Coach firms up tall receiving corps
Forced to switch things up for the umpteenth time this season due to injury, the Calgary Stampeders’ receiving corps is in the throws of yet another facelift.
With the dependable Nik Lewis and Marquay McDaniel marooned on the sidelines, Maurice Price and Jabari Arthur are expected to line up at slotback Sunday against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Rookie Jeff Fuller and Joe West are pencilled in at the wideout positions.
Factor in the multi-dimensional Brad Sinopoli, coming off a concussion, and this is not a vertically challenged group.
“We do have some height with our receivers,” head coach/general manager John Hufnagel said. “They’re the healthy bodies we have right now, and they’re all very skilled.
“There’s nothing wrong with having a little height advantage.”
In terms of height, West checks in at six-foot-one. Same goes for Price. Arthur, Fuller and Sinopoli stand at a towering six-foot-four.
At six-foot-one, Tyron Brackenridge is the giant of the star-studded Saskatchewan secondary.
Dickenson mum on Bombers’ job
Dave Dickenson is making a policy of not discussing his future in the lead-up to the West Division Final and, if the Stampeders advance, the Grey Cup.
But his silence on the topic will hardly stop the rumour mill from swirling regarding the next steps on the career path for the 40-year-old offensive co-ordinator.
On Wednesday, the Winnipeg Free Press reported that Dickenson is not interested in the vacant headcoaching job with the Bombers, as he wants to stay in Calgary.
“I’m not going to answer that,” Dickenson said after practice Wednesday when asked about the report. “I’m not worried about it. We’re not there. They should take care of business. We’ll take care of ours.”
Stamps defensive co-ordinator Rick Campbell is widely considered a candidate for the head-coaching job in Edmonton, but he would likely think twice about a move north without receiving assurance of organizational stability in the City of Champions.
Practices open, with a catch
Wary of spies in their midst, the Saskatchewan Roughriders have closed all their practices this week to the football-mad public one province to the east.
That’s not the case in Calgary under head coach/general manager John Hufnagel.
“We really don’t get a whole lot of fans at McMahon Stadium (for practice),” Hufnagel said. “And we are being selective about who we do allow in, because there’s so much snow removal going on right now, they would be disrupting the job that the McMahon Stadium Society has to do.”
A blue-collar crew of workers with shovels cleared the stands Wednesday during practice, and several of them cast an eye on the proceedings when they stopped to take a breath.
“Are you worried about the snowremoval people?” a reporter asked. “I’m more concerned about you than them,” Hufnagel replied.