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Newly acquired all-star centre Sean McEwen will be out for “a while” according to Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Corey Mace.
McEwen left practice on Tuesday and was seen sitting on a chair with crutches next to him on Wednesday after suffering an injury during one of the one-on-one drills.
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“Unfortunately, Sean suffered an injury that’s that’s going to keep him out for a while,” Mace told Riders