Training camp marched on Friday at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium, as the Edmonton Elks continue their journey towards August 7th and their home opener against the Ottawa RedBlacks.
It was a return to the gridiron for the team after a regeneration day on Thursday, which featured a visit from TSN for some pre-season shooting.
With camera time complete, here are a few storylines from the day that was.
THORPE EARNS ANOTHER YEAR
Prior to practice on Friday the club announced that veteran CFL coach Noel Thorpe will be sticking in green and gold.
Edmonton’s defensive co-ordinator, assistant head coach, and defensive backs coach inked a one-year extension with the club this week, meaning he’ll be in Edmonton through at least 2022.
Just like the players, Thorpe has made an impression early in camp, as he looks to leave his mark on the Green and Gold defence.
“I think it’s all about setting an identity of who we want to be, going out on the field, and executing that,” Thorpe said when asked what he’d done in camp to help land the extension.
“We’re a team and a defence that’s going to be built on physicality and our ability to run to the football.”
“I think what we’ve seen over the last two weeks is not only a learning curve that’s gone up schematically in our installation, but that identity that we’ve built is showing up on the field.”
ROSE KNOWS
One person who had plenty of familiarity with Thorpe coming into training camp was defensive back Jonathan Rose.
The Nebraska product played for Thorpe the last two CFL seasons in Ottawa, and knows all too well what a Noel Thorpe defence brings to the table.
“His aggressive nature,” Rose pointed out when it comes to what allowed Rose to thrive in Thorpe’s defence in Ottawa.
“Having the d-line being so physical at the front and pursuing the quarterback. Also with our linebacking corps, which makes errant throws from the quarterback and forcing the quarterback to scramble out of the pocket, which gives me better opportunities to make interceptions.”
“In his defence, that’s where I’ve had my best success — when he gets those guys going and making those quarterbacks make errors, that’s when I make those type of plays.”
For more from Rose, click here for his complete media availability.
HAPPY COACH?
If you’ve ever spent time around coaches, you know they’re always looking for areas to improve — no matter how good their team is.
So is Jaime Elizondo happy with where his team is right now? Yes and no.
“I think we’re tracking in the right way. I don’t know that if we had 10 great practices with no mistakes that I’d be happy,” Elizondo explained.
“That’s just the nature of coaching, right? But I’m happy with the progress. I’m happy with the identity we’re establishing, the speed that we’re playing at.”
That speed has been evident the last few days on the gridiron, as the team has wrapped up practice early after executing quickly and at a high level.
“We’re off the field today in an hour and a half and that’s a tribute to the tempo that we’re playing at. Philosophically we told those guys ‘look, we script a certain number of plays and we schedule it time wise, but if we’re ahead of our scheduled time, we’re off the field.’ And I think those guys appreciate that.”