Rams Wrap Up Spring Camp 2007  

By Greg Urbanoski  

Flexibility may well be a word heard quite a bit around the University of Regina Rams Football Club this week.  

The Rams wrapped up their Spring Camp weekend with a scrimmage Saturday afternoon that gave fans a look at what they should expect this fall. The Rams appeared to be crisp on offense with both the first and second units looking extremely capable of carrying the load on any given play.  

The defense also looked more sharper, fired up by a talk Saturday night by Rams Head Coach Frank McCrystal who said repeating the defenses performance of last year would be unacceptable this year.  

Watching the Rams going through their paces were members of the Regina Thunder and Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts scout Cal Murphy who looked impressed with what they saw.  

However, in a strange string of events, the Rams had a third shoulder injury on the weekend when rookie receiver Jason Price injured his shoulder while making a spectacular one handed catch. The rash of shoulder injuries may play a factor as the Rams reduced their roster from 91 to 75 players Sunday night and are looking to reduce their roster to 65 players by the end of week.  

One of the factors the Rams will have to take into consideration is the Canadian Football League draft on Wednesday, which may see between two to five Rams attending CFL camps.  

“We are thinking of adding yoga at least once a week to our off-field training program,” said McCrystal.  

“We’ll see how bad those injuries are. I don’t know, but when you have three in a row this weekend…”  

Following the scrimmage, McCrystal thanked the players for showing up and taking part and said while the players would find out right after practice who survived the first round of roster moves, those who didn’t make it should look at other options at continuing their football careers, or even consider moving into coaching.  

“We’re going to review the video of the scrimmage and see what we see and make some decisions,” said McCrystal. “We may pull some guys from one area and put them in another. I think we have got some good football players so we want to make sure we are not missing guys and we are making good choices.”  

McCrystal said the Rams injury situation and potential losses in the CFL draft will play a factor, but will not be a defining one in determining roster spots.  

“Even the draft doesn’t mean they won’t be back,” said McCrystal. “It’s something we have to reflect on. I think we have to build in contingency too within those numbers.  

“I’m pretty adamant we are not keeping 70, 80, 90 guys so we have to look at all these things inclusive of injury.”  

McCrystal said the Rams did better defensively, particularly on the defensive line during the scrimmage, but will have to play better yet. He said they are not where they should be, but noted the defensive backfield looked good.  

McCrystal would like to see the Rams roster set at 65 by the end of the week. The Rams reduced their numbers to 75 following the scrimmage.

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