St-Jean sur Richelieu, June 20th 2009 – With the Als’ final pre-season matchup rapidly approaching, there were no changes made to the roster for Saturday afternoon’s practice on the fields of Campus du Fort St-Jean. Today, the coaches focused primarily on the playbook, rather than putting the players through individual workouts.
“I thought that overall we had a good practice offensively. We were pretty sharp. We gave the players a lot of things to work on and I thought we ran pretty good on defence,” said Head Coach Marc Trestman following practice.
Saturday’s practice was a very up-beat, high tempo session, from beginning right through to the final whistle.
“We hope to get the guys to practice at game speed. The only way to practice is at game speed. That way, it makes it easier to play games on game day,” added Trestman.
Following practice, safety Matthieu Proulx was a clear representation of how Trestman ran Saturday’s workout.
“I felt very good, I found my legs and kept working right up to the end,” said a visibly satisfied Proulx after pushing himself to the limit for a second straight day. “I was on the first team as a safety and second as a linebacker and special teams, I think I had the most reps and that I was running pretty well,” he added.
Thanks to the outdoor practice, the Als were finally able to work on all aspects of special teams play, leaving special teams coordinator Scott Squires very pleased.
“Last season, special teams were an important part of our success and we expect the same for this season. Special teams success is very vital in the CFL , it allows us to control our positioning on the field,” said Proulx.
“We consider special teams to be more than one third of the game. There is so many plays involved in special teams during the course of a game. It could be 30 to 40 plays at times. Obviously, with the big field and the athleticism on the field at that time, it’s important that everybody know their assignments and fundamentals, said Trestman.
– 30 –
 |
 |
 |
