Members of the national and local media participated in the 2015 Season Preview Teleconference on Thursday morning and posed questions covering a variety of topics to both Stampeders head coach and general manager John Hufnagel and president Gordon Norrie.

Here are excerpts from the Q&A:

John Hufnagel

What is your philosophy going into the upcoming draft? Where do you think the strength of this year’s draft is?

Because it’s such a deep draft, I can’t say there is one particular position that is stronger than others. There are very good candidates on both sides of the football. And I don’t see our draft philosophy changing too much.

Can you think back to a time when you found a real ‘diamond in the rough’ in one of the later rounds?

You always want to do your best job in every round. I think that we have had some luck in the later rounds with drafting players that have made our football team and have helped us win football games. The latest example is Shane Bergman a couple years ago (sixth round in 2013). We thought that Shane had a lot of potential. He came in and spent a year on our football team developing into a pretty good football player and that showed up last year.

Which is a greater challenge: creating an initial Grey Cup-winning team or repeating as a Grey Cup winning team?

I think because of the number of times that people have been able to repeat – it’s not that great – I would have to say repeating is probably more of a challenge than winning it the very first time.

What are your thoughts on the different rule now as it relates to pass interference? Should your players change techniques or can they use the same technique?

I don’t see the technique being a lot different except for the fact that the defensive backs have got to let the receivers go after five yards. You may have some defences that you had in the past that you kind of have to throw in the garbage can because they just won’t work with these types of rules.

Have you looked back on the 2009 season or talked to some other people about lessons to learn with when you had to go back and try to repeat?

We examined things after the 2009 season to find out what took place and prevented us from repeating. Eventually you have to get to the playoffs and do some damage and that’s what didn’t occur in 2009. I always say that you need good fortune, you need a good bounce of the ball occasionally, and you have to protect the football. To me those are the most important things about winning playoff games.

Which new rule do you think will have the biggest impact on the game?

First of all, it will be about how well the teams adjust. That’s one thing about this year going into training camp that will be a difference for me from previous training camps. It’s more of a mystery how well and how quickly we adapt. My biggest concern is not the illegal contact after five yards but the special teams. There’s going to be some space for the returners and we have to take advantage of that space when we’re the return team but even do a better job when we’re covering. That will be a great challenge on our special teams.

Do you now look for a different type of athlete to prevent pass interference penalties? It would seem you would need perhaps a smaller athlete that has more athletic skill, more redirection skill. Or do you just adjust what the athlete is doing?

First of all, you want to adjust what the athletes are doing that are on your football team and have won games for you. Our first challenge is making sure that when they come to training camp, they fully understand the new rule and they are working on it the very first day. And second of all, there are all kinds of sizes of players that play. We have some 5’9”, 5’10” defensive backs and we have 6’2” defensive backs that have played the game very well. But you do need a guy that has a very good change of direction so he can stay with a receiver.

With Bo Levi Mitchell’s recent contact extension, he wanted something fair, not necessarily to be the highest paid player in the league. What does that show about his personality and how the negotiations went with him?

It shows a great deal about what is important to Bo. Number one, he wants to win football games. Number two, he likes the city of Calgary very much and he likes the Calgary Stampeder organization. He wanted to make a career and establish roots in the city of Calgary. By signing this contract he has made it very obvious to all the fans all over than this is a young man that knows what he wants. Believe me: he may not be the highest-paid guy, but his banker is smiling.

Do you believe you have the personnel to replace Stanley Bryant and Brett Jones along the offensive line?

Edwin Harrison will start out as our left tackle. Edwin was our rookie of the year nomination in his first year as a left tackle and Stanley got his opportunity to get on the field because Edwin hurt his pectoral muscle right before training camp and he ran with the opportunity. Edwin has played a lot of football for us and we’ve won a lot of games with Edwin as a left tackle and also at the guard position. We have brought some younger players in to compete and give us some depth. Our number one draft pick last year, Pierre Lavertu, has some big shoes to fill but that’s one of the reasons why we drafted him. It will be a challenge though because the offensive line has to develop that chemistry among whatever five players become the starters for that first game.

How will you manage Jon Cornish’s health and his carries? Has anything changed this year compared to other seasons with No. 9 coming into camp?

The only change would be making sure he gets enough snaps during the preseason but to not over-extend him. But you just can’t be concerned about it. The only thing you can be concerned about is if you have enough depth behind him, and at every position, to be able to still be successful if a starter does go down.

Are there two ‘big-picture’ areas that you think you have to be better at this year?

I’m looking more at what holes I have to fill. I lost some pretty good football players, two to the NFL and a couple to CFL free agency. We went out and tried to sign some CFL free agents also and we signed six of them. I have to say I’m really pleased with both of our quarterbacks that have started in this league and have won football games and have done a good job when they’re on the field. Both Bo Levi Mitchell and Drew Tate have extended their contracts and that would have to be the No. 1 off-season accomplishment.

Do you believe this team is better equipped to deal with the bulls-eye you will have on your back this year because of all the success you’ve had, even before the Grey Cup win last fall?

I do have a group of core veterans that were a part of that 2008 team that had the experience of trying to defend a championship. They have been working very, very hard this offseason to get themselves ready for training camp. I believe the mindset of the core veterans will help the younger guys in the direction that we need to take as a football team to give us a chance to win some games and hopefully do some good things.

Gordon Norrie

Do you think that the CFL season starts too late and should be pushed up two weeks?

Not so much the season starting earlier, but ending earlier. And there is a difference. There is a way to tighten up possibly the bye week in order to finish earlier. That’s certainly something that is a priority for us. There are also issues with starting the season earlier out west. For those of us that have to run training camp in May, there weather’s not that reliable either so we’re a little concerned about that, also.

Last year there were a lot of news things done to the stadium to enhance the fan experience. What do the fans have to look forward to this year in terms of amenities at McMahon Stadium?

We are adding a north end-zone patio area much like you see in a lot of the new stadiums. It will hold about 250 fans able to watch the game at field-level with food and beverages offered. Molson will be introducing some new high-end beer products that they will be serving there and as always, we’ve challenged our food and beverage vendors to come up with some new products you will see for sale at the stadium in 2015.

Have you seen any affects from winning the Grey Cup translate over into the business operations of the organization?

Season-ticket sales and sponsorship have increased greatly. But the biggest noticeable impact from winning the Grey Cup is our fan support on social media and our website in addition to the merchandise store. We’ve had a record four months in terms of merchandise sales.