Wednesday 31 August 2011

McDaniel, Francis Cut

The Ti-Cats made a couple of player moves ahead of the Labour Day Classique by releasing Marquay McDaniel and Daniel Francis.

The news will be made official tomorrow, according to Drew Edwards.

McDaniel's departure was a long time coming. It is no secret that the team was shopping him over the off-season, and he was mentioned in rumours back in August, so to see the team part ways with him is not surprising in the least. With Aaron Kelly, Bakari Grant and Chris Williams all establishing themselves, along with the pending return of Maurice Mann, McDaniel was the odd man out. I have no doubt he will get picked up, but he clearly was no longer in the Ti-Cats' plans, so it was best for him and the team to go their separate ways.

I was a fan of McDaniel's and felt that he had a bright future in Hamilton. I will never forget when he caught that two-point conversation in the 2009 East Division Semi-Final against BC. It sent the game to overtime, and that was the loudest I had heard Ivor Wynne in quite some time. I thought he was a star in the making. Maybe he still will be, but it won't be for the Tiger-Cats.

Francis's departure is a little more surprising: not because he was so good, but because he was just signed this past off-season. But with the recent addition of former BC Lion David Hyland, Francis became expendable. He had been an excellent Special Teams player, but he was brought in to help the Secondary and he didn't do that.

Good luck in the future to both players.

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