Riders’ Powell could be a busy man

Craig Dickenson had some good news for William Powell on Wednesday.

Dickenson, the head coach of the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, told reporters that he believes the running game is “vital” to a team’s success. He also said he wants his squad to ride its featured tailback during the 2019 season..

That’s likely to be Powell.

“Most running backs get better the more they touch the ball and so we want a guy who’s strong, who’s physical and (who) gets better as the game goes on, so we’re going to try to allow (Powell) to do that,” Dickenson said after Day 4 of the Roughriders’ training camp in Saskatoon.

“If we feel like we’ve got a change-of-pace guy — which we feel like we do in (Marcus Thigpen) — we’ll put him out there. But for the most part, we want a workhorse running back who’s going to grind it out and wear teams out.”

That must have been music to Powell’s ears.

The 31-year-old product of Duncanville, Texas, signed with the Roughriders as a free agent in the off-season after spending the previous three campaigns with the Ottawa Redblacks.

Powell posted back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons with Ottawa, gaining 1,026 yards on 173 carries in 12 games in 2017 and 1,362 yards on 251 carries in 16 games last season.

He’d love to stretch his streak of 1,000-yard seasons to three.

“That’s the plan,” the 5-foot-8, 210-pounder said with a chuckle. “That’s always the plan, to improve and get better and better every year and get even more yards than I did the previous year.

“It looks very promising with the offensive line we have here. They’re very good players and we’re building our chemistry now. They’re opening up the lanes and I’m getting adjusted to them.”

That’s a two-way street.

The Roughriders’ O-linemen have to get used to working with Powell after operating last season in front of a group that included Thigpen, Cameron Marshall, Tre Mason and Jerome Messam. The latter three backs aren’t with the team any longer.

“He’s a great back and he does a lot of little subtle things that make him that way,” offensive lineman Brendon LaBatte said. “We’ve been getting linebackers to come down into us (during training-camp workouts), so he does a great job of setting up blocks for us and bringing guys into us.

“He has got that sort of touch that you can’t really teach, but he has got that patience and that little tempo to the line. That’s part of what makes him so great. And then he’s not easy to bring down.”

Saskatchewan went with a tailback-by-committee approach during Chris Jones’ tenure as head coach.

Marshall, Kienan LaFrance and Trent Richardson got the bulk of the work in 2017 before the four tailbacks carried the mail last season.

This season, Powell, Thigpen and LaFrance are in camp along with CFL rookies James Butler and Jamal Morrow. Of that group, only one — Powell — has rushed for at least 1,000 yards in a season in the league.

“I like to think that I’m an all-around running back and good at everything,” said Powell, who also has 90 career regular-season receptions for 719 yards. “I’ve worked really hard on not having any weaknesses in my game and I’ve just got to keep getting better at it.”

The Roughriders haven’t had a 1,000-yard rusher in a season since Messam gained 1,006 yards during the 2015 season.

Saskatchewan finished eighth in the league with 1,335 rushing yards in 2016 and ninth with 1,478 yards in ’17, before improving to second with 2,014 yards last season. If the Roughriders are to move up another step, Powell could be the man to lead them there.

He showed his wares during Tuesday’s padded practice at Griffiths Stadium on the University of Saskatchewan campus, displaying good vision and elusiveness.

“That’s what we expect from him,” Dickenson said. “We went after him hard (in free agency) and we pay him well, so we expect him to tote the rock and get us first downs. (On Tuesday) it looked like what we’re hoping (for).”

Wednesday’s Notes: Dickenson didn’t have an update on the health of defensive lineman Jordan Reaves, who left Monday’s practice with an apparent leg injury. Reaves was to see a doctor later Wednesday … Dickenson expects linebacker Solomon Elimimian to arrive in camp within the next couple of days. Elimimian has been visiting other teams’ camps to outline the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the CFL Players’ Association … Former Saskatchewan head coach John Payne died Saturday at the age of 86. Payne was the Roughriders’ head coach from 1973 to ’76, compiling a 40-23-1 regular-season record. He was inducted into the team’s Plaza of Honour in 2001.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Wray Morrison