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Saturday evening the Eskimos announced their final cuts 32 minutes, allegedly because a practice roster player had to drive across town to sign something.

Sunday Maas came to Commonwealth Stadium prepared to make several statements about the team he was about to lead into the 71st season of Eskimos history with the ridiculous total of 27 new players on the active roster.

“One of our main objectives was to become a close-knit team and I think we accomplished that objective. We picked some really good guys,” said Maas of the challenge involved.

“The selection process was character based on everything to make sure we had the right guys in our locker room. I feel like we did a really good job of selecting the right people. Coming together as an entire team, a one-force unit was important to us and I think we did that.

“We’re excited about the journey we are about to begin.”

“We had 97 guys we brought in with a focus on character and it was a great group. It’s never easy these last couple days, letting good people go. But as you get into the first team meetings with the group you chose, you get excited about the journey you are about to set out to do.

“The main goal was to come out of camp as a unified team and I think we did that. That’s what I’m most excited about,” Maas concluded.

Historically, more than any other team in the league I believe, the Eskimos have put extra emphasis on character. And when you are making this many changes, Maas didn’t have the core group of veterans to transfer the traditions as in the past. So it became a personal priority. But there are a lot of beer league teams in sports featuring good guys. It was Sunderland’s job to make sure he was giving Maas the talent to work with.