Original Story Here
Just ask Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Tim Burke, who says he’s geared this year’s training camp, which starts Wednesday with rookies and quarterbacks, to find out what his young arms are all about.
“Our whole training camp will be based on developing our quarterbacks,” Burke said, Tuesday. “In addition to everybody else on the team. But definitely there will be a lot of reps... so the quarterbacks all get a fair shot at showing what they can do.”
With the Bombers desperate to find a franchise pivot they can hitch their wagon to, and with newcomers Max Hall and Chase Clement in town, this camp will be unlike others Burke has been involved with.
Oft-injured Buck Pierce may be the No. 1 gun, but after that it’ll be a wide open race to find the next No. 1.
“Normally you go into a season and say, ‘Here’s our No. 1 guy, here’s our No. 2 guy, here’s our No. 3 guy. And you proportion your reps accordingly, with the No. 1 guy getting the vast majority of them,” Burke said. “In this camp, we’re going to try and get everybody a lot of reps so we can see which will be the No. 2, 3 and 4 guys.”
So the returning Justin Goltz might have the backup job on paper going in, but Hall and Clement will get every opportunity to move up.
Wednesday will mark the first practice in the new stadium, but Burke is downplaying the significance of the occasion, pointing out rookies won't know anything but the new facility.
The coach’s plan is to start a new tradition that has nothing to do with the surroundings.
“To me it’s football,” Burke said. “We’re just going to try to get better every day and develop a winning standard of performance. Because you’ve got to have a winning standard of performance before you can go out there and win games.”