The Edmonton Eskimos are ready for battle.
Yesterday the team made its final cuts in preparation for the upcoming CFL season, releasing 10 players.
The departed include quarterback Lester Ricard, defensive end Jim Davis, defensive backs Sammy Okpro, Therrian Fontenot and EJ Underwood, wide receivers Alan Turner and Dante Luciani, offensive lineman Gerald Davis, running back Ciatrick Fason and linebacker Andrea Bonaventura.
"I think we're good to go," said Eskimos general manager and director of football operations Danny Maciocia. "What we've done is identified players who we think are going to be impact players for us, and along the way, we also sat down and made sure we had enough depth at every position, in case we picked up an injury or two.
"As everyone is aware, it's a rarity to line up with the same 42-man roster for 18 consecutive weeks. I think this football team has a good mixture of youth and experience. We have a ton of speed on both sides of the ball and we clearly have some playmakers."
The Eskimos decided to go with Jared Zabransky as their third-string quarterback. The former Boise State University star edged out Ricard for the position in one of the tightest battles in training camp. He'll play behind Ricky Ray and Jason Maas.
"Zabransky performed well," said Eskimos head coach Richie Hall. "The dimension that he has, that none of our other quarterbacks have, is that ability to prolong a play by scrambling. He can make a play with his legs and that's something that you can't coach, it's just a natural gift. To me that was a separating factor, because both of them played very well."
Zabransky and Ricard both had just one exhibition game to state their claims for the third quarterback position. Both looked solid in their debuts in a win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders two weeks ago.
Yet, while Maciocia did briefly entertain the thought of keeping four quarterbacks, in the end, one had to be let go.
"This was tough, because going into camp, we felt this was the best three and four quarterbacks that we've had here since 2002," Maciocia said. "It made it really, really difficult. It did cross my mind to keep four, but we had to make sure we weren't going to sacrifice at another position as far as depth. That's why we went in the directions that we went in."
Another player who had an impressive training camp was Arkee Whitlock who made the team as the third-string running back behind Jesse Lumsden and Calvin McCarty.
Whitlock's performance made Fason expendable, even though the former NFL fourth-round draft pick had a strong camp.
"One of the things that we talked about from Day 1, is that we want to have some options. We need someone to provide versatility and that's just what Whitlock does," said Hall. "When we acquired Jesse, we were looking at playing him at that position, but who's to say the way our roster is constructed that we can't have both of them in there.
"It gives us some flexibility and it gives us some options. That's a good option to have when you look at the performance (Whitlock has) had in the last two games."
Along with the players left on the roster, the Eskimos also have defensive tackle Adam Braidwood and offensive lineman Garrick Jones on the nine-game injured list.
They'll also get an opportunity to place seven players on their practice roster, but must wait a couple of days until they clear waivers.
The Eskimos are optimistic heading into their season-opener next Thursday (7 p.m.) at Commonwealth Stadium.
"We've identified certain areas of concern during the off-season and we've addressed them," Maciocia said. "We've also provided depth and our coaches have done an excellent job and that's where our excitement lies right now. We're excited about this year's edition."
