Former Lion Smith chopped

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/06/2014 (4155 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Kevin Smith era lasted all of four practices over five days.

The Bombers released the former Detroit Lions star Monday morning after he pulled a hamstring in Sunday’s first official day of training camp.

Smith, who stood out in last week’s rookie camp, was hoping to reclaim his career after a year away from the game. But early Sunday he pulled up lame after catching a pass, watched the rest of the first session and then was nowhere to be seen for the second workout.

“First, there was the hamstring,” said head coach Mike O’Shea when asked about the decision to release Smith. “We’re not in a position to not have bodies in camp. We brought that many tailbacks to camp so that we could have competition.

“Secondly, rather quickly it became apparent that the Bombers weren’t his first priority. He had a couple other things on his mind he wanted to get done, so it was not a hard decision.”

The Bombers are big on newcomers Nic Grigsby and Paris Cotton, both of whom are pushing incumbent Will Ford for the starting tailback job. Canadians Carl Volny and Errol Brooks are also in the running.

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Many coaches, one voice

ONE VOICE: O’Shea was asked Monday about his decision to not let his assistant coaches speak to the media on a regular basis, as was the case last year and in seasons before. And, as everyone saw last year, it can also lead to some miscommunication.

“It wasn’t hard to come up with that, it really wasn’t,” he said. “I believe coming in here it was a good idea to have one message to come from this side of the coaching staff. Talking to the staff, pretty much to a man they were comfortable with not being trotted out to the media on a regular basis. Some of them don’t mind, but my decision was to control the message and make sure you’re only hearing one voice. That way there’s no confusion for players. I’m trying to serve the players the best I can. If it comes from me and only me then they can come into my office and talk about that with me. They don’t have to worry about talking to a position coach, the co-ordinator and then myself about three different interviews that were done after a practice or a game.”

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait