Thursday morning as part of a season preview teleconference, Stampeders president Gordon Norrie, general manager and head coach John Hufnagel and running back Jon Cornish took questions from local and national media about the upcoming season.

The question that seems to be on everyone’s mind heading into camp relates to the quarterback position.  After spending most of the season sidelined with injury, will Drew Tate be the starter this season despite the excellent play from 12-year CFL vet Kevin Glenn who led the team to last year’s Grey Cup?

Earlier in the off-season, Hufnagel confirmed that Tate would be the starter heading into training camp. And he’s comfortable knowing he has depth with both Glenn’s experience and the promise Bo Levi Mitchell showed in the times he had opportunities to take the field last year.

“Right now quarterback is, in my belief, a position of strength for us and there’ll be great competition, but Drew will be the starter coming into training camp,” says Hufnagel.

People are also wondering if Tate can stay healthy. He’s been working hard this off-season, including adding MMA-style training to his regimen, which he hopes will make him more durable.

“A lot of that adds strength not only in your body, but mental strength – knowing that you prepared as hard as you could in the off-season to withstand the hits,” says his head coach. “So he’s ready to play, I’m ready to have him on the field playing and we’ll take it one game at a time as we always do.”

Someone who had an outstanding 2012 campaign no matter who lined up behind centre was Cornish.  In his first full season as the feature back, he led the league in rushing – the first Canadian to do so since 1988 – and earned the CFL’s most outstanding Canadian title, but Cornish says there are still improvements he can make to his game including his pass routes and his ability to get open in coverage.

“It was a learning experience last year for me and I think I learned a lot,” says the running back who broke Normie Kwong’s 56-year-old single-season rushing record for Canadians. “And I’m going to apply those things I learned to this season going forward.”

Coach Hufnagel is expecting the 2012 CFL all-star to have the same type of season he had last year.

“He just had a tremendous year last year and I just expect him to come out and get himself ready to play to the best of his ability each and every game,” says Hufnagel. “That’s all I can ask from Jon or any other player that wears the Red and White.”

A Canadian starting running back is a luxury most CFL teams don’t currently have and the Stampeders may be able to play with the ratio even further with the off-season signing of Dan Federkeil and the potential they saw last year from Spencer Wilson at the offensive tackle spot. With two non-imports capable of starting at that position, the team could possibly free up an import position somewhere else on the roster.

“I think we have an excellent prospect in Spencer Wilson, “ says Hufnagel. “He did play tackle for a couple games for us last year. Unfortunately he was injured and couldn’t finish the season. So this will be a big training camp for him. The opportunity is there for him.”

Hufnagel was happy with the rookie camp the team held in Florida a couple of weeks ago. He says he’s not only excited to see how the new players stack up against CFL veterans, but he’s also eager to see some of the younger guys who saw playing time last year take the next step.

“We are a very young football team and I’d like to see the progress of these young players that were forced to play a lot of football for us, playing in a winning fashion in a short amount of time, and see where they have grown over the off-season.”

An added bonus on any team, let alone a younger team, is the continuity of both players and coaches within the organization. With very little player turnover from last season and his entire coaching staff back for another year, coach Hufnagel thinks it’s beneficial to hit the ground running with everyone already being comfortable around one another.

“It was something I was very pleased about in the off-season; that I didn’t have any coaching changes,” he says. “It’s not like my coaches didn’t have opportunities – they did – but they decided Calgary is a pretty good place to work.  And I truly appreciate their loyalty to the program.”

On the injury front, Hufnagel confirmed that receiver Johnny Forzani and defensive lineman Étienne Légaré will be rehabbing injuries when training camp starts on June 2. He expects Légaré will be ready for the first regular season game, but Forzani is out indefinitely after having surgery on his ankle three weeks ago.

>> For more information on Forzani’s injury status click here

Finally, when asked about the improvements to McMahon Stadium over the off-season, president Gordon Norrie mentioned additional concessions and washrooms, along with some seat improvements.

“We’ve covered up half the aluminum seats with customized inserts so that’s going to look a lot better and it’s going to feel a lot better for the fans that are sitting there in those sections,” says Norrie.

The Stamps kickoff the 2013 season at home on June 14 with a pre-season matchup against the BC Lions, followed by a visit to Mosaic Stadium to take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders on June 20. The regular season gets under way with the home-opener at McMahon against BC on June 28.