ESKIMOS LOADED WITH CANADIAN TALENT
Homegrown products will be pivotal factor in team’s prospects as 2018 campaign nears
First you need a quarterback. Next you need to protect the quarterback. After that, it’s all about Canadian content. A team deep in Can-con is generally going to do well.
As the Edmonton Eskimos head to their home pre-season game Sunday at 3 p.m. against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the developing roster of Canadians makes this somewhat rebooted team interesting study.
“You have to find seven starters,” said head coach Jason Maas. “If you can find eight or nine Canadian starters, you give yourself options. Right now if you look at our roster we can play our seven starting Canadians in a whole bunch of different combinations.
“We have talent on both sides of the ball in multiple positions that will allow us to pick the best seven and go from there. If it happens to be more than seven, then great.
“Having that kind of flexibility is huge and we most certainly have it. We all know injuries happen and injuries are a part of sports. You look for ratio flexibility in camp.”
While the Eskimos lost veteran starter Simeon Rottier on the offensive line to retirement, he was out with injury much of last year providing opportunity for Sherwood Park product and University of Alberta Golden Bears grad David Beard to start. Beard, a second round draft pick (15th overall) in 2015, started seven games last year.
Six-foot-eight Justin Sorensen and six-foot-11 West All- Star Matt O’Donnell are staples on the offensive line.
Camp will reveal if they have quality depth in Giovanni Asare, Jacob Ruby and Mason Woods to be adequately covered there.
In his 12th season, Calvin McCarty remains projected as starter at fullback. And if they need to start a Canadian at one receiver spot, there’s an interesting training camp battle where Nate Behar, Natey Adjei and Scott MacDonell are lined up 1-2-3.
But where it’s especially interesting is on defence.
Through last year’s unprecedented butchers bill ($1.1 million in injury costs), the Eskimos saw Canadians Adam Konar, Neil King and Arjen Colquhoun all go down with injury. This year they’re all starting the season healthy. Having three Canadian starters in your secondary is one thing. But then you have linebacker Christophe MulumbaTshimanga, having started nine games after being a third round pick (22nd overall), backing up Konar. That’s a solid situation.
“Mulumba-Tshimanga played all 18 games for us last year. He was in the lineup for all 18. He’s settled in behind Konar right now, but I know if anything happens to any of our linebackers we can plug Christophe in and he can play,” said Maas.
And it’s particularly interesting where second-year defensive end Kwaku Boeteng figures in.
Boeteng is listed as a starter at defensive end on the training camp roster.
This is a guy who was selected in the fifth round (41st overall) and played in all 18 games (starting one) and both playoff games. With 22 defensive tackles, four sacks and a forced fumble, he definitely contributed.
“He has an opportunity to win a starting job,” said Maas. “Whether he’s Canadian or not, if he’s one of the best guys out there, we’re going to play him.
“Boeteng played all 18 games as a rookie last year, which tells you something in itself. And he showed us he’s a professional in terms of taking care of his body. He’s quick coming off the edge. He listened to coaches and got better as the year went on. He has some natural gifts that he used. But what he did to adapt to an 18-game schedule and play like he did, I think was tremendous.
“He did a lot of great things last year and I think he picked right up where he was last year and has already shown he’s gotten better.”
Boeteng is one reason the Eskimos decided to say goodbye to Odell Willis, Euclid Cummings, Phillip Hunt and John Chick at the end of the season.
If this were a Broadway play they’d be slipping a sheet of paper in the program announcing, “The part of Odell Willis will be played by Kwaku Boeteng tonight.”
“We’ve gone from averaging 33-years-plus on the defensive line to about 25-years. We’re not going to have near the experience as having Willis, Chick and those guys. But being young and hungry and having different skill sets is going to help us.”
As for Boeteng himself, he says its just screaming opportunity for him and he intends to embrace it.
“The opportunity is knocking on the door and I just have to take full advantage of it.”
He started the season playing a lot of special teams but when the injuries came last year, he was one of the benefactors. “Those injuries definitely helped me show what I’ve got,” he said. “Now I have a chance to show I can be a starter. If I didn’t see myself as a starter, I shouldn’t be here.”