Mitchell, Woods look good and Smith is ready to return kicks

Listen to today’s episode of Ticats Today

After Sunday’s successful reboot of the once-traditional Black and Gold kickoff the Ticats were summoned back to the practice grind today under sweltering skies. At times, the training staff was  literally running to keep up with the players’ need for rehydration.

There are only two full practice days remaining this week and then the scheduling gets a bit complicated and cramped. The Ticats play host to the Ottawa Redblacks Saturday afternoon (2 p.m.) at Tim Hortons Field in the first of two pre-season games, then practice for a week before meeting  Toronto in Guelph on Saturday, June 1. But they open the season in Calgary just six days after that and they have to use a day to travel. The squeeze between the final pre-season game and first regular season game is tight and head coach Scott Milanovich suggested today that the timing vise could affect exhibition game lineups, even this Saturday at home.

“I would like to play the starters a little more in this game, and a little less in the second game,” Milanovich said of the pre-season. “But we’re going to to have to see who’s healthy and who’s not, and evaluate through the week.”

Bo Levi Mitchell, still the number one story today and for the foreseeable future, looked very good in the Black and Gold kickoff, perhaps slightly alleviating the need to use him for, say, three quarters of Saturday’s game because some of the questions about his lower leg–he was in a walking boot during rookie camp for precautionary reasons–were answered with Sunday’s sharp footwork and throwing accuracy. And this morning he showed no ill effects, anywhere, after Sunday’s test. He was generally on the money with his passes, broke the huddle with confidence and even called his own number, running against the flow for 15 yards.

Lawrence Woods III, who’s highly motivated after being released by the B.C. Lions, continued his strong training camp this morning.  He had a couple of great runbacks—although against no full tackling—and also made an interception. He had another pick this morning on a jump ball and in our audio and video podcasts  and we discuss how he actually got faster, and increased his vertical leap, during the off-season.

In the same podcasts, and a post-practice media scrum  we talk with third-year Ticat receiver Kiondré Smith, who’d like to be seriously considered as a punt returner, as well as being the presumptive Canadian starter at inside receiver.

“Punt return is probably my favourite form of return, I did it a lot in college,” Smith says. “Punt return is kind of like tag as a kid. You have a preferred direction, but you don’t know how it’s going to pan out … It’s like backyard football.”