May
Smith season ends before it begins
Courtesy Regina Leader Post:
Wayne Smith’s 2009 CFL season appears to be over before it started.
Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Ken Miller said Thursday that Smith — who was pencilled in to be the team’s starting right offensive tackle — tore his left Achilles tendon earlier in the day during a private workout session.
Smith, a 29-year-old non-import, was to have surgery Thursday night and is expected to be out for the entire season.
“We feel so badly for Wayne,” Miller said. “He came into my office today and he was just devastated that the injury had occurred — and so was I, to be perfectly honest with you . . . In his words, ‘This is going to make a long offseason a much longer offseason.’ ”
Miller said Smith “was probably in the best shape that he’s ever been in” as he prepared for his third season with the Roughriders and sixth in the CFL. The product of Toronto joined Saskatchewan in 2007 via a trade with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The 6-foot-2, 305-pounder played 16 regular-season games and all three of the Roughriders’ postseason games in 2007. Last season, he dressed for 15 regular-season contests and the Western Division semifinal.
Miller admitted that Smith’s injury will force some juggling to the team’s projected lineup.
“Certainly we have to re-evaluate a little bit, but plans will go pretty much forward with what we were doing and how we were going to go about it,” said Miller, whose squad opens training camp June 7.
“As far as a specific position, we have people. We’ll just have to see how the preparation goes. For me to say right now, ‘We’re going to plug in Player X,’ wouldn’t be the correct thing for me to do.”
The Roughriders have tremendous depth along the offensive line, with a raft of returning veterans to be joined at camp by a number of free agents signed in the offseason and several picks from various Canadian college drafts.
One of those players — be it veteran Gene Makowsky, free-agent signee Joe McGrath or offseason acquisition Jordan Rempel — may get the opportunity to start at right tackle with Smith out.
“We really have a philosophy that we’ll have the next guy step up,” Miller said. “We maybe aren’t even sure who that person will be right now, but when it comes time to play, we’ll be ready. It’s more of a devastating thing for Wayne than anything right now.”
The injury put a damper on things for Miller, who noted he’s been eagerly awaiting the start of training camp — a sentiment he still has even though he’s been coaching for more than 40 years.
“You can look at the years of coaching, but I think the beginning of every season is like spring,” he said. “Everything comes back to life and you kind of have a renewed view on everything. If you don’t feel that way, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it. It’s a tough gig to do if you don’t love it.”
Miller said he’s anxious to see how some of the things the coaching staff devised over the offseason will look on the field. The staff — which was only completed Tuesday with the addition of defensive line coach Mike Scheper — is hunkered down finalizing its preparations for camp.
Mind you, the same thing is going on in the CFL’s other seven cities.
“Everybody’s undefeated right now, everybody has great optimism,” Miller said. “The reality is you have to be prepared to make adjustments. The injury to Wayne today just points out the necessity of being able to adapt and approach things differently than maybe you thought you would.”
