Stamps young talent poised for breakout

For veteran teams, heading into the 2021 CFL regular season without playing any exhibition games during training camp may be manageable.

If we're being honest, most veterans don't play a ton of snaps in pre-season. The Calgary Stampeders, though, are not a particularly veteran team.

Sure, they've got the likes of Bo Levi Mitchell and Jamar Wall, but there are only 10 players on the Stampeders roster who are 30 years old or older. Two of them — Aaron Crawford and Ryan Grant — are in their first go-round with the Stamps. Only four — Mitchell, Wall, Kamar Jorden and Cory Greenwood — can be considered every-snap players on offence or defence.

There's going to be a lot of learning that needs to be done at training camp, and for Mitchell, at least, that's likely going to have to continue into the regular season.

“I do expect us to be rusty to start off, especially training camp-wise, trying to learn each other with the younger team we do have,” Mitchell said. “Typically, the more veteran teams start off hot and maybe slow down toward the end because of conditioning or guys wearing down. The fun thing and exciting thing about a young team is the hunger. The hunger to go out there and take somebody's position and the attitude everybody brings to practice every day. The younger guys tend to take more energy.”

It's not as if the Stampeders are going to be fielding a team of rookies to start off the season. Every position is always up for grabs, of course, but there are few spots on the offensive or defensive side of the ball where you can't pencil in a starter who has legitimate experience.

The defensive backs group, led by Wall, may fly under the radar, but is packed with talent. The return of Jameer Thurman from south of the border is a huge boost to a linebacker corps that already had Greenwood back. The D-line may not have the all-star big names that the 2016 to 2018 teams had, but guys like Derek Wiggan, Mike Rose and Folarin Orimolade have already proven they're extremely solid and could be primed to become household names.

The same can be said about the O-line, where the Stamps will be without Derek Dennis and Shane Bergman, but have a deep core of Canadian talent led by Sean Mcewen, who will finally get to make his debut in red and white after signing in free agency prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The list goes on. Mitchell is obviously a superstar at quarterback. Ka'deem Carey will look to build off an enticing first year at running back, and the receiving corps is short on star power outside of Jorden, but deep on young talent that's poised for a breakout.

It's the depth, though, where the Stamps will need young players to learn quickly and step up fast. Pre-season games are typically an opportunity to fast-track that process. Head coach Dave Dickenson and his staff are going to need to get creative.

“Heading into training camp, it's a long training camp, with three weeks and no pre-season games,” said Stamps president and GM John Hufnagel. “It's a long time to be on the field, so Dave, I think, has done a great job adjusting practice schedules so we don't run them ragged and get them ready to play that first game on Aug. 7.”

There are challenges ahead, but it's going to be a challenging season for everyone. There's work to be done, but the only way to deal with that is by doing the work. And if it takes a couple weeks to start firing on all cylinders, that's not the end of the world.

“In the CFL, it's not about starting hot, it's about finishing hot and making sure in the playoffs you're looking good,” Mitchell said.