EDMONTON \u2013 Physicality was the name of the game for Day 3 of Elks Training Camp.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s double session saw the Green and Gold strap on the shoulder pads for the first time in 2026, and the intensity certainly ramped up with them on.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was heavy. It was a lot of volume out there. Guys were going back and forth. It was physical. There was energy. Compete was high,\u201d Elks Head Coach Mark Kilam said about the day. \u00a0\u201cYou\u2019ve just got to make sure at the end of it, we slap hands, we leave it out here, and we still walk into the locker room as one team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Elks head coach\u2019s message rang true on one of the standout moments of the day. Early in the team session of practice, second-year defensive back Kenny Logan Jr stepped in front of an errant Cody Fajardo pass for the pick and quickly turned it down field for the interception return. New Elks offensive lineman Coulter Woodmansey made the hustle play and met Logan at the sideline, resulting in a little bit more friendly fire than you\u2019d typically want to see in Training Camp. A brief scuffle ensued, but the offence and the defence quickly separated and got back to the business at hand.<\/p>\n
With an emphasis on physicality and playing to the whistle being staples of the Elks coaching mantra, it was a moment a coach is willing to accept as his team develops an edge early in Training Camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to take anyone to the ground,\u201d Kilam said. \u201cWe\u2019re still trying to practice like professionals, but it\u2019s hot out here. It\u2019s day three of camp. It\u2019s the first day in pads. I mean, things like that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Once practice ended, Woodmansey and Logan made sure to leave it all on the field with a quick apology and a dap up before their media availabilities.<\/p>\n
Despite a line getting tiptoed upon, the intensity had to be on display. Tuesday practice was one of the most pivotal days of Training Camp, with CFL regulations dictating that the Elks trim their roster tonight down to 75 players, so it wasn\u2019t just a friendly competition on the field \u2013 it was livelihoods on the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started with 85 plus our draft picks, so we\u2019re going to have to cut some guys and it\u2019s unfortunate,\u201d Kilam said. \u201cI\u2019d like to keep them all the way through because I think having more legs is good, but it\u2019s just part of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
In order to get the best view of the competitors on the roster, plenty of reps were shared among the twos and threes on the depth chart \u2013 giving some of the players who are new to the CFL a chance to stand out.<\/p>\n
One of those players was former U of A Golden Bear receiver and 2026 CFL National Draft pick Carter Kettyle. The Grande Prairie product hasn\u2019t looked out of place after making the jump from U Sports, hauling in a couple of big receptions on the day.<\/p>\n
As a non-counter (recent CFL National Draft picks do not count towards a team\u2019s training camp roster number) Kettyle won\u2019t have to worry about tonight, but the local product could slowly be earning his way into meaningful minutes once the season begins in June<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
QUICK HITS<\/p>\n
Kilam on new defensive line coach Cedric Douglas:<\/p>\n
\u201cI sit in his meetings from time to time.\u00a0 I\u2019m Just impressed.\u00a0 I think he\u2019s a really good ball coach.\u00a0 He\u2019s got a ton of experience, a ton of insight to help not only our veteran guys, but our young guys as well.\u00a0 And, you know, he can.\u00a0 He\u2019s a technician with the way that he teaches technique.\u00a0 And, you know, our group is going to better having him.<\/p>\n
Kilam on what defensive lineman Malik Carney brings to the team:<\/p>\n
He\u2019s an impact player from the defensive line.\u00a0 You know, he.\u00a0 He can impact the quarterback not only with sacks, but, you know, he\u2019s good against the run.\u00a0 We can put him off the ball in some of our odd structure stuff.\u00a0 And, you know, he brings that versatility to it, and he brings a guy that\u2019s been there and done that, and I think that\u2019s important for the young players in the room.<\/p>\n
Carney on bringing his Grey Cup experience and being a leader:<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, definitely being myself, being a leader, and being vocal. There are other guys on the team who have Grey Cup pedigrees, too. So that experience and just gelling together, talking together, there\u2019s some things that may work for us, or may not. So we\u2019re just building that chemistry, knowing how guys play, skill sets, learning how I play and just putting it together so we can be the best team that we can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2013 Physicality was the name of the game for Day 3 of Elks Training Camp. Tuesday\u2019s double…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-665484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}