Courtesy Regina Leader Post:

When Dave Dickenson signed a free-agent deal with the Calgary Stampeders, he expected to be reunited with some old friends, guys like Brian Clark, Scott Coe and Jay McNeil.

And he expected that picking up the offence under co-ordinator George Cortez would be like riding a bike, using all the familiar terminology he’d learned in his first go-round with Cortez and the Canadian Football League club in the late 1990s and 2000.

Oops.

Clark, Coe and McNeil are all gone, and Cortez has thrown out the old playbook, using a new set of terminology he used during his time at Cal-Berkley.

And with his official training camp debut set for Sunday, the 35-year-old Dickenson is back in learning mode in his 11th season of pro football.

“I actually feel like I’m behind because the other three quarterbacks have gone through the system, but I’ll do what I can to catch up,” said Dickenson on Thursday

What he’s not going to do is stoke a quarterback controversy. He signed as a backup to Henry Burris and did nothing to back off that stance on Thursday, although he also made it clear he’s not here to be a player-coach, either.

“Well, I want to be a player first. I haven’t officially retired,” he said, quietly, but firmly. “But one thing I can do is try to keep everyone on the same page, and potentially deflect some of the sideline talk and keep Henry focused on what he needs to do.

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