No matter what happens on the field for the Saskatchewan Roughriders this season, fans can be sure the team got off to a good start at the U of S - good practices on the field and great nutrition in the dining room, thanks to the culinary craftsmanship of the University's Executive Chef James McFarland and the staff at Marquis Hall.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders hold a practise scrimmage during the June Training Camp, behind the Williams Building on campus.

The arrival of 'Green & White' Head Coach Danny Barrett and 73 player hopefuls on June 1 for the annual Saskatoon training camp was marked by a steak-and-rib barbecue in the Bowl - with the steaks disappearing as fast as they came off the grill. And although he wasn't thrilled about doing it, the chef prepared the steaks as requested by most of the players - well-done.

As the pre-season camp got under way the next morning, Food Services staff moved into preparing a 10-day menu cycle "although we seemed to make changes every day," McFarland said. Breakfast entrees included an egg dish, a breakfast meat, pancakes and hash browns with the most popular item being bacon.

"Everyone thinks the players eat really carefully but if you put out anything fried, it disappears."

The lunch and dinner menus featured three entrees each with items such as quesadillas, burgers and steak fingers with horseradish mayonnaise available at mid-day, and more substantial dishes like roast turkey and all the fixings served for dinner. Lunch and dinner were also accompanied by complete salad and deli bars "in case they didn't like any of the entrees" and dinner always included one starch, two veggie dishes and always pasta and sauce. Tomato-based sauces were more popular than their cream counterparts, he said. "They must be watching their diets".

To keep things interesting, McFarland served the players a variety of ethnic dishes over the two-week camp - Thai, Cajun, Mexican - and he tried a fish dish like snapper with orange fennel sauce with each evening meal.

"They seemed to like the fish, unless there was chicken, any kind of chicken."

And the most popular dessert? Cookies.

With coaches, staff and all the players, who ranged in size from a five-foot-eight, 161-lb. defensive back to a six-foot-five, 320-lb. offensive lineman (one of nine players who tipped the scales at over 300 pounds), about 100 people showed up for each meal, "but we gauged it so we were cooking for 150. They don't eat as much as people think but there's always a popular item that goes first."

Compared with the 800 mouths McFarland and his staff fed daily during the Canada Wide Science Fair held at the University in May, 100 Roughriders "were easy to handle, but we treated them a little special. They get a good bang for their buck, a lot more protein because we want them to keep up their strength. We want them to win this season."

For more information, contact communications.office@usask.ca

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