Huskie Outsider

Huskies Head Coach Brian Towriss and his offensive assistants have some tough decisions to make this week. After defeating the Western Mustangs in a national non-conference game on Friday, the coaches now have to figure out who they will be taking on the road with them to Calgary for the conference opener against the Dino’s on Saturday.

Canada West teams can dress 40 players on the road and 50 at home, meaning that the Huskies will have to juggle their roster each week to put the best team on the field.

There were precious few open spots on the offense before the game. Left guard and  receiver were in focus for the offense. With some stellar performances from players looking to step into those roles, the coaches watched film for several hours yesterday.

Usually when travel rosters jobs are on the line, a player will separate himself from the pack and the decision is easily made by the coaches. However, on Friday, it seemed like a lot of players made that separation which is why the coaches have some tough decisions ahead.

Huskies Head Coach Brian Towriss (photo by Steve Hiscock)

“I thought we were pretty sharp coming out the gate,” said Huskies Coach Brian Towriss. “I was pretty happy with the first quarter on both sides of the ball. The offense moved the ball, but we needed to score more. The defense only gave up one first down.”
On the offensive line, the Huskies tried to narrow down the numbers a bit. Paddy Neufeld, Darren Hinds, Ben Heenan and Cam Redl are locks to start. “We had a couple of guys who we didn’t think were in the picture played pretty well,” said Towriss. “That’s the good side of it. But we still need to sit down and see who the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth guys are for this week.”

The receivers got a lot of work. “We found out that we have four wideouts and six inside guys who can play it this level,” said Towriss. “Jade Etienne took a step forward, and so did some other guys. They worked hard in the off-season on those things like blocking and yards after the catch and it seemed to pay off. (Garret) Bolen showed it. So did Jade and Matt Walker. We’ve got some tough decisions to make with this group.”

Towriss also touched on the kickers who both had a chance to make long field goals with 35 km/hr cross winds. Stephen MacDonald and Denton Kolodzinski both missed on the long shots, but looked good kicking from inside the 40.

“I thought Denton did a little better punting than Stephen did,” said Towriss. “MacDonald kick-offs were a bit better though. I do think that it was great to see them  punt under pressure. Now we have to evaluate get-away time and consistency and make a decision on probably one of them going to Calgary.”

The coaches are meeting again today while the players do not return to practice until Monday. Towriss told the players to take this time off to get settled and get to know each other a bit. He said some of the guys might head home for a day or two to let some of the nicks heal after two-a-day workouts at training camp.

Filed under: Huskies Tagged: | bolen, darrenhinds, etiene, heenan, kolodzinski, macdonald, neufeld, Redl, towriss, Walker