Bo Levi Mitchell won’t dress for Tiger-Cats in Montreal

Bo Levi Mitchell will not be in uniform, and most units will use players fighting for backup roles when the Tiger-Cats visit the Montreal Alouettes Friday night.

But the big news of the final day of Ticat training camp was that Hamilton has lost its marquee rookie, probably for the entire season. Six-foot-six wide receiver Justin McGriff has been outstanding in camp, and hung onto the ball after being hit hard a couple of times in a pre-season game, but suffered an unspecified injury off the field on Wednesday afternoon.

“Justin had an unfortunate accident which we don’t need to dive into,” head coach Orlondo Steinauer said Thursday. “Now our focus is on him as a person and on his family, not on him as a player.”

McGriff was injured on the McMaster University campus, where the team held camp, but The Spectator has been unable to determine the nature of that accident or what part of McGriff’s body was injured. The Spec has learned that the accident did not involve a car or other kind of motorized vehicle.

The Ticats, who are very deep in receivers, both American and Canadian, are already without big possession receiver Anthony Johnson for the first couple of regular-season games.

Friday is the final of two pre-season games for the Ticats, who beat the Argos 27-22 in Hamilton last weekend with Mitchell playing only two series but demonstrating that he’s in full command, and working in sync with his offence. Matt Shiltz, last year’s backup who started four games when Dane Evans was hurt, will start under centre with new arrival Taylor Powell also getting work. Powell, who played at Eastern Michigan University, looked encouraging against the Argo backups despite having arrived in camp only a few days earlier.

“It’s always the same,” Steinauer says of the personnel planning for pre-season games. “If things are going well or it’s the middle of a quarter, sometimes you might leave one out there into the next quarter. Or you’ve seen enough, there are plays we had wanted to specifically run and saw them, and you say ‘that’s enough.’ That’s what I mean when I say there’s a plan but it will always be flexible.”

Starting offensive linemen David Beard, Tyrone Riley and Joel Figueroa won’t dress Friday and neither will A-unit receivers Tim White, Kiondré Smith and Duke Williams, nor running back James Butler.

On defence, the secondary is the unit closest to resembling its probable look for next Friday’s season opener. Lawrence Woods, Richard Leonard, Tunde Adeleke and Javien Elliott will open against Montreal in the backfield. Kenneth George Jr., who’s taken the lead in the battle for starting boundary cornerback, will start there with returnee Will Sunderland and a couple of other cornerbacks likely to see significant time too.

Neither Simoni Lawrence nor new middle linebacker Jameer Thurman will be in uniform, but the third linebacker, Chris Edwards, will be. Others will likely step into his SAM linebacker spot after the early going.

Malik Carney, Casey Sayles and Ted Laurent will not be present on the defensive line which has incurred a number of injuries, including to impact defensive end Ja’Gared Davis. But Mo Diallo and Tre’ Crawford will get action.

And roommates Blake Hayes and Bailey Flint will continue their punt-off to see which of the Australian-born hoofers will start the season on the game-day roster.

The Ticats will make a rare all-in-one-day visit to Montreal, departing Friday morning and returning after the game. Steinauer and his coaching and front office staff will make cuts Saturday to get down to the final 46-player roster, plus practice roster and injured lists. Much will depend upon the Canadian/American ratio, how the backups at several positions play on special teams and what three weeks of training camp film have shown.

The Ticats open the season in Winnipeg next Friday against a Blue Bombers team which has been in each of the last three Grey Cups, winning the first two, then visit Toronto to play the current Cup champion Argonauts Sunday, June 18.

Thursday’s walk-through was the Ticats’ final on-field workout at Mac’s Ron Joyce Stadium after three weeks of the most beautiful training camp weather — it rained heavily on only one day — in recent history.

Notes: Friday’s game will not be livestreamed by the CFL. It’s available only to people who can access RDS, Bell Media’s French-language sports network.

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