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VERO BEACH, Fla. — Move over, Charles Darwin.

There was nothing particularly evolutionary about how the pretenders were weeded out from the contenders during the three-day Edmonton Eskimos mini-camp at Historic Dodgertown.

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Mother Nature saw to some of it, herself.

There were those whose dedication and off-season training regimen allowed them to beat the Florida heat, while others sputtered and chugged their way through the humid two-a-day practices, which wrapped up, mercifully, with a single session on Tuesday.

“It’s survival of the fittest,” said Eskimos head coach Jason Maas. “Football’s a physical and mental game, so as you get tired, mentally you start to drain a little bit.”

At the same time, the coaches got to see who was willing to push right to the limit, as fatigue and dehydration led to cases of cramping, especially in the early session on Day 2.

But that’s really the whole point of an off-season mini-camp.