Coaches acquire bird’s-eye view; Helmet-cams show what the QBs see during practice

Chris O’Leary
Edmonton Journal

(Edmonton) Eric Ward and Matt Nichols will be giving the Edmonton Eskimo coaches a first-person point of view on the job they’re doing in training camp as they attempt to break into the quarterback rotation.

Both pivots have digital video cameras mounted on their helmets.

“That was something I wanted done with the helmet-cam,” said Eskimo Head Coach Kavis Reed. “I wanted to do it last year and we didn’t have the resources available to get it done. This year we do.

“That’s a different perspective for us, because now we can say we see what the quarterback sees. Truly, we see what the quarterback sees.

“When you’re going through the process of trying to make certain you find the right quarterbacks, you have to use every avenue available to you to make the right decision. That’s something that you’ll probably see through the main camp, as well. It gives us a different perspective as coaches.”

No distractions

Reed will be running his rookie camp, and perhaps a portion of his training camp, around a documentary crew, as well. As a coach who is protective of his team’s inner-workings, the dance that both sides will engage in should be interesting.

“There are certain parameters that we’re working around,” Reed said “We’re going to make certain that there are minimal distractions. It will be something that’s good for the club if we can get it done in a very successful way. Successful means as little distractions as possible.”
 
Local pivots get work

Two local pivots will get a taste of the pro game in the Eskimos rookie camp. Curtis Dell of the University of Alberta Golden Bears and Trevor Erdmann of the Edmonton Huskies junior team were on the turf at Clarke Field on Wednesday.

Dell is a third-year Bear while Erdmann, who played at Ardrossan high school, has one year of junior football under his belt.

Rookie camp grows

The rookie camp had 38 bodies at practice on Wednesday, and is expected to grow in the coming days.

“We have (Justin) Capicciotti here, we have Ryan King here. We have those guys in camp,” Reed said about the 14th and 38th overall picks, respectively, in the Canadian college draft.

The Eskimos first-round picks – Austin Pasztor and Shamawd Chambers – were not at Clarke Field.

Pasztor, taken fourth overall in the draft, signed with the Minnesota Vikings. Chambers remains in limbo, having not signed a contract.

“We didn’t expect, obviously, to have our left tackle, Mr. Pasztor, here,” Reed said. “Shamawd, we’re working on it. Eric (Tillman) made an absolutely good offer and we’re continuing to make certain that we work on that. We expect that he’ll be here soon.”
Import defensive lineman Steven Friday suited up but didn’t take part in drills on Wednesday.

Reed said the sixfootthree, 240-pounder from Virginia Tech would be ready to go on Thursday.

“It’s a missing a flight kind of a thing,” Reed said, laughing. “He’s that guy that we’re probably going to have to knock on his door in the morning and say, ‘Hey look, it’s time to go.’ He missed his flight. We’re going to get him a medical and all of that stuff, so we can legally put him on the field. Without having a medical, that’s the situation.”

Reed is also expecting to have defensive back Mark Parson and another offensive lineman in on Thursday.

coleary@edmontonjournal.com Twitter.com/olearychris