Training camp 2023

[Alputt]

Eberhardt looks good in the second half too!

[KnightofCydonia]

Eberhardt has had an impressive second half! Multiple big plays and tough catches.

Robinson has been getting the job done since his fumble too.

[Alputt]

The lack of audio on the game stream sucks.

[Toppy Vann]

The lack of audio on the game stream sucks.

Kinda weird. It's 4thQ and at times the guy says something but the first half the radio feed or whatever it was behind for me.

Then at the half they read out texts saying this is the best broadcast or it's better than others . Just something about judgmental CFL fans that can't just enjoy what they get in pre-season.

Not sure why Lions didn't let Erickson throw a pass when you're out of time and running out of downs.

[Alputt]

3rd and 8, possibly last possession of game. Play call: “Mizzell up the middle, stuffed!”

Really?

[TheLionKing]

I hope it's the last game I watch on the internet.

[David]

3rd and 8, possibly last possession of game. Play call: “Mizzell up the middle, stuffed!”

Really?

Brutal final series for BC. I know it's about evaluation but Jesus Christ. Let the kid air it out on 3rd and 8. Mizzell stuffed up the middle. I'm with Giulio. I may have punted the ball and let the defense get the ball back.

EDIT - this makes more sense now. On the post-game show, Campbell said that they were told they would have to complete the game. With a major thunderstorm headed their way, he didn't want his guys to have to sit around the locker room on a potential long rain delay. I can live with that.

Some bright spots for the Leos, but Eberhardt was a solar flare. Football IQ and instincts off the charts. Reminds me of Darren Flutie.


DH

[B.C.FAN]

Random notes from the second half of the Lions' 30-27 loss to the Riders.

- As others noted, it was a bizarre ending as the Lions seemed more interested in evaluating their (ineffective) running game than in winning the game in the final two minutes minutes. With rookie Judd Erickson closing out the game at QB, the Lions called three straight running plays in to Taquan Mizzell while trailing by three in the final two minutes. They went nowhere and the Lions turned it over on downs to allow the Riders to run out the clock.

- Despite blowing a fourth quarter lead, several B.C. rookie receivers had strong second halves. Bryson Daughtry made a nice deep over-the-shoulder catch for 41 yards from Davis to set up a field goal on the opening drive of the half. Ayden Eberhardt one-upped him with two great catches for big first downs. One of those two players could take Keon Hatcher's boundary slotback position for the regular season opener if Hatcher's plantar fasciitis doesn't clear up by then, although Canadians Justin McInnis and Daniel Petermann have taken a lot of Hatcher's reps in camp and have also caught everything thrown their way. That position, previously occupied by Geroy Simon, Manny Arceneaux and Bryan Burnham, gets a lot of targets, and anyone who plays there inevitably makes a lot of catches.

- Tyler Packer struggled in the second half. The O-line created no running room for Antonio Williams or Mizzell. None of the B.C. running backs did much to break ahead of the pack. Williams probably remains the leading contender by default.

- Global slotback Jevoni Robinson staked his claim to a roster spot with a tough catch on post pattern to the one yard line to set up a Dane Evans sneak for a TD, after Robinson made a nice TD catch of his own in the first half.

- The Lions have as much Canadian depth as I've ever seen on defence. I counted eight Canadian defensive players on the field at the same time in the fourth quarter: DBs Jassin States-McClean, Siriman Bagayogo, Patrice Rene and Adrian Greene, LB Ryder Varga, and DLs Josh Archibald, Francis Bemiy and Adam Wallace. Varga had a nice pick-6 from Rider QB Mason Fine. Bagayogo broke up an end-zone pass. Rene had a tackle for a loss.

- Dane Evans looked sharp and probably took the lead in a close battle with Dom Davis for second-string QB. Davis threw a bad interception. I got a chuckle when Rider broadcasters on the CFL live steam predicted that Evans would eventually become the B.C. starting quarterback in the regular season. The audio on the CFL simulcast went strangely silent afterwards.

[B.C.FAN]

Official game stats confirm what our eyes told us:
- Dane Evans led B.C. quarterbacks, competing 13 of 16 passes for 162 yards and a TD. Dom Davis was 4 for 10 for 77 yards and Judd Erickson went 2 for 4 for 14 yards.
- Antonio Williams rushed 6 times for 23 yards (3.8 yards per carry). Taquan Mizzell rushed 6 times for 16 yards (2.7 yards per carry) while Buddy Howell rushed just twice for 2 yards.
- Ayden Eberhardt led all Lions withh 6 catches on 8 targets for 104 yards. Four of his catches were second-down completions to extend drives. Jevoni Robinson had 5 catches on 5 targets for 44 yards and a TD.

