Masoli, Revenberg hail retiring centre for being the ultimate teammate
Gibbon, Yarbrough taking snaps up the middle for emergency situations
Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and left guard Brandon Revenberg, who played beside him, were among the many left bereft by the hole Mike Filer’s retirement leaves on the field but even more in the closelyknit and raucous Ticat locker room.
“He’s kind of brought me up over the years, playing next to him,” Revenberg said.
“He’s a great player and a better friend.”
Said Masoli, Filer’s teammate since 2013, “That was a heartbreaker, I’m not going to lie. That was tough, it’s still tough. I depended on him for so many things on and off the field. It just sucks. We’ve got the Grey Cup in Hamilton and we would have loved that fairy tale story of him hoisting the Cup. But at same time I’m happy for him.
“All the guys who were here for Tim Hortons being built ... that’s the foundation of where we’re at with this team.”
Other observations from Day 9 of the Ticats’ first training camp on Tim Hortons Field’s new, softer, gentler, playing surface.
> Because they weren’t sure if Filer would accept their request to return for this season, the Ticats already had some alternate roster plans in place, which come more directly into play now that he’s retired.
That includes being able to shift Jesse Gibbon over to centre from guard if there’s an ingame emergency and “coaching up” potential backups at centre, including American John Yarbrough, who has been getting increased “B Unit” action.
> When the Ticats first got back to Hamilton, Jeremiah Masoli’s teammates were suitably impressed by his long thick hair style. He let it grow during the 19 months away.
“Soli’s just rockin’ it,” one Ticat said to The Spectator.
> Monday was the Ticats’ final extra-long (four hours) practice days of training camp. After a Saturday scrimmage, the team had Sunday off from on-field work.
“You definitely feel the pressure of the atmosphere kind of
change as we’re zoning in and getting ready for the first game (Aug. 5 in Winnipeg),” Masoli said. á To the outside eye there is still no apparent clear front-runner in the marquee battle for No. 1 quarterback between close friends Masoli and Dane Evans.
“We’re pushing each other, we both want to really be great quarterbacks,” Masoli said. “If we’re messing up, we expect to get on each other.”
> The CFL’s 10 p.m. deadline for reducing rosters to 75 players plus “non-counters” (mostly Canadian draft choices in their first training camp), wasn’t expected to impact the Ticats much.
Since they have 20 noncounters, and a few players on the suspended list (in quarantine or missing for a personal reason), only a couple of players would be affected.
Players can also be considered non-counters by being placed on the injured list, but the Ticats aren’t doing that with anyone.