Versatile Francis finds his spot on Riders
SASKATOON, Sask. — Chris Jones has figured out exactly where he wants second-year national Kevin Francis. Although, it took a little time.
“The closer he can get to the box the better,” said the Riders’ head coach and general manager. “Didn’t know a guy that moves from receiver and playing offence his whole career in college — whether he’d by physical enough to play in the box.”
Francis has taken his path from receiver to safety and, finally, to linebacker, in stride. When the 23-year-old became available in last year’s supplemental draft, Jones had no idea where he’d fit in.
“There was very little film,” Jones recalled. “But then, when you call the coaches and see exactly what a great athlete he was, we were very fortunate.” Jones hadn’t seen anything on Francis until two nights before the draft. But when he did, he immediately had him flown into South Pittsburg, Tenn. for a workout.
“When I saw what a specimen he was, I thought ‘I’ve got to be able to put him somewhere’. That’s how we ended up taking him.”
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Kevin Francis recorded 25 total tackles over 18 games with the Riders last season (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
Francis was picked by the Riders in last year’s supplemental draft at the expense of a 2017 third round pick. Jones, seeing a raw but explosive athlete, started him at safety over the first portion of the season.
By the halfway point of the season, Francis was removed from his post at starting safety and transitioned to linebacker. He had shown the physicality required for the position, lining up at the injured Samuel Eguavoen’s spot at WILL.
The North Carolina A&T grad backed up Jeff Knox Jr. and even made one start. For Jones, the fit was obvious.
“We won four ball games last year down the stretch with him as our starting WILL linebacker,” Jones said. “We’ve won some football games with him there as the starter and he certainly looks good right now.”
This camp, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Toronto native has become one of the more vocal members of the Rider defence. And while he’s likely to back up Eguavoen at WILL, Jones sees room for more growth.
At the very least, the Riders’ boss is more than pleased with the return on his investment.
“Great guy, very intelligent person. A guy that football means a lot to him,” said Jones. “He knows the opportunity that he’s getting, very few people get so he’s taking it and running with it.
“He’s still learning now.” he added. “He’s a real raw athlete and instincts sometimes aren’t there but the more he sees and the more he plays, the better he’ll get.
“He answered the bell last year . . . he’s a four-special-teamer. You would think that’s money well-spent.”
Riders’ head coach and GM Chris Jones watches on during camp in Saskatoon (Riderville.com)
Stoshak, Roberts turn heads
You would think, with all the talk around him, that Vince Young is the only one in Riders’ camp this week. Two players that have drawn some of the buzz are receiver Jensen Stoshak and defensive back Mark Roberts.
Stoshak came to the Riders from Florida Atlantic and while he isn’t a typical Chris Jones-type of receiver, he caught the eyes of the Riders’ scouts.
“We had a workout and he showed up and he just did a great job running routes,” said Jones. “He doesn’t look like our prototypical type of guy but he gets in and out of his breaks tremendously well, he’s got better speed than you think and all he does it catch the football.”
Stoshak will have a tough time cracking the roster given the depth of the competition at receiver. That group, of course, is swimming with talent even after Armanti Edwards was traded.
Roberts may have a better chance of not only cracking the roster but earning some playing time — especially following the departure of Justin Cox. The physical 6-foot-3, 187-pound defensive back out of Lamar came to the Riders as a receiver.
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“He came down to work out in Houston and I could tell by his hands that he wasn’t going to make our football team as a receiver,” said Jones. “But I did like his explosiveness and his size so I flipped him over — he played DB in high school.
“He reminds me of a Jalil Carter except he’s probably got more ability to shuffle jam and put hands on, he’s got a little more length than Jalil had and he’s pretty fast — maybe not quite as fast as Jalil but pretty fast guy.”
There’s a common theme surrounding Roberts, Stoshak and a number of other prospective Riders in camp this week: Many of them came through the pipeline Jones had established so long ago.
“These are guys, we’ve got our network of guys in the states that we go to to identify players,” said Jones. “These are guys that our people have seen at various different times and we encourage them to get in front of us when we come to their local area.”
Bennett making a statement
While it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Kevin Glenn will be the Riders’ starting quarterback — and Glenn is ahead in the battle, by all accounts — one quarterback could make the decision a tough one for Chris Jones.
Bryan Bennett has drawn rave reviews for his camp performance so far with his strong arm and ability to make plays with his legs.
“Right now he’s second in completion percentage and he’s also second in accuracy to Kevin,” said Jones. “We do completion percentage and we don’t take drops away from them — if they throw a good ball and the receiver drops the football then we don’t count that as a bad ball. And any route under 15 yards, any of the shorts or intermediates, we look for accuracy and we have a grading system on that. Right now we have him ranked at No. 2 in both.”
Bryan Bennett has generated plenty of buzz among Riders’ pivots in Saskatoon (Riderville.com)
The 25-year-old, who was recruited by the Oregon Ducks before transferring to Southeastern Louisiana University, spent some time with the Bombers and got to play in pre-season in 2016.
Even if he doesn’t top Glenn as the starter, Bennett is one to keep an eye on in camp.
“He’s got a little bit of [Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly] in him,” said Jones. “He’ll take off running with that thing — he’s not slow.
“He comes prepared every day,” he added. “If you’ve watched him in the weight room like I have, when they go in the weight room, he’s not one of those guys standing back and looking and seeing if anyone’s watching — he’s leading the group. Football means a lot to that guy.”
Rider notebook
– Left guard Brendon LaBatte is playing through an injury in camp but Chris Jones says it’s nothing he can’t deal with.
– While the Riders continue their double-barrel practices, Jones says they’ve taken 600 snaps over the span of five days — 30 or 40 snaps ahead of where they were at this time last year.
– Jones said Vince Young had a much better day on Thursday — that the former NFL pivot seemed a little bit more comfortable following a rough outing on Wednesday.
– While the Riders released Daniel Thomas, Jones wouldn’t rule out potentially bringing him back one day. He said Thomas understands the offence well and could step in if needed. The Riders re-signed Anthony Allen on Friday as the competition at RB continues.
– More on the Riders’ RB competition: it sounds like the two Canadians, Kienan LaFrance and Greg Morris, might have an edge in the competition. Jones says people are coming up to him and identifying them as American running backs — “tremendous talent”, Jones said.
– Jones said Brandon Bridge has had a solid camp, although he had one rough day. His best football, Jones added, is played when he’s on the run, but it’s important for him to get through his progressions and not run so early.
– The Riders have seen mixed results from their defensive backs this camp, especially as they look to replace Justin Cox. Jones says there are some promising young defenders but man coverage has been an issue, as seen when the defence ran 27 straight snaps of man-to-man coverage on Thursday: “That’s the reality of what we do defensively,” said Jones. “We’re going to cover man to man, we’ve got some good young talent, now it’s just a matter of if we can take it to the football field.”
– The addition of Mike Dubuisson adds versatility to the Riders’ roster. Jones says he can play MIKE, WILL or free safety and understands the defensive scheme well from his days in Edmonton.
– Finally, Chad Owens could feature prominently on the Riders’ offence, not just special teams. Jones cited Owens’ familiarity with the offence — the same one Owens played on under Scott Milanovich — and Owens’ ability both as a returner and as “a main part of our offence.”
With files from Riderville.com
