MONTREAL—For the Montreal Alouettes, this year's preseason training camp has become a difficult learning process.  

New coach Dan Hawkins admitted improvements were needed.

“I’m never satisfied,” Hawkins said. “We’re inching along getting some things better again. For the coaching staff catching up with the players a little bit. That’s the nature of it. You come out of every practice saying we have to do this and this and this, and that’s just how I always am, ‘what can we get better at?’

“I don’t know if I’m ever really satisfied.”

Hawkins is certainly under pressure going into his rookie CFL season.

The 52-year-old American, with no experience in 12-man football, replaced Marc Trestman after he departed for the NFL’s Chicago Bears after winning two Grey Cups in five seasons in Montreal.

Hawkins spent the past two years as a college football analyst for ESPN after a less than stellar spell coaching the University of Colorado.

His players were still coming to grips with the new system.

“It’s just so many little details and living on the tip of the spear is what it really comes down to,” Hawkins said. “You have to close the gap because the margin between success and mediocrity is very small.”

Draft picks Mike Edem (linebacker) and Steven Lumbala (running back) are making an impression in camp.

“In rookie camp I came out a little fiery and jittery to hit somebody and they told me if (Jamel Richardson) comes out and you hit him like that you’re going to have a bunch of offensive guys on your back,” said Edem, whose soft hands may land him a gig at safety. “It’s all a process of learning to be a pro. I just have to learn to work on my technique.”

Hawkins had praised for a former Colorado player of his, Rodney Stewart, who is looking to make the roster.

“He’s extremely quick and can really make people miss,” Hawkins said. “He’s very powerful. He can make you miss in a phone booth. He’s got some special talents.”

Apart from the growing pains, there are the usual “perks” of training camp.

“You don’t like it,” defensive end John Bowman said. “The beds are terrible, it's 1,000 degrees, we sleep in dorm rooms and eat canned food, but that’s part of the grind. That builds team chemistry and makes people tougher in the end.”

Montreal’s first preseason game is June 13 against Hamilton at Percival Molson Stadium. The Alouettes open the season on June 27 at Winnipeg.