stats the guy has, compliment him on his tenacity, say they're looking forward to seeing him comete in the pro arena...and that's that.

Austin, I applauded you the other day for backing up the coaches and GM, but you need to chill just a bit. I don't think that the majority of people on here are the same ones who call in after every game and demand a QB change - those guys are loony.

People on here are looking for an honest assessment of the talent on the field. Clearly, ET wouldn't make the moves he has made if he thought it would hurt the team - but he looks beyond this years on-field performance to the budget and to future years as well. So, there certainly is some room for an assessment that lies below the glowing praise of a press release and above the general nuttiness of the post-game show.

^^^^ the truth. Healthy skepticism is all it is.

Some people can’t handle the truth…which is that, despite the glowing remarks from ET, he will be proven “wrong” about approximately 20-25 players this year. just like he was last year. And every year he has been a GM. Being wrong about players goes with the territory. All one can hope for is to be right about half a dozen to a dozen each year…