Jordan Worth has suited up for head coach J.C. Boice before and thrived, but the second-year Westshore Rebel will not rest on his laurels from two seasons ago.
In a way, Worth believes he still has to prove his worth to his former Belmont Bulldogs offensive co-ordinator, who is now in his first year as head man with the sa国际传媒 Football Conference club, which began training camp this week.
鈥淚 hope to win the starting job. I鈥檓 optimistic, but I鈥檓 not going to say I鈥檓 a shoo-in. There are a lot of really good guys out here,鈥� said Worth, a six-foot, 205-pound running back, who is also expected to line up at slotback on a team that isn鈥檛 likely to run the ball much in 2015 under Boice.
鈥淗onestly, he鈥檚 pretty even with everyone out here so I鈥檓 going to have to work for my spot,鈥� Worth said of Boice. 鈥淚t鈥檚 no different than anybody else. Whether it鈥檚 a guy he brought in from Nova Scotia or Alberta, or compared to somebody who lives here.
鈥淲ith me, being previously coached underneath him, I feel like I have an advantage to know what he expects, but other than that there is no advantage.鈥�
So you can call it more of a comfort zone for the 19-year-old, who actually played out of position as a defensive end last year with the Rebels after he was a high school conference all-star with Belmont two seasons ago. Worth was part of an outstanding 1-2 running punch with Sam Varao.
鈥淲e鈥檝e spent two years learning about each other,鈥� Boice said of his back. 鈥淭he last half of the season that he was at Belmont [in Grade 12] is when he bought in and his production really went up. He started working within the system. Had he been that productive that entire year he would have had imminent CIS scholarship offers because he has the size and talent.
鈥淗e鈥檚 an explosive kid,鈥� Boice said of Worth. 鈥淪ome of his biggest plays are when he comes out of the backfield and catches the ball, but we'll hand the ball off to him a little bit.
鈥淥ur offence is going to be really unique though,鈥� said Boice, considered to be one of the top quarterback coaches in the country. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to take this waggle [a receiver鈥檚 ability to be in motion prior to the snap] to a whole new level.
鈥淚 told myself, 鈥楬ow can I not incorporate this?鈥� I鈥檝e been talking to some CFL guys and I have some ideas. They like it, so we鈥檙e going to do some new things. We鈥檙e going to have a lot of movement.鈥�
And Worth will be part of it.
POINT AFTER: Boice pulled off a coup in the last week managing to attract former Mount Douglas Rams standouts Ashton MacKinnon, Aarmin Purewal and Sheldon Mack to the junior club as they all left their CIS schools. MacKinnon, a talented six-foot-six quarterback, was at University of Manitoba. Purewal (an offensive lineman) and Mack (linebacker) were at Western Ontario and UBC, respectively. They are expected at camp, possibly as early as tonight. 鈥� Former sa国际传媒 Lion Paris Jackson is expected to assist Boice with the offence throughout the season. 鈥� Boice has 72 players on his rebuilt roster to start camp, almost three times as many players as the Rebels had last season. Some are already among the walking wounded and some are still on vacation, so he had about 60 out on Tuesday. 鈥淭his is a small roster compared to what I worked with in the U.S.,鈥� said Boice, an accomplished instructor with the U.S.-based National Football Academies.
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