The Saskatchewan Roughriders held their annual State of Rider Nation on Saturday in Saskatoon ahead of their annual Green and White game.
CEO Craig Reynolds, vice president of football operations and general manager Jeremy O’Day and head coach Corey Mace took questions for an hour from more than 150 fans assembled at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. The questions ranged from marketing money to television contract negotiations and player personnel decisions.
One of those fans assembled asked Mace about the status of Canadian offensive lineman Sean McEwen, who has been watching practice with crutches by his side for the better part of the week.
“It’s going to keep him out for a while. It sucks, it sucks for him more than anything," Mace said.
Following the on-field scrimmage, Mace was asked to elaborate.
“I'm not going to get too much into that right now. It's fresh for everybody. It just sucks for Sean.”
After the gathering wrapped up inside, the fans and players headed out to the field to watch the Riders workout.
Standout plays from the scrimmage:
- For a second year in a row, the Riders rookies sang the national anthem, accompanied by the 620 CKRM Rider Pep Band.
- D’Sean Mimbs was the busiest receiver on the afternoon. Mimbs caught a handful of balls, including hauling in a pair of touchdown passes.
- Jake Maier looked sharp in the scrimmage, finding multiple receivers in various coverages presented to him by the Roughriders' defence.
- Zack Fry took the majority of first-team snaps at centre in the absence of McEwen.
- Saskatoon native Daniel Wiebe caught a long pass, much to the crowd's delight.
- Rolan Milligan Jr. made a masterful interception in the end zone, stepping in front of a pass five yards into the end zone.
- Newly signed kicker Brian Garrity made 1-of-2 field goal attempts.
- Robert Javier intercepted a Jack Coan pass early in the session.
Overall, Mace was happy with the scrimmage.
“I thought there was some efficiency out there with quarterbacks, I thought they found the receivers in the holes and some of the soft coverage we had going on. When we challenged their receivers with some of our press-man stuff, we made a play with a couple turnovers," Mace said.
Eight of the 49 officials who will work in the CFL this season were on hand to help the team learn officiating standards. They were busy with multiple flags thrown throughout the scrimmage.
“We got the defence offside, the quarterbacks had excellent cadence, but we've got to be better defensively. We’ve been watching the pre-snap penalties, we've been big on that this camp, you get one and it's more than you want.”
Mace stopped the scrimmage at the halfway point for a showcase where players faced one another one-on-one. The battle that caught the most attention was when Mace sent offensive lineman Payton Collins out on a pass pattern with defensive lineman Benoit Marion in coverage.
“Keeping it fun. Payton wasn't sure exactly how to waggle. Benoit swears he's an athlete, so you put him out there and Payton had a chance, 'Big Red' had a chance to catch it.”
Trevor Harris threw that pass to Collins, but Maier and Coan threw the most passes in the scrimmage. Mace is happy with the backup battle behind Harris.
“Jake's been really good for us this camp. In terms of being comfortable with the playbook, he's got a good background on that, so pleased with him. Jack ended up throwing one of the interceptions, but he's been lighting it up in camp. We really thoroughly enjoy all of the four of the quarterbacks that are in our room right now."
The Green and White return on the field on Monday at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon.