Special teams are a third of the game—more than a third, a lot of CFL observers sometimes argue—and the ability to play “teams” will be part of the process in determining the future of some players who have their final chance to make the 2026 Ticats this week.
How they’ve done in their training camp practice reps on offence or defence, every moment of which is captured on detailed film review, goes into the decision-making process too.
A perfect Ticat example of how that can work is Robert Panabaker, the Western grad who established himself mainly for his special-teams skills but also as a reliable backup safety to all-CFLer Stavros Katsantonis.
He made the team in 2024, after returning to Western the previous season, and he got into eight games, four of them as a starter at safety. He made 18 defensive tackles and another eight on special teams as a CFL rookie—he was also a starter as a freshman for the Mustangs out of high school—and earned the Ticat coaching staff’s trust.
Last year, he hurt his hamstring after one game, then returned in mid-September to play the final seven games, making a couple of special teams tackles and two more on defence. In the season’s 21st week, he recorded the highest PFF (Pro Football Focus) rating of any special teams player in the league that weekend.
And last Saturday against the Argos, he was among the best players on the field, with three strong special teams tackles and three more tackles on defence.
“Bob had a great pre-season game,” head coach Scott Milanovich said this week. “He’s a guy we count on. We consider him an elite teamer. This guy is a good football player, so it’s good to see him doing well. So far, so good, being healthy during training camp and giving us that dynamic.”
The soft-spoken Panabaker, 26, said, “It was nice to get going in the preseason; you always want to get tackles out of the way early. Last year was last year, and I’m focused on this season; I’m excited to see what this year brings. We wanted the win last weekend, but it’s pre-season, and we’re figuring things out.
“Special teams got a lot of reps in that game, so that was good. We’re working out the kinks, figuring out how we all work together.”
CATS CLAUSES
Ford and Dolegala will be under centre
Bo Levi Mitchell won’t play the second pre-season game, a decision announced last week by Scott Milanovich, so quarterbacking duties against the Argos Friday night in Guelph will be handled by Jake Dolegala and Tre Ford, both CFL veterans.
Ford has had a good performance in training this week after what he called “my worst day of camp by far” against the Argos last Saturday night, with the horrible weather being a factor.
“My accuracy, with the conditions, was not great,” he said. “But I also missed a flat route and made another poor read on a slant play. Things like that, I want to eliminate and improve on this week.”
In turn, Dolegala says, “I’m looking forward to getting out there and getting more reps. Especially in this offence, you need the reps to see the concepts and understand the defence. I’m looking forward to playing with these guys. Go out there, fly around, have fun, because they deserve to. It’s been a long camp, and I’ve got to go out there and have some fun. Doing my part, not turning it over. Sticking to the game plan.”
Hoping to make an impression behind Wooden
This week’s return of Isaiah Wooden Sr. to the Ticats and the CFL, who led in punt return average yardage last season, has solidified the return game, but there is still a deep battle for spots as his backup or to pair with him when the Cats field a double-returner set. The candidates have also needed to show they can step into a role, or more than one, on offence or defence.
There was lots of return work last Saturday night, on punts at least, as the Argos punted 11 times and the two Australian candidates for the Ticats’ punting job, Nick Haberer and Mitch McCarthy, punted five times each.
Down to the wire for receiving hopefuls
It’s a difficult task to break into the deep Ticats’ receiving corps, but one of the players who has caught my attention a couple of times, early in camp and in team play this week, is 6-foot-4, 212-pound Texan Blayne Taylor, who was the first player from Abilene-Christian in 18 years to play in the prestigious East-West Shrine Bowl.
“Blayne started (training camp) fast, then got hurt and then has kind of slowed down since then,” Scott Milanovich said this week. “He’s a guy that has a lot of talent, can certainly play in this league. He needs to show well the rest of this week and in Friday’s preseason game.”
Just like they ‘draw’ it up
The Ticats are looking ahead to Friday night in Guelph for the return match against the Argos, and the final chance for players at several key positions to make the roster. Punter, field-side cornerback, tight end and American running back—appropriate on the day the Ticats announced that Troy Davis, the franchise’s all-time rushing record-holder, is this year’s inductee onto the Wall of Honour—were the battles mentioned by Scott Milanovich last week as the most prominent, but he also emphasized that there was essentially competition “all over the field.”
One of the Ticats who did impress in the wretched weather against the Argos last Saturday at Hamilton Stadium was RB Larry Rountree III, who pounded the ball and as Hamilton’s presumptive No. 1 offence did well against the Argos’ defensive No 1s, he scored a 46-yard dash up the middle, the Ticats sole touchdown. It was a classic draw play, and once Rountree sold it, as if he was setting up to block, he burst away and made a superb cut to maximize a block by WR Kurleigh Gittens Jr and accelerate into daylight.
“You all have to be a great actor,” Rountree told Ticats.ca. “It was a straight draw, and if you go into it too fast, you bring everybody in. So, you have to make it seem like a pass and let the play develop. Maybe back when I was younger, I would have gone a little early, but with maturity, you develop the patience to let the play take shape. Then you see that little crease, and you hit it.”
“My receivers did a great job of blocking. You look at yourself on film and say, ‘Dang, you don’t want those to go to waste,’ especially when my receivers were doing such a great job of blocking. Then I saw nothing but green grass.”
The Ticats’ training camp should be good for the Marauders too
McMaster Marauders’ Lucas Barresi says he’s become a much better quarterback after spending training camp doing drills, dissecting film and hanging around with Bo Levi Mitchell, Jake Dolegala and Tre Ford, all experienced pros.
Barresi was part of the CFL’s QB Internship program, which helped develop the likes of Michael O’Connor, Taylor Elgersma and Ford, who was in the program in 2018 with Montréal and with the Ticats the following season.
“It’s been an unbelievable experience, I’ve learned so much,” said Barresi, a graduate of Hamilton’s St. John Henry Newman who’s entering his third season at Mac.
“You could feel from the start this team came in here with a Grey Cup mentality, and I’m going to carry that belief to us and the Vanier Cup.”
“The guys have been so helpful to me, and it’s such a diverse quarterbacks’ room: You have Bo, who’s a Hall of Famer; Jake, who has had all that experience in this league and in U.S. college; and Tre, who dominated in U Sports. They’re all leaders, and I’ll take that with me and try to be much more of a leader this season.”
He was also thankful to and had high praise for Scott Milanovich, consistently one of the best educators of quarterbacks in modern pro football.
