Stamps hasn’t missed a beat despite sitting out
Top receiver now running full throttle in practice, should be ready for Saturday’s opener
If you’re fortunate enough to own one, you don’t take your Lamborghini out for the commute to work on a January day.
In the same vein, the Edmonton Eskimos weren’t about to run Fred Stamps through the rigours of a training camp when they already know what their high-end import slotback is capable of.
Stamps sat out large portions of training camp this month, sat out both of Edmonton’s Canadian Football League pre-season games and has only really gone full throttle in the last couple of days of practice, leading up to the Eskimos’ regular-season opener on Saturday against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Having watched Stamps run hard and make difficult catches look easy over the last two days, Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed has seen enough to be confident about what his top receiver will be able to do this weekend.
“(He’s been) excellent, not missed a beat,” Reed said after Thursday’s practice was completed. “From the time he missed in training camp, he’s gotten in extra routes with (quarterback) Mike (Reilly) to make certain his timing is where it needs to be and he’s fine.”
Absent on the field for most of the last month, Reed said Stamps has been fully involved everywhere else with the team.
“In terms of football IQ, I believe Fred is one of the top in the class. He’s very astute, he pays very close attention in meetings, he asks the right questions, he makes suggestions,” Reed said.
“And nine times out of 10 his suggestions are pretty accurate and pretty good.”
Although Stamps is known well by defensive co-ordinators across the league, Reed said he sees the potential of a matchup advantage on Saturday.
“It could serve as a bit of a competitive advantage as well because (the Riders) did not get an opportunity to play against Fred in the pre-season as well as didn’t get an opportunity to see him on film,” Reed said.
“For guys that are new to their secondary that may be a bit of an advantage for us, but obviously Fred is well known and well established and the scouting on him will be as thorough as possible.”
The Riders announced on Thursday that they’ll keep their high-end import parked in the garage for at least a week. Slotback Geroy Simon won’t be making his debut in Saskatchewan silks on Saturday. Former Eskimo Greg Carr will get the call in Simon’s absence.
“Greg had a very successful game here against us in the pre-season game,” Reed said of Carr’s four-catch, 101-yard effort two weeks ago in a 31-24 Riders win.
“He’s a matchup problem because of his stature (six-footsix), but for us we feel we have a physical group of guys in the secondary that can play very aggressively.
“But (Carr) can pose problems. We’re hopeful that we can mitigate his damage by being aggressive and hopefully the pass rush can also help our coverage.”