Surrey Big Kahuna Rams coaches had a look at more than 100 football players at last weekend’s spring camp

After a season in which they advanced all the way to the B.C. finals, the Big Kahuna Rams began preparing for what they hope is an equally successful follow-up performance when they held their annual spring camp last weekend.

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Coaches got a chance to see first-hand some of the top young football prospects from across Western Canada at the three-day camp, which was held at South Surrey Athletic Park.

-Nick Greenizan

More than 100 players donned pads and hit the field in front of coaches and team brass which, in addition to head coach Chris Butschler, also included new defensive backs coach Will Loftus – a former Ram who went on to a 10-year career in Canadian Football League – and guest coach Shawn Olson, a former Rams quarterback and now head coach with the UBC Thunderbirds. Olson led the Rams to Cullen Cup titles in 1993 and ‘94, and was honoured in 1997, during the league’s 50th anniversary celebrations, as one of B.C. Junior Football’s all-time greats.

The staff put players through three days of drills and testing before the young charges were given the chance to show their skills in a game situation with the annual Blue vs. White scrimmage Sunday afternoon. A barbecue followed the game.

The Rams will reconvene in June for its main training camp, which will include the team’s returning veterans as well as former members of the rival Vancouver Trojans.

The Trojans will not field a squad in the B.C. Football Conference this year, and as the lone remaining Lower Mainland team, the Rams have absorbed many of the Trojans for the coming season, with the understanding that they can return to Vancouver next year if the team is revived.

The Rams’ first league game is July 24 in Nanaimo, against the top-ranked Vancouver Island Raiders – a rematch of last year’s Cullen Cup final.