REGINA — The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ defensive backfield has developed a bit of a reputation for the ball hawk abilities over the last few seasons, and no more was that on display than during their 2025 Grey Cup championship campaign.
After getting off to a bit of a slow start to begin the season he Riders made life more and more miserable for opposing quarterbacks as things progressed, eventually ending up with 24 interceptions on the season, second most in the league behind only the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ 27.
Now, Saskatchewan’s crew of defensive backs and safeties are looking to find that success once again, and they don’t have to look too far into the past to find out how quickly things can start to happen once it all starts to click.
Much like this season, the Green and White had a single interception after their first three games in 2025 — and if things follow the same pattern, standout defensive back Tevaughn Campbell and his teammates could soon be feasting on opposition quarterbacks once again.
Campbell spoke to the Voice of the Roughriders Dave Thomas earlier this week about the start to the campaign and how things are shaping up for the first meeting with the Ottawa Redblacks this season.
“Oh, we’re not worried, but it's still not up to our standard,” Campbell said of the dearth of picks for the Riders thus far. “We should have like at least seven or eight picks but we just dropped so many. It's just missed opportunities left out on the field, so we just got to capitalize on the ones that come to us.”
Of course, it doesn’t help matters that Saskatchewan’s interceptions leader last year hasn’t seen a lot of balls thrown his way thus far. Campbell — who had six picks in 2025 to tie for the Canadian Football League lead — hopes to see that change in the near futurre.
“It's gonna come soon,” he said. “Hopefully I get a little more play, hopefully this game.”
If there’s one advantage the Riders have, it’s that they’re heading into Ottawa to face a Redblacks team that has struggled to start the season. Former Green and White quarterback Jake Maier and crew are off to an 0-3 start, and Campbell hopes those struggles don’t change in any way on Friday night.
To that end, the familiarity with Maier and vice versa could be a factor in the outcome.
“I think he knows how we play, we know how he plays,” Campbell said. “You just got to play mind games with him and try to play around, get in his head. We know from practicing with him all year last year, we just gotta execute. We gotta know what he does and what he does good and execute on that.”
Finding that success is going to take a complete game, especially against a pivot who can get the job done if circumstances present themselves. Such was the case against Toronto’s Chad Kelly last weekend, and that turned into a 40-34 Argos victory that left a bitter taste in the secondary’s mouths after the number of big plays that were given up.
“Just limiting the quarterback and the explosives and playing our style of defence, playing Rider football and really just going out there and winning the game,” Campbell said, referring to lulls in the Riders’ game over the first three outings, especially after the halftime break. “Not winning a quarter, not winning a half, winning the game.”
The Rider Broadcast Network will have the pre-game show at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, followed by Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder with the call at 5 p.m.
