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A total of 81 players took the field on Sunday at McMahon Stadium for the first two practices of the Stampeders’ main training camp in preparation for the 2016 Canadian Football League season.
Of that total, 54 players spent time with the Stamps in 2015. The longest-serving veteran on the Calgary roster is fullback Rob Cote, who is entering his 10th camp with the Red and White.
Veteran defensive back Brandon Smith was not in attendance on Sunday as he was excused because of a family wedding that was scheduled many months ago.
Travellers’ alert
Players came from far and wide to attend training camp. In fact, they logged in excess of 171,000 km — or, to put it in football terms, the length of 1,700,072 CFL fields — to attend camp including 147,000 km by air and almost 25,000 by car.
The longest journey was made by Bryant Moniz, who flew 5,044 km from Honolulu. Fellow quarterback Drew Tate, on the other hand, walked 500 m from his home in the neighbourhood near the stadium.
Quotable
Bo Levi Mitchell: “Every year is important. Third year as a starter, I want to come back strong and do everything to carry my team deep in the playoffs. Obviously it’s premature, but you always want to be hoisting that Grey Cup over your head at the end. That’s a long ways away. Right now, we have a lot to work on to get there.”
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