Chris O’Leary
Edmonton Journal
It isn’t very often that four quarterbacks are involved in a passing play.
At the Edmonton Eskimo team store on Tuesday morning, it was Matt Nichols to Eric Ward to Kerry Joseph to Steven Jyles.
The quartet of quarterbacks, who’ll hit the field Wednesday for the start of the Eskimo mini-camp, worked an autograph assembly line to meet fans and help sell season tickets for the Canadian Football League team.
Jyles sat at the end of the line, dressed like his teammates in jeans and a green-and-gold Eskimo polo shirt with a matching ball cap. He calmly signed posters, joking that with a stack of his signatures underneath his writing hand, he might have to start jotting down the more simple S.J. as the morning progressed.
For a man with the weight of the Eskimo fan base on his shoulders after being acquired in the Ricky Ray trade with the Toronto Argonauts, Jyles isn’t showing any signs of the pressure.
“It’s being painted that way,” he said. “I’m coming into an organization where the guys had a successful year last year and, coming in, everyone looks at it like trying to replace Ricky Ray and it’s not.
“I’m just coming in and trying to compete for a job and extend my career as a CFL quarterback.”
The agile Jyles knows he doesn’t have the pocketpassing game at which Ray excelled.
“That’s all you can offer is your style of football and be successful and win ball games,” he said. “If I have an opportunity to play and lead the team, that’s what I’ll try to do.”
There isn’t a lot of room for lasting impressions to be made during the mini-camp. It’s a three-day meet-and-greet for a handful of offensive players, essentially, before training camp opens on June 2.
“You get a little (out of mini-camp), but you don’t really learn anything until you get in with the guys and report for camp and report for rookie camp and have a chance to build chemistry with the team,” Jyles said.
Recent recruit Jermiah Masoli will also be in the mini-camp, joining the four QBs who’ll compete for the Eskimos’ starting job.
“I’m just coming in to compete in camp and you know what, whatever my role entails as the season comes about, I’m going to fulfil that to the most,” Joseph said. “I think we have a great group of guys here and we have a lot of leadership at the quarterback position.
“We want to work together and make sure we get the team going in the right direction offensively.”
“Every (training camp) there’s going to be competition and that makes everybody better,” said Ward, who played 18 games as the third-string quarterback and holder on field goal attempts last season. “We’re definitely looking forward to it.”
Nichols, who racked up 12,616 yards in a four-year career as a starter at Eastern Washington University, went from the one-game injured list in the first half of 2011 to the nine-game injured list in the second half. He is also ready to try to work his way into a bigger role.
“Obviously, if you’re not in the mindset that you’re preparing to be the guy on the field, then you’re not in the right position,” he said. “At the same time, I understand where I’m at. Talking with the coaching staff and basically it is, ‘You’ve got a couple of guys who have been around and played this game and have a lot of experience.’
“I’m trying to soak everything up and whatever time comes that I can find myself on the field I want to be as prepared as much as I can be.”
The Eskimo mini-camp is open to the public. On Wednesday and Thursday, the practices run from 9: 30-11: 15 a.m. Friday’s session will run from 9-10: 30 a.m.
ESKIMO SEAT SALE
The $99 season tickets and $49 Knothole Gang seat sale went well on Tuesday morning, according to Duane Vienneau, the Edmonton Eskimo Vice President of Marketing and Brand Management.
Vienneau said the cheaper seats are a way to pull new fans into Commonwealth Stadium.
“We always want to create new fans and if it wasn’t for the Knothole Gang, there are lots of people in Edmonton who would have never gone to a game,” he said. “So we’re trying to bring that back.
“Some guys get out of school and they’re in their first job and they might not be able to afford a $300, $400 or $500 season ticket. Here’s an opportunity for someone to say, ‘I can be a season-seat holder and take pride in it,’ and that’s what it’s all about.
“Maybe next year they go down to a different section and so on and so on,” Vienneau continued.
“That’s the same concept with the Knothole Gang and the kid’s price.”