The University of Regina Rams opened their 2007 fall camp Saturday morning and resembled somewhat the scaffolding placed on the sideline – a work in progress.

Two days after their annual day-long retreat at St. Michael’s Retreat near Lumsden, the Rams put their pads on and hit the field in preparation for the 2007 season.

Approximately 67 players made camp for the start of two-a-day practices. The Rams were happy to welcome back offensive lineman Dustin Luther who had taken a year off to work in Alberta, and offensive lineman Mitch Warren, who had been seeing support duty with the Regina Thunder. 

“It’s been a busy morning and last 24 hours,” said Rams Head Coach Frank McCrystal. 

“On Thursday we had our team building retreat at St. Michael’s and yesterday we had our testing so it will be a really busy four days going morning, afternoon and evening. In the evening we are doing classroom work.”

McCrystal said the Rams had to move some players around with some players choosing not to continue in 2007. However, he said the Rams have the players in camp they thought would be in camp. 

“This morning was the real show,” said McCrystal. “We finished up with 20 plays and a scrimmage and were hitting so that is pretty good.”

The Rams are facing some questions from their fans as well as from around the Canada West conference about how well the team will able to fill the shoes of Chris Bauman and Chris Getzlaf. Bauman was drafted first overall in the Canadian Football League draft by the Hamilton Tiger-cats and Getzlaf went to the Tiger-cats in a later round.

The Rams 2006 offense featured the passing game to a large extent, and there are questions as to whether the Rams will be able to continue to keep defenses back-pedaling.

“With the receivers people are asking about Getzlaf and Bauman but we’ve got some really good guys coming up,” said McCrystal.

“You have to appreciate this is not professional so you have some guys cycle through and graduate or get their degrees and move onto careers and some that are fortunate enough to play in the CFL like Getzlaf and Bauman. We’re prepared for that, we think we brought some good guys in and we are going to have some good players.”

With Joel Lipinski moving to the junior football ranks and Tyler Pokoyoway completing his degree and interning, the Rams have some positions looking to be filled in their defensive secondary. McCrystal said Darren Geddert and Aadon Fieger will vie to see who fills Pokoyoway’s spot while Fieger and Tamon George will battle for the corner position.

“Both guys are fast and quick and I think they will all do a good job,” said McCrystal.

The Rams continued their camp Saturday afternoon with the players in shorts instead of pads and will continue with two practices on Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

On Monday and Tuesday the Rams will be on the field from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and again from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Following that the team will practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings at 7 p.m. with all practices at the University of Regina practice field.

The camp will conclude with the Green and Gold game pitting the offense against the defense on Saturday August 25 at 1 p.m. at Mosaic Stadium. All the practices and the Green and Gold game are open to the public free of charge.

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