OTTAWA

Jesse Peterson described Ottawa Redblacks mini-camp as interesting, but stressful.

"It's a little nerve-racking, I'll be honest, especially for me coming off an injury. I haven't played in a year, so I had to make sure I put my best foot forward every day. Sometimes I'd mess up, but all they cared about was did you improve over these first couple of days, and I certainly feel like I have."

A 6-5, 305-pound, 25-year-old Michigan native who played football at Wheaton College, Peterson was one of 11 offensive lineman on the field at TD Place stadium for the Redblacks' spring mini-camp. Whether he is invited back for training camp next month depends not on his own reviews, but rather on those of the coaches, scouts and management assigned to review video of the mini-camp sessions during the next couple of days.

"My overall assessment of mini-camp is that I need to improve on my vertical kick sets," Peterson said, referring to one of the building blocks for offensive linemen. "Overall speed is not quite there yet. I'm still getting used to the new (right) knee and all that, but I'm real excited to come back if I get that call."

The predicament for Canadian Football League newcomers is that mini-camp isn't like training camp, which itself bears only a modest resemblance to on-field action during the regular season. The real tests involve mastering the playbook and the relative eccentricities of Canadian football, including: a wider and longer field than they played on in the United States; 12 players on each side for every play, not 11; and the one-yard buffer between opponents at the line of scrimmage.

Quarterbacks can do most of what quarterbacks do, except for having to avoid pass rushers, while defensive backs and receivers can go through drills in which they approximate what they would do in the passing game. But offensive and defensive lineman don't get to block or bull-rush anyone, so coaches must concentrate on technical aspects when assessing performances.

"As offensive lineman, we always want to hit. Right?" Redblacks offensive line coach Bryan Chiu said following Tuesday's session, "but what (mini-camp) allows us to do is slow it down a bit and let us concentrate on the techniques — the footwork, the hand placement — where they don't have to worry about the physical part of it and it's more just the technical parts for them."

Part of the assignment for defensive backs coach Ike Charlton is to fill out a five-man secondary that lost starters Jovon Johnson and Brandyn Thompson. There were 14 candidates in mini-camp, including seven newcomers. That doesn’t include veteran CFLer Ryan Hinds, who was unable to attend.

"You have to have a short memory," Charlton said. "There are going to be plays where you get beat and we want to see how do you respond when you get beat. How do you respond if we play five (man-to-man) calls in a row? How do you respond to that? If we put you on the left side, can you play over there? If we put you on the right, can you play there? Can you play both sides?

"So, a lot of things come into it at the DB spot. I try to get the guys to learn more than one position because, if you learn more than one position, that betters your chances of making this team."

CFL rules allow teams to have 85 players under contract for mini-camp, plus two exempt "non-counters," but also require them to trim to 75 by May 1. The Redblacks must drop approximately eight athletes.

Based on numbers alone, all 11 offensive lineman at mini-camp could be expected back for training camp starting May 29. However, the Redblacks have seven selections in the May 10 CFL college draft, which might produce another prospect or two, and others from the U.S. might become available following this week's National Football League draft and the subsequent free-agent signing period.

On the upside, newbies who become mini-camp graduates will start training camp with a head-start in the battles for spots on the 46-man active roster for the regular season. The Redblacks play a Grey Cup rematch against the Edmonton Eskimos in the Alberta capital on June 25.

"Some of these guys have not only not ever been in the CFL, they have never been to Canada before," head coach Rick Campbell said. "So that's why it's valuable for them to get in here, and we need to be smart enough (to know) that some guys may feel a little bit out of place because there may be a few different rules and a few different things, but our hope is that we can recognize potential and a good football player."

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