Veterans deal with new role as rookies

Tim Switzer, Leader-Post
Tuesday, August 21, 2007

When you make it to the top, it makes the fall back down that much  tougher.

After just three days at University of Regina Rams training camp, that fact is painfully obvious to Scott Magee and Todd Kristoff.

Before joining the Rams, the linebacking duo spent five years with the  Regina Thunder of the Prairie Football Conference, becoming team leaders on and off the field.

My, how things have changed.

"Now I'm just a rookie piece of crap," Kristoff said with a chuckle. "I used to be the one telling the rookies they were pieces of crap.

"But really, the guys here are all good and Scott being here makes it  easy because we're real close."

For Kristoff, the experience is strange not just because he is a 22-year-old rookie. Kristoff coached at LeBoldus High School for two years where he was in charge of current Rams players like Taman George, Aadon Fieger and Jared Ralko.

"They even call me coach, still," said Kristoff.

But like Kristoff, Magee is learning to live with a return to the bottom rung.

"That's how it goes: You go to a new team and you have to work your way up," said Magee, 23. "I understand that. I don't expect anything from
anyone else and I know my role."

Magee and Kristoff are both expected to be on the roster when the Rams  begin the Canada West regular season on Sept. 1 against the visiting  Manitoba Bisons, said linebackers coach Jeff Zimmer. They may, however, only be appearing on special teams.

"We've got a lot of guys coming back, but we've got them slotted in at  certain spots," said Zimmer, who also coached at LeBoldus with Kristoff.  "They may have to bide their time like anybody else. They're ahead of the kids out of high school, but they still have to learn the systems so they're a little behind the veterans.

"There's a place for them. We know what their strengths are and we can
use those in certain situations."

Zimmer, in his second season as a U of R coach, was able to get very  reliable information on Magee and Kristoff before the two arrived at Rams camp. Zimmer's brother, Craig, is the linebackers coach and defensive co-ordinator for the Thunder.

"Every once in a while if something comes or there's something I need to know about them I'll call him up or ask him at family dinner," said Jeff Zimmer. "He's usually pretty honest with that kind of stuff."

Some of the information surrounding Magee throughout his junior football career was that he had no intention of moving on to the CIS, even after winning the PFC defensive-player-of-the-year award last season.

But when football season started to roll around, he realized he didn't want to be a labourer on the oil rigs -- a job he has done in the offseason through the last five years -- forever.

"The first year of school is going to take some work, but I've got lots of people helping me out," said Magee, who is enrolled in geology at the U of R with hopes of earning a degree and working higher up in the drilling industry.

The school part of playing for the Rams won't be a big stretch for Kristoff. He is only a year away from receiving a degree in kinesiology. Whether he sticks around with the Rams after that depends on his role with the team.

But before he can make that decision, Kristoff, as well as Magee, will have to get used to university football -- something that despite their experience, they are finding a challenge.

"The speed isn't as drastic a thing as you'd think, but it's the size of the players," said Kristoff. There's a lot more intricate systems you have to learn rather than just hutting the ball and running and tackling with the ball like in junior. You have to actually learn a system and play your role."

RAMBLINGS: With a surplus of linebackers and a shortage of defensive ends, Clark Gates is being used along the D-line during training camp ... Walk-on LB Levi Clampet (ankle) and DB George (thigh) were both carted off the practice field Monday ... The Rams are back on the field today at 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. It is the final day of two-a-day practices.

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