By: David Alter
With the Argos taking part in their first two-a-day session, we got a good look at newly acquired QB Steven Jyles…Well… as good a look as we could, considering he didn’t throw.
Jyles is coming off a season-ending shoulder injury. Playing previously with the Roughriders and Blue Bombers, Jyles was traded from Winnipeg to Toronto as a measure to help strengthen the Argos depth at pivot.
“We’re still taking it slow” says Jyles. “We’re doing some strengthening, when you come from it being tight, you have to let it get loose a little bit before you can get full speed.”
Head Coach Jim Barker estimates that Jyles will finally be able to show his throwing ability on Wednesday. But at this point all he can do is take it day-by-day.
“I thought it was going to be today (June 5th)” says Barker. “He could have gone, but I want to err on the side of caution. It’s a long season. He’s got a long career and this kind of injury we understand is risky, it takes a lot of time and we want to be patient with him.”
Jim Barker addresses the media, begins by addressing Steven Jyles’ status
Jyles doesn’t appear to be too concerned.
“Not at all” says Jyles. “I just want to get healthy, get better and get my arm stronger. I just had my surgery in October. I’ve improved tremendously, I’ve got all of my range back. I can toss the ball around I just don’t want to push it.”
Happy Returns for PK Sam
PK Sam makes his return to the Argos having been re-acquired in a trade from the Stampeders. Sam suffered various injuries, the most serious – an experimental surgery to repair the posterior horn of the meniscus in his knee. The surgery backfired, causing him to miss the remainder of the season. Other minor injuries took longer to heal because of the high altitude in Calgary creating an adverse effect in his recovery.
Sam was happy to find a new home in Toronto where he could be closer to family.
“I called as soon as Calgary gave permission for me to be traded” says Sam. “I was on Facebook trying to find coaches, because I didn’t have any numbers it was an all-new staff. Calgary was very nice to allow Toronto to get in the trade game and it worked out.”
When Sam was here, the Argos were in the stretch of two very bad seasons. Sam can tell just in just a short amount of time in Toronto, that the attitude on the Argos has changed.
“I think character has a lot to do with things” says Sam “In ’09, there was a lot of craziness to say the least. It definitely would have made for a great made for TV mini-series if you had cameras in here. But with the people here now, even though you are competing, you can tell it’s a lot different.”
SN 590
