2017 Calgary Stampeders

[Otto-matic]

Does Calgary now have a reunion with Tate?

I haven't really followed the 3rd string QB's for Calgary lately. How do they fare for the backup position?

[tvp2003]

I thought Stanzi did okay in limited action last year, considering it was his first year in the CFL. Nice arm, didn't seem overwhelmed in the pocket.

I wouldn't automatically give him the number two spot behind Bo Levi but I'm hoping he shows some progress this year as he gets more comfortable with the 3-down game.

Tate is a Free Agent? I wouldn't be opposed to bringing him in as insurance but I don't how much he has left to offer... he'll be turning 34 this year and doesn't exactly have a track record of staying healthy.

[CaptainCrunch]

Stanzi is 30 and bringing backa a 34 year old doesn't do anything.

Personally I've always thought that at least one spot in your 3 man rotation should be about development.

The NFL draft is over and there are probably a few graduating QB's looking for work.

[Pizza]

With so many departures, this Stampeder team is going to look vastly different

What a crazy year for Huff

[tvp2003]

Speaking of Tate, found this article from last year and it talked about his experience in Calgary, as well as a funny story his fiancée: http://ottawacitizen.com/sports/loca...e-a-unique-guy

After two seasons spent on injured reserve and the Roughriders’ practice roster, Tate moved on to the Calgary Stampeders.

“Calgary was the most unique eight years of my life. It was something I needed personally,” Tate said. “Not playing, injuries … I’d never got hurt until my senior year of college. I didn’t know how to cope with injuries. It’ll grab you mentally and take you down. I hurt my moneymaker (it was later diagnosed as a UCL injury).”

Once again, after the 2013 season, his mom talked him out of leaving the CFL.

Said Tate: “I became so non-competitive, so complacent, it was just, ‘Whatever.’ Physically, mentally and emotionally, I was done, I was really done. But they kept me and kept paying me. I wasn’t going to willingly walk away from the money.”

In February, the Redblacks, looking for a veteran backup quarterback after Henry Burris retired and Trevor Harris moved up the pecking order, gave up a fifth-round draft pick in 2018 to acquire Tate.

“When I got the call in February to come here, I started feeling something in my blood that I hadn’t felt in a while,” Tate said. “It’s been really fun. This last camp, I haven’t had a camp like that since 2012.”

On Oct. 17 in Alabama, Tate will marry his fiancée, Nicole, who’s from Nova Scotia. Tate’s father will perform the ceremony. Appropriately, it’s a Tuesday. Explained Tate: “We really like the song, Going Up on a Tuesday.”

They met in 2014. Nicole was a flight attendant with Canadian North, working on a Stampeders charter from Montreal back to Calgary.

“I kept dinging her for Oreos,” Tate said. “I could tell she was annoyed. I asked for her number, she gave it to me. I find out later (Stampeders kicker) René Paredes also asked for her number. She gave him the pilot’s number. I don’t think I ever told René that story.”

[Erick Estrada]

Probably a great time to find and start grooming the next guy that can one day challenge Mitchell for the starting role. The Stamps used to always groom a successor as they seamlessly went from Burris to Tate (Glenn deserves some mention as a stop gap) to Mitchell and it's time to bring in a young talent with upside rather than placeholders as we have seen in the past few years.

[tvp2003]

Not sure if it was announced formally but Tyler Rogers (former New Mexico State QB) looks like he's signed a contract (according to a post on his twitter feed - https://twitter.com/t_rogers17)

He was one of 2-3 quarterbacks listed on the negotiation list that the Stamps released earlier this year as part of a CFL-wide initiative. The others:

- Brandon Silvers (Troy University) - wasn't drafted but will be going to Saints minicamp

- Greg Ward (University of Houston) - currently a WR with the Eagles

[Drake]

The Calgary Stampeders have signed international receivers#Markeith Ambles, Blake Jackson, Anthony Kelly, Nick Truesdell and#Kenneth Walker.

Ambles spent time on the Toronto Argonauts’ practice roster in 2016. He played two seasons at the University of Houston and in 23 games including 12 starts for the Cougars, he had 49 receptions for 791 yards and five touchdowns.

Jackson played three seasons as a quarterback at Mary Hardin-Baylor, completing 311 of 487 pass attempts for 4,311 yards. He threw 49 touchdowns against 13 interceptions. Jackson was led the Crusaders to a Division III national championship as a senior and was named Southwest Conference offensive player of the year and an all-American.

Kelly signed with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent in 2016 and has also spent time with the New York Jets and Seattle Seahawks. In college at Kutztown, he made 97 receptions for 1,406 yards and scored 22 touchdowns, which tied him for fourth all-time in school history.

Truesdell has extensive indoor football league experience including a 23-touchdown effort for the Spokane Shock in 2015. He has had NFL tryouts with the Cincinnati Bengals, Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers and in 2017 he attended training camp with the Minnesota Vikings. He was added to the Vikings’ practice squad on Jan. 16.

Walker originally signed with the Stampeders on Oct. 17, 2017, during the expanded-practice roster period. Earlier in the year, he signed with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent. Collegiately, Walker played 45 games including 18 starts over four seasons at UCLA and had 45 catches for 810 yards and seven touchdowns during his career.

https://www.stampeders.com/2018/05/0...ive-receivers/

[Otto-matic]

http://calgarysun.com/sports/footbal...ime=1525741116

If they’re looking on the free agent market, the options are slim.

Drew Tate is currently unsigned after spending last year as the backup for the Ottawa RedBlacks, and his previous stint in Calgary might give him a familiarity with the playbook that makes him attractive.

He’s 33-years-old, though, and Dickenson wasn’t sure whether Tate is interested in continuing his playing career.