[maxlion]

On the radio post game, Rick Campbell said that they deliberately ran out the clock in the last 3 minutes due to concern about weather delays. Edit: I see David mentioned this already.

The CFL stream was not great. It is nice for the diehards like us but I’m not sure that putting that level of product out there is good marketing.

It seems that McEvoy, Rigmaiden and Campbell have done a great job of recruiting talent. Interesting decisions ahead!

[CrazyCanuck89]

Random notes from the second half of the Lions' 30-27 loss to the Riders.

- As others noted, it was a bizarre ending as the Lions seemed more interested in evaluating their (ineffective) running game than in winning the game in the final two minutes minutes. With rookie Judd Erickson closing out the game at QB, the Lions called three straight running plays in to Taquan Mizzell while trailing by three in the final two minutes. They went nowhere and the Lions turned it over on downs to allow the Riders to run out the clock.

- Despite blowing a fourth quarter lead, several B.C. rookie receivers had strong second halves. Bryson Daughtry made a nice deep over-the-shoulder catch for 41 yards from Davis to set up a field goal on the opening drive of the half. Ayden Eberhardt one-upped him with two great catches for big first downs. One of those two players could take Keon Hatcher's boundary slotback position for the regular season opener if Hatcher's plantar fasciitis doesn't clear up by then, although Canadians Justin McInnis and Daniel Petermann have taken a lot of Hatcher's reps in camp and have also caught everything thrown their way. That position, previously occupied by Geroy Simon, Manny Arceneaux and Bryan Burnham, gets a lot of targets, and anyone who plays there inevitably makes a lot of catches.

- Tyler Packer struggled in the second half. The O-line created no running room for Antonio Williams or Mizzell. None of the B.C. running backs did much to break ahead of the pack. Williams probably remains the leading contender by default.

- Global slotback Jevoni Robinson staked his claim to a roster spot with a tough catch on post pattern to the one yard line to set up a Dane Evans sneak for a TD, after Robinson made a nice TD catch of his own in the first half.

- The Lions have as much Canadian depth as I've ever seen on defence. I counted eight Canadian defensive players on the field at the same time in the fourth quarter: DBs Jassin States-McClean, Siriman Bagayogo, Patrice Rene and Adrian Greene, LB Ryder Varga, and DLs Josh Archibald, Francis Bemiy and Adam Wallace. Varga had a nice pick-6 from Rider QB Mason Fine. Bagayogo broke up an end-zone pass. Rene had a tackle for a loss.

- Dane Evans looked sharp and probably took the lead in a close battle with Dom Davis for second-string QB. Davis threw a bad interception. I got a chuckle when Rider broadcasters on the CFL live steam predicted that Evans would eventually become the B.C. starting quarterback in the regular season. The audio on the CFL simulcast went strangely silent afterwards.

This is why I hate when people say their isn't enough Canadian depth in the league. You guys could go with to defensive ends, MLB, WLB, S and CB.

[B.C.FAN]

This is why I hate when people say their isn't enough Canadian depth in the league. You guys could go with to defensive ends, MLB, WLB, S and CB.

The Lions' Canadian cornerbacks aren't ready for live action but I'm starting to think they could easily play Adrian Greene at safety, perhaps backed up by Patrice Rene or one of the other national DBs. This would allow them to get American CB Mike Jones and American LBs Josh Woods and D.Q. Thomas on the roster as rotational and special teams players.

[Hambone]

This is why I hate when people say their isn't enough Canadian depth in the league. You guys could go with to defensive ends, MLB, WLB, S and CB.

The Lions' Canadian cornerbacks aren't ready for live action but I'm starting to think they could easily play Adrian Greene at safety, perhaps backed up by Patrice Rene or one of the other national DBs. This would allow them to get American CB Mike Jones and American LBs Josh Woods and D.Q. Thomas on the roster as rotational and special teams players.

