Puzzle pieces beginning to fit

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This article was published 29/05/2019 (2322 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Training camp can be a brutal test, something first-round draft pick Drew Desjarlais is getting used to.

The 6-2, 307-pound offensive lineman from the University of Windsor, chosen fourth overall by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at the CFL draft last month, has been rattling helmets with some of the CFL’s best defenders in recent days.

“You go against Willie (Jefferson), Jake (Thomas) or Drake (Nevis), it doesn’t matter,” the 22-year-old Desjarlais said with a chuckle Wednesday afternoon at IG Field. “Every day is a hard practice.”

Desjarlais’s trial by fire — he’s been getting first-team reps at left guard with fellow rookie Geoff Gray, a right guard — is just how things are done in these situations.

The Blue Bombers, who lost centre Matthias Goossen to retirement and right guard Sukh Chungh to the B.C. Lions in free agency, are puzzling over how to fill those holes with Canadians while also getting veteran left guard Patrick Neufeld and right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick, a pair of incumbent starters, back to full health.

Neufeld has skipped all of training camp so far, while Hardrick has missed most of it. Both are nursing unspecified injuries but are expected to be ready for Winnipeg’s regular-season opener in Vancouver against the B.C. Lions on June 15.

Veteran Manase Foketi, a versatile reserve in recent seasons, did not report to camp last month and was placed on the veteran exempt list. Foketi was expected to allow the Bombers the option of starting three American O-linemen. On Wednesday, Americans Jamar McGloster and Delroy Baker Jr. were splitting first-team reps in Hardrick’s spot.

With Friday’s pre-season opener at home against the Edmonton Eskimos looming, does the unsettled situation put more heat on left tackle Stanley Bryant?

“I’m not going to say pressure, because we’ve got those guys — this is what, the second week of camp now? — so, the guys have been learning since rookie camp and they’ve been learning a lot,” said Bryant, who has started all 72 regular-season games since joining the Blue Bombers in 2015. “The playbook, they understand it, it’s just now going out Friday night, knowing your plays and do what we do best.”

Bryant’s confidence is based in part on his own experience. As a rookie for the Calgary Stampeders in 2010, he stepped in for an injured Edwin Harrison and started 20 games at right tackle over the next 1 1/2 seasons.

He switched to left tackle in 2012.

“I wouldn’t be too worried,” Bryant said. “I’ve been with Drew the whole camp, Geoff Gray’s been in there at right guard. We’re basically still learning each other and we still have time to learn (about) each other even more. If worse comes to worst and that happens, I think those guys will be ready.”

Gray, 24, believes Friday will be an important test.

“You don’t want to go into a game where you’re not feeling ready to perform,” Gray said. “You definitely have to feel good about that, and I do. I’m looking forward to getting some live reps, because practice is intense but it’s not the same. It’s just different, and that’s the true test for an offensive lineman.”

Head coach Mike O’Shea has been encouraged by the the play of Gray, Desjarlais and fourth-year man Michael Couture, the heir apparent to Goossen at centre.

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“Well, you like what you see in practice. But until there’s somebody from another team going against them, it’s pretty hard to say that, right?” O’Shea said. “Because we have a very professional way to practise, so one-on-ones are getting after it, but there’s not a lot of bull-rushing. In team periods, you’re always keeping your feet, you’re never shoving a guy into the ground.

“So, when you get against a different opponent and they have you in a vulnerable position, they’re going to take advantage of it, right? We don’t ever put our guys in that spot in a practice. It goes to a different level when you compete in a pre-season game.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14