Chris O’Leary
Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON — With an array of targets all to himself, Option No. 5 had a chance to show the Edmonton Eskimos what he’s got on Saturday at Clarke Field.
Brandon Summers was able to take the reins of the Eskimo offence during Saturday’s Fan Day scrimmage. The 25-year-old demonstrated why the Canadian Football League team signed him on May 29.
Summers showed some nice speed in the scrimmage — no score was kept. It marked the first time since training camp began on June 3 that Summers was able to get an extended look from the Eskimo coaching staff. He’s battling against Steven Jyles, Kerry Joseph, Matt Nichols and Jeremiah Masoli for a piece of the passing pie in 2012.
Masoli led the other team and put in a more consistent showing than Summers.
“Jeremiah executed a little bit better,” Eskimo Head Coach Kavis Reed said. “Brandon, we’re really trying to get him up to speed on the offensive system.
“Jeremiah had the advantage that he signed a litter bit earlier, so he’s a little more familiar with the nomenclature than Brandon is right now. But we saw some very positive things from Brandon as well. He executed on his own schemes very well. We expect he’ll continue to get better.
“He has a lot of speed, a lot of quickness. He’s a very explosive young kid. He takes care of his body very well, he’s probably two per cent body fat, he works on his explosiveness in the gym a lot.”
Summers would have liked to have his first pass of the day to do over again. He was picked off by cornerback Joe Burnett — who has put together a great camp— for a touchdown.
“It shows that I’ve still got a lot of work to do, still have to get into the playbook and get used to it and just do good,” Summers said of his day.
“I should have read the corner better because there was an open corner route and I didn’t read it right,” he said of the interception. “Just get it out of the system now — before the games.”
The Eskimos play the Calgary Stampeders in their first pre-season game on Friday at McMahon Stadium. Not planning to make any cuts before that game, Reed said that Friday would be important for a lot of his rookies.
“We have such a competitive camp,” Reed said. “No one has played themselves off of the team right now. Friday is going to be very important for us.
“We have some very tough decisions to make and, hopefully, it will become clearer as camp goes on, without any injuries determining that. “(This week) there won’t be any cuts.”
Scott lost 6-8 weeks
Reed confirmed that wide receiver Tyler Scott had broken his collarbone during Friday morning’s practice and will miss six to eight weeks.
He collided in the air with defensive back Rico Murray, landed awkwardly and ended up having to leave practice in an ambulance.
“Very good news is that we think it will be repaired,” Reed said. “We expect him (to be available) before the season’s out.”
coleary@edmontonjournal.com
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