I don't know if that would work. I've gone through the roster speculating on the NAT content and have come up with the following:

Starters (8):
Knevel
Couture
Chungh
Cottoy
Betts
Menard (or Kongbo)
Lokombo
Hladik

Specialists (2):
Whyte
Pickett

Backups/Rotation (10):
Peirson
McInnis
Mackie
St.Pierre - I think they will keep both FBs on the active roster.
Bemiy
Kongbo (or Menard)
Cherry
Varga
Messam
Greene

That covers 20 of 21 spots on the game roster. That leaves 1 spot for the 13 other NATs. For arguments sake the names in red upper case are ones I think have next to no chance of getting a spot on the 46 or PR. That still leaves 9 competing for 1 spot on the 46 and I believe will be 4 or fewer PR spots:
OL - KOWAL, Packer, ST.HUBERT, Zerr
WR - Petermann
DL - Archibald, WALLACE
LB - Hinsperger, Jean-Loescher
SEC - Bagayogo, Rene, States-McClean
P - BURNHAM - good potential for being on the 1G with a bruised toenail

Campbell has hinted that there will be some tough decisions, perhaps unpopular decisions. With so many talented & promising NAT rookies, especially on the DL, I'm thinking Petermann, Messam and maybe even Lokombo are on the bubble for an unpopular cut. Terry Williams and Flintoft are all but locks for 2 of the 4 DI spots. That leaves 2 spots for the likes of Tuehema, Woods, Thomas, Parker, Uphoff and a receiver such as Daughtry or Eberhart. I think Daughtry and Eberhart will wind up with PR spots as Terry Williams, who had a great camp on offense, can be used on O too.

[Qman]

This is why I hate when people say their isn't enough Canadian depth in the league. You guys could go with to defensive ends, MLB, WLB, S and CB.

The Lions' Canadian cornerbacks aren't ready for live action but I'm starting to think they could easily play Adrian Greene at safety, perhaps backed up by Patrice Rene or one of the other national DBs. This would allow them to get American CB Mike Jones and American LBs Josh Woods and D.Q. Thomas on the roster as rotational and special teams players.

I don't know if that would work. I've gone through the roster speculating on the NAT content and have come up with the following:

Starters (8):
Knevel
Couture
Chungh
Cottoy
Betts
Menard (or Kongbo)
Lokombo
Hladik

Specialists (2):
Whyte
Pickett

Backups/Rotation (10):
Peirson
McInnis
Mackie
St.Pierre - I think they will keep both FBs on the active roster.
Bemiy
Kongbo (or Menard)
Cherry
Varga
Messam
Greene

That covers 20 of 21 spots on the game roster. That leaves 1 spot for the 13 other NATs. For arguments sake the names in red upper case are ones I think have next to no chance of getting a spot on the 46 or PR. That still leaves 9 competing for 1 spot on the 46 and I believe will be 4 or fewer PR spots:
OL - KOWAL, Packer, ST.HUBERT, Zerr
WR - Petermann
DL - Archibald, WALLACE
LB - Hinsperger, Jean-Loescher
SEC - Bagayogo, Rene, States-McClean
P - BURNHAM - good potential for being on the 1G with a bruised toenail

Campbell has hinted that there will be some tough decisions, perhaps unpopular decisions. With so many talented & promising NAT rookies, especially on the DL, I'm thinking Petermann, Messam and maybe even Lokombo are on the bubble for an unpopular cut. Terry Williams and Flintoft are all but locks for 2 of the 4 DI spots. That leaves 2 spots for the likes of Tuehema, Woods, Thomas, Parker, Uphoff and a receiver such as Daughtry or Eberhart. I think Daughtry and Eberhart will wind up with PR spots as Terry Williams, who had a great camp on offense, can be used on O too.

Last year for cdns they 1game (healthy scratched) zerr. And 4 on PR.
So I would dress Packer/zerr winner. I hate dressing 6 OL.

You’re starting 8 cdns so you can play 5 DI (one guy can freely substitute, more than one if he’s a vet). So, guess tuehema, woods and either parker or JEC/jones loser.

[B.C.FAN]

The Lions have trimmed their roster by 13 players after their first preseason game on the weekend. The only mild surprise is Adam Wallace, who had been getting regular reps in a very deep national talent pool on the defensive line, albeit as an undersized 250-lb. defensive tackle.

The release of Buddy Howell leaves Antonio Williams and Taquan Mizzell as the only remaining running backs. Both will likely stick around in some capacity.

The BC Lions this morning announced the following players have been released from the training camp roster:

American quarterback Judd Erickson
American offensive lineman J.R. Hensley
American running back Buddy Howell
American wide receiver Ron Hunt
American defensive back Jaylon McClain-Sapp
American wide receiver Jaquarii Roberson
American offensive lineman Kenny Thomas
American defensive back Colby Williams
National linebacker Markcus Jean-Loescher
National offensive lineman Troy Kowal
National offensive lineman Will St. Hubert
National defensive back Jassin States-McClean
National defensive lineman Adam Wallace