'Fresh and new' Lions look to build chemistry at training camp

SURREY, B.C. — It's been a busy off-season for BC Lions quarterback Mike Reilly.

First came February's blockbuster signing that saw the former Edmonton Eskimo ink a four-year, $2.9-million contract with the club. Since then, the 34-year-old has been working to cement relationships with his new Lions teammates and coaching staff.

"It's been really good to get to know those guys off the field, to get to know their personalities makes things much better when we do get on the field," Reilly said Tuesday.

The quarterback spends his off-seasons in Seattle with his wife and two young daughters, and over the last few months, he's come up to the BC Lions' suburban training facility nearly every week to work out with whoever's around.

"I've thrown more this off-season with my wide receivers than I have any other year just because of the amount of time that we've spent together," he said.

Now Reilly and the rest of the Lions are preparing to spend even more time together as the club heads to training camp in Kamloops, B.C., about 350 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.

Camp is entirely different than what the players have been up to so far, Reilly said.

"You can't get away from each other and all you do is football all day long," he said. "That's when you start to build a championship team."

Building chemistry at camp will be key for the Lions, who look much different than the team that finished last season fourth in the West Division with a 9-9 record. They clinched the crossover spot but were routed by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the eastern semifinal.

The team has since made a myriad of changes, including signing Reilly to replace veteran quarterback Travis Lulay and hiring DeVone Claybrooks as head coach following the retirement of long-time bench boss Wally Buono.

Training camp will be the perfect opportunity for the revamped club to come together, Claybrooks said.

"(This is where) we form those relationships and the family and the bonds that last a lifetime," he said. "I know that some of the best memories I have as a player are from training camp when we were away and those type of things. So I think that will allow the new and the old to mix together."

Claybrooks spent the past seven years with the Calgary Stampeders, including three seasons as defensive co-ordinator.

This year will mark his first as a head coach. The 41-year-old said he's looking forward to taking all that he's learned during his time in football and making it his own.

"It's fresh and new," he said. "And everybody's excited right now until the second day of training camp when that heat, that sun's beating down your neck and I'm yelling. So I thinks it's the excitement of just forming a group all together and putting it in a pot and seeing what we can come up with."

Parting with former teammates hasn't been easy for wide receiver Bryan Burnham, one of the few remaining players from last year's squad.

For him, one of the toughest goodbyes over the off-season was Emmanuel Arceneaux, who mentored Burnham when he joined the league in 2014. A free agent at the end of last year, Arceneaux signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Now Burnham's looking to share Arceneaux's wisdom with other young players.

"I'm excited to take what he showed me and pass that down to a younger receiver and take him under my wing," he said. "Now I'm in that leadership role and that's exciting. I'm ready to attack it."

There have been a lot of moves this off-season, but Burnham said he trusts what the club's management has in store.

"(General manager Ed Hervey) knows what he's doing," he said. "He's a smart guy. He's putting us in the best position to win football games. And I'm excited with this group going forward.

"This is a new chapter for us. It really is."

That new chapter will begin with training camp, Claybrooks said.

"We're trying to build a championship-calibre team," he said. "And every year, no matter how many years you've been coaching, you've still got to start at ground zero and lay your foundation. And this is the first step in the foundation that we're trying to build for years to come."

Whether that building will start on time remains to be seen.

The CFL and the players association are still in talks about a new collective bargaining agreement. If a new deal isn't reached by the time the current agreement expires on Saturday, many Lions players have said they will not report to camp when it opens on Sunday morning.

There was little concern in team's dressing room on Tuesday about a work stoppage.

"I know the (players association) wants to play football, the CFL wants to play football. That's why we're all here," Burnham said.

The players just want what's for themselves and the league as a whole, said Reilly.

"At the end of it all, I want to be on the field playing football. The rest of my teammates want that, the fans want that, the owners want that, the coaches want that," he said.

"Everybody just wants the season to go and play as per normal. Things have to get done for that to happen and I'm hopeful that it will."