Canadian Football League QB Printers making the rounds

Raiders Coach Norv Turner gave his players Monday off instead of the customary Tuesday. Therefore, quarterbacks Kerry Collins and Marques Tuiasosopo weren't around when the Raiders worked out quarterbacks Rohan Davey and Casey Printers.
It's not unusual for teams to work out players throughout the season. But why look at other quarterbacks with only two games remaining when rookie Andrew Walter, the No. 3 quarterback, has yet to take a snap? Walter has a groin-area injury but says he's healthy enough to play.
It's possible the Raiders are already looking ahead to next season in anticipation of a shake-up at quarterback.
Remember, Turner benched starter Collins for one game, looked at Tuiasosopo for one game, then returned to Collins. It's unlikely Collins will be a Raider next season because of a prohibitive salary that includes a $2.5 million roster bonus -- unless he restructures his contract.
Neither Davey nor Printers was signed. Davey re-signed with the Arizona Cardinals on Tuesday. Raiders senior personnel executive Mike Lombardi termed the workouts ``exploratory at best.''
Lombardi said the Raiders know little about Printers, who has played three seasons in the Canadian Football League, but said Davey, the New England Patriots' backup for Tom Brady in 2002-04, is ``a guy that we've known about but wanted to take a look at.''

Bombers sign former Canadian FootballLeague rookie of the year

He was diverted south for the last five seasons, but Flight 87 has finally landed in Winnipeg again.
Albert Johnson III, who burned up the Canadian Football League as a rookie receiver and return specialist in 2000, has been re-signed by the Blue Bombers after a four-year stint in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins, New York Jets and Houston Texans and in NFL Europe.
The CFL's rookie of the year in 2000, Johnson III led the league in kickoff return yards and combined return yards and boasted the highest kickoff return average. He also accumulated 778 yards as a receiver. He was also named the CFL's special teams player of the year and was a league all-star.
Johnson told the Free Press from his home in Houston that the torn anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered with the Dolphins is fine and he's happy to be returning to the Bombers.
Winnipeg GM Brendan Taman said Johnson III hasn't lost a step and at age 28, will be in line for jobs returning kicks and at the receiver position under new head coach Doug Berry. Taman said today's signing doesn't indicate free agent Keith Stokes will not be re-signed, but that the Bombers are loading up their offence with even more talent. "This is a very positive step for our organization today and we are ecstatic to have Albert Johnson III back with our team," Taman said in a statement. "He has great athleticism and was a game-breaker for us as both a receiver and returner. We can't wait to have him back in the lineup."
Added Berry: "He truly is an offensive weapon. With this signing, we just made an already potent receiving corps even more spectacular. And his returning abilities will give opposing coverage teams headaches trying to contain him."
Johnson III crushed the CFL's single-game most combined yards record in 2000, amassing 474 total yards against the Edmonton Eskimos on July 21.

Gades to keep veteran Canadian Football League QB

Wayne Kondro, The Ottawa CitizenPublished: Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Quarterback Kerry Joseph is poised to return to the Ottawa Renegades next season as the four-year veteran and the club have reached an agreement in principle on a $2-million, five-year contract extension after a week of intense bargaining.
The deal, which isn't expected to be officially inked until the new year, would make the 31-year-old McNeese State University graduate the cornerstone around which the Renegades would plan to rebuild their inconsistent offence, which ranked sixth in the CFL last season in total yardage and had difficulties producing in crucial situations.
Renegades president Lonie Glieberman declined to discuss details of the agreement.
"One thing we told the league we would do is that we wouldn't announce any player contracts until they are sent to the league office and approved. So we are going to make no comments regarding contracts. What we will say is that (head coach) John Jenkins and (general manager) Forrest Gregg are extremely high on Kerry Joseph, and they think that they can build a strong offence with Kerry Joseph as the quarterback.
"And if Kerry Joseph is going to be the quarterback of this team, the team would definitely like to see him under a long-term contract," Glieberman added.
Joseph completed 337 of 537 passes last season for a 62.8-per-cent completion rate and 4,456 yards, while tossing 25 touchdowns and being intercepted 23 times. He also carried the ball 153 times for 1,006 yards, an average of 6.6 yards per carry.
With Joseph all but firmly in the fold for the next five years, the Renegades have discontinued erstwhile talks with Saskatchewan that would have moved the quarterback to the Roughriders in exchange for quarterback Nealon Greene, Scott Gordon and the Riders' first two selections in the 2006 Canadian draft.
Although rumors of the trade talks with Saskatchewan have periodically resurfaced in recent weeks, the notion was dismissed by Gregg at the time as "totally, totally off-base."
Gregg added that his primary goal over the near term was to "solidify the quarterback position. I'd like to get Kerry Joseph re-signed so he would be here, but if somebody wants to talk to me about Kerry Joseph, that's fine, I will entertain any offers.
"Any football team, one of the key positions is the quarterback."
Getting Joseph back in the fold will also likely curtail ongoing Renegade efforts to rope in a marquee name such as Nepean product Jesse Palmer to man the quarterback position and help the club in its marketing initiatives.
But presumably, should Palmer or another big-name quarterback suddenly become available in the coming weeks, the agreement between Joseph and the Renegades could theoretically collapse.

Canadian Football League star QB may want trade

Things are getting a little tense in the B.C. Lions den. Quarterback Dave Dickenson says he'd want a trade if the Lions sign Casey Printers to a long-term CFL contract.
As first reported on MOJO Sports Radio, Jason Medlock the agent for Printers reports the Lions have offered his client a new contract.
Speculation is that B.C. Head Coach and GM Wally Buono is offering 400-thousand dollars a year over three years to Printers, who is currently trying his luck in NFL workout camps. Dickenson says he's starting to see why Buono is not universally loved as a G-M and coach.

Former Canadian Football League QB enjoying coaching

It's not supposed to happen like this. In five years Steve Sarkisian has gone from graduate assistant to assistant head coach — at USC, no less. Sarkisian, all of 31 years old, is helping to guide the unbeaten Trojans to possibly their third consecutive national championship. If this guy were a stock, you would mortgage the house to buy 100 shares. Can you say fast track? Nine years ago, he was BYU's starting quarterback.

Jae C. Hong, Associated Press
At practice with quarterback Matt Leinart, right, USC assistant coach Steve Sarkisian, a former BYU QB great, at left, has jumped up the coaching ladder quickly. Seven years ago, he was the Saskatchewan Roughriders' starting quarterback. Six years ago, he began his coaching career, at a junior college. Five years ago, he was a graduate assistant at USC. Four years ago, he got his first full-time Division 1 coaching job. Last winter, he was named assistant head coach at USC. Pete Carroll, the USC head coach, labored as an unpaid graduate assistant for four years, compared to one for Sarkisian. "It's happened extremely fast," says Sarkisian. "What's odd is that I'm not trying to make it go fast. I'm really not. I'm not out searching for jobs, trying to get promotions and titles." But the promotions and job titles have fallen into his lap anyway. The Oakland Raiders, San Diego State and USC have all coming calling, even if he does lack much in the way of a resume. Sarkisian is probably the most underrated BYU quarterback ever. His name is rarely mentioned when BYU greats are mentioned, and yet by the time he completed his two seasons as the starter he ranked third in NCAA history in pass efficiency. He led the nation in pass efficiency as a senior in 1996, and the Cougars posted a 14-1 record and beat Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl. He didn't get much more than a sniff from the NFL. He played three years for the CFL's Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. He was a starter in 1999 and threw 16 touchdown passes, then quit. "I probably could have kept going, but I wanted to do some different things, and I knew I liked coaching," he says. He took a job in the computer business while also coaching quarterbacks for his alma mater, El Camino Community College. A year later, he served as a grad assistant at USC under his former BYU offensive coordinator, Norm Chow. After the season, San Diego State hired Sarkisian as a full-time, paid assistant. Two months later, Carroll lured Sarkisian back to USC to serve as quarterback coach, and he wound up tutoring Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer in 2002.

In 2004, the Oakland Raiders hired Sarkisian to coach their quarterbacks. When Chow left USC for the NFL last winter, Carroll again brought back Sarkisian, this time with the title of assistant head coach and quarterback coach. You know you're doing well when USC brings you back — twice. Carroll later told the L.A. Times that Sarkisian "knew the day he left (for the Raiders) that I wanted to get him back . . . I think the world of this guy." He turned the offense over to Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin, who is only 30 himself. To an outsider, it looked like he had given the keys to a new Porsche to a pair of teenagers. "Most G.A.s at Division I schools have to go to a Division II school for their first job or at least a small Division I, but not a school like USC," Kiffin told the Times. "Pete doesn't care about those things." Kiffin calls the plays from the press box, with input from Sarkisian on the sideline. They both studied at the knee of Chow and find themselves thinking the same thing just as the other one is saying it. "We were both around Norm a lot," says Sarkisian. "To see how he game-planned, to hear how he called the game. If one of us forgot something, the other will remember." Sarkisian says he observes closely how Carroll handles players, media and problems off and on the field. "Ultimately, I'd love to be a head coach, but as I said I'm in no rush," he says. "I've still got a lot to learn. I'm not trying to take this too fast. I'm trying to enjoy the experiences now. Why this is happening this fast, I don't know."

Former Canadian Football League player signs with Odessa

ODESSA -- The Odessa Roughnecks signed two new players on Monday in receiver-safety DeMeco Archangel and receiver-linebacker S. Antoine Calloway.
Archangel, who played at Fayetteville State University, played with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League from 1999-2002 and played three seasons with the Greensboro Prowlers for Arena Football2.
Calloway was a teammate of Archangel's at Fayetteville, where he was a Division II All-American in 1998 and 1999. He also played with the Prowlers from 2001-02.