聽 聽 聽Two quotes. 聽That鈥檚 all you need. 聽Just two simple quotes.
聽 聽 聽As we embark on a brand new football season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and finally put 2014 in the past, there are only two people we need to hear from.
聽 聽 聽The first comes from quarterback Darian Durant who was leading the Riders to a nearly franchise-best 8-2 start last year when he suffered a season-ending elbow injury in early September which sent the club into a tailspin. 聽They went 2-7 the rest of the way including a distasteful first round playoff exit in Edmonton.
聽 聽 聽With nine months to recover, which included a strong showing in the team鈥檚 minicamp in Florida in April, Durant is now feeling 100%. 聽He took to social media on the morning of Day 1 of 2015 Roughrider training camp in Saskatoon to reassure the antsy Rider Nation.
聽 聽 聽鈥淪o blessed to be able to be able to do what I love for a living,鈥� Durant wrote from his Twitter account at @DarianDurant. 聽鈥淪till feel like a kid going into my 10th camp!!鈥�
聽 聽 聽That鈥檚 music to our ears and Durant got the bulk of the work with the first team offense Sunday as he continues to test out his arm and get acclimated to new offensive coordinator Jacques Chapdelaine. 聽He passed both with flying colours.
聽 聽 聽The other guy you need to hear from is head coach Corey Chamblin who enters his fourth season in charge on the Rider sidelines. 聽Along with General Manager Brendan Taman, Chamblin was tireless in building a roster which he believes will be in the 2015 Grey Cup in Winnipeg in November.
聽 聽 聽鈥淚 think it鈥檚 different,鈥� Chamblin said, referring to his roster makeup from one year ago. 聽鈥淚 think in some areas we鈥檙e a little bit better and that鈥檚 just a part of coaching and personnel and different things. 聽When we looked at it, we addressed different issues. 聽Sometimes it鈥檚 not what we聽诲颈诲苍鈥檛聽find, it was what was available. I think this year there was a different set of guys available to us.鈥�
聽 聽 聽 Chamblin鈥檚 talking about the pool of available free agents and veterans on the trade market which he carefully selected for his locker room. 聽Grey Cup champions like receiver Jamel Richardson, middle linebacker Shea Emry, defensive end Alex Hall and defensive back Keenan McDougall were all added to bolster the lineup and provide the unteachable intangible of 鈥渒nowing how to win鈥�.
聽 聽 聽The club enters the 2015 CFL campaign with only one glaring question mark and it鈥檚 along the invaluable offensive line where games are often won and lost. 聽Veteran centre Dominic Picard was cut loose this winter and star right tackle Ben Heenan was lost to the NFL鈥檚 Indianapolis Colts. 聽Those are two important holes which the club is hoping to fill by unproven younger players.
聽 聽 聽However the backbone of the team starts with the head coach and ends with the quarterback. 聽If you have two cornerstones in place in those spots, you鈥檙e in good shape. 聽Down south, New England has the trusted tandem of Bellichick and Brady while Seattle has the solid pair of Carroll and Wilson. 聽The good teams all do. 聽Chamblin and Durant have the same credentials with championship rings along with Coach of the Year and MVP awards on their resumes.
聽 聽 聽The core is strong. 聽Who knows how the 2014 season would have ended up had Durant stayed healthy? 聽We鈥檒l never know the answer to that and perhaps we can finally stop thinking about it.
聽 聽 聽No, the time for optimism is now. 聽Here in early June everyone is tied for first-place and every team feels good about the club they鈥檝e assembled.
聽 聽 聽Pretty soon we鈥檒l board the always-entertaining roller coaster that is Roughrider season and I hope you鈥檒l be along to follow the club鈥檚 fortunes every step of the way.