“I spoke to Drew about a month ago, and he was going to try to get into coaching,” Dickenson said. “I’m a reference for him, but I haven’t gotten any calls.

“I still like Drew – we’ll just see.”

Will Drew cash in one last CFL paycheck before going to the coaching route.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Otto-matic

http://calgarysun.com/sports/footbal...ime=1525741116



Will Drew cash in one last CFL paycheck before going to the coaching route.

It would make sense at this point unless they can find someone else in a trade with some experience.

They're one hit away from the season getting de-railed. Ditch Stanzi, get a young guy in to start grooming for the future with Tate as insurance..seems to be a decent enough plan moving forward.

[CaptainCrunch]

Hey Fellas


Here's out latest podcast, hot off the press, its our season preview I guess part one with Head Coach Dave Dickenson


Enjoy


http://www.cflhorsemen.ca/uploads/3/...on_preview.mp3


Here's the general link to the podcast page in case you want to catchup including a podcast with a decidedly Big Brother Slant


http://www.cflhorsemen.ca/2018.html

[transplant99]

Crazy stuff.

Canadian Football League star Lin-J Shell can add stopping a school shooting to his list of career accomplishments after the former Stamp grabbed a woman carrying a pistol at a Florida high school this week.

On Wednesday, a brawl between students broke out in the school’s gymnasium. Shell can be seen trying to pull students apart as fists start flying in two Instagram videos of the fight posted by a student.

Dozens of people are in the fray as a woman in a beige tank top can be seen entering the melee.

But moments after the camera stops rolling, police say the woman — identified as 43-year-old Sharon Kelly — pulls a gun.

That’s when Shell jumped into action.

“I came from behind her, I saw that she had a gun, I grabbed her hand, put her hand down and near her elbow and walked her back out,” Shell told First Coast News.

“Kept her hand down and pushed her back out the door, just basically told her please don’t shoot our kids.”

http://calgarysun.com/news/crime/for...chool-shooting

[Drake]

Micah Johnson/Lemar Durant set to miss start of# training camp. Could be joined by Junior Turner as well, that will depend on medicals over the next few days.



The Calgary Stampeders will be without one of the most imposing defensive linemen in the CFL to start training camp.

Speaking with the media prior to the start of Stamps rookie camp on Thursday, head coach Dave Dickenson revealed that off-season knee surgery will likely prevent defensive tackle Micah Johnson from joining in when full camp gets underway on Sunday.

“We have to be smart,” Dickenson said. “Micah had (surgery) you guys probably aren’t aware of on his knee.”

Johnson won’t be alone on the sideline to start camp, however, as it appears that Canadian receiver Lemar Durant isunlikely to be ready to go this weekend because he’s still recovering from the season-ending knee injury he suffered in Week 7 last year against the Toronto Argonauts.

“We’ll be cautious,” Dickenson said. “It’s our job as coaches to make sure we don’t put them in bad situations and rush them.”

Johnson could also be joined on the sideline for training camp by his defensive linemate Junior Turner, although that will likely depend on medical evaluations that will take place over the next couple days.


http://calgarysun.com/sports/footbal...-training-camp

[CaptainCrunch]

No surprise on either of those two, we'd heard rumbles in the off season that Micah was recovering slowly.


While the Stamps have had really good depth, they're going into camp with a bunch of turmoil and open spots.

[MrButtons]

Any rookies to keep a look out for?

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by MrButtons

Any rookies to keep a look out for?

All over the place...and there will be battles for a lot of jobs after all the retirements and FA losses.

[MrButtons]

Originally Posted by transplant99

All over the place...and there will be battles for a lot of jobs after all the retirements and FA losses.

Fair enough. Is the whole point of rookie camp to get them up to speed prior to training camps start? I haven't really followed the CFL all that much so this is new to me.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by MrButtons

Fair enough. Is the whole point of rookie camp to get them up to speed prior to training camps start? I haven't really followed the CFL all that much so this is new to me.

Rookie camp is complex as it gets.


For the most part they're going to do a quick physical evaluation and run some really basic stuff and cut as many of the unsuitable ones as possible.


The rookies are usually given a pretty base play sheet about a month or two before camp. But for the most part, the emphasis is on individual evaluations. do you have the speed for the game up here, do you have a strong grasp of the fundamentals and of the technique of your position.


they might run plays, but they're not evaluating how these rookies would fill a role in their offense or defense, they want to see how they play in space and deal with the faster pro game.


If they make it then they go to the main camp and the evaluation changes again to what role can this player play in our offense, defense or specials.


to be honest, we, the team I coach has a 2 week rookie camp in June, and its almost my favorite two weeks of coaching for the year, though this year will be different.


Because there's no pressure for me to get my offense in place and rolling.



I'm running 34 and 35 dives 38 and 39 tosses and some seeks and stretch plays, 46 and 57 sweeps and a few base passing plays, i'm not figuring out options or timing. I just want to see if you as a rookie coming up to this level understand football and are properly prepared to play it.


but its fun for me.


Main camp on the other hand, a fricken one month nightmare.

[CaptainCrunch]

Just to help out, here's a link to our updated Depth Chart heading into Rookie Camp


http://www.cflhorsemen.ca/depth-chart.html

[Otto-matic]

https://www.stampeders.com/2018/05/1...d-rookie-camp/

The Calgary Stampeders have added four international players to their rookie-camp roster – quarterback Nick Arbuckle, running back Rushel Shell III, receiver Kylen Towner and defensive lineman Brandon Banks.

The four players will be among the group taking the field this morning at 10 a.m. as rookie camp gets under way at McMahon Stadium.

Here is more information on the newcomers: