‘Stay on your toes:’ Riders prep to face Duron Carter

After seeing limited action with his new team, it seems former Rider fan favourite Duron Carter will start against his former team on Saturday.

The Roughriders shocked the league when they released Carter in August at the end of their bye week. After a couple of weeks, Carter found a new team: the Toronto Argonauts.

“I’m happy that the players accept me for who I am,” Carter told the Green Zone earlier in the week. “I’m growing on coach (Marc) Trestman and he’s growing on me and everything that he expects of me he tells me everyday, plain and simple.”

Carter said he’s excited to be reunited with his former teammates who he hasn’t seen since the Riders played Edmonton on Aug. 2, but also said most importantly he wants to beat them.

To do that, Carter will have to beat the defensive backs that not only did he play against in practice when he lined up as a receiver but also practised with when he started as a defensive back.

“I can’t wait to go up against them. I get to welcome (Riders defensive back) Nick Marshall into the league – I’m assuming he’ll be matched up on me – and that’ll be fun,” Carter said. “I just can’t wait. You rarely get an opportunity to go up against your teammates in a game like situation and I have the opportunity right now and I hope to seize it.”

Also hoping to seize it and bounce back against a difficult loss to the Redblacks are the Roughriders.

Head coach Chris Jones knows how much of a challenge Carter can be on the field so the defensive backs will have to be at their best.

“You’ll probably have to put more than one on him in order to defend him. He’s a great player and we’ve got our hands full,” Jones said. “With their receiving corps, there’s a lot of really good players other than Duron.”

But Ed Gainey said he’s ready for whatever the Argos and Carter are going to throw at them – including the trash talk.

“You just got to stay on your toes and that’s what it all comes down to. He’s going to be one of those players that’s going to talk to you, try to get your off your game ad as long as you stay focused and stay poised … you can have a good day against him,” Gainey said adding he also thinks it’ll be a lot of fun.

“Hopefully we’ll have a lot of laughs out there.”

Depth Charts

And in the green corner…

Butler, Bailey and Reaves in.

Bagg, Elam and Awachie out. pic.twitter.com/RKXQGAJ241

— Arielle Zerr (@arielle_zerr) September 21, 2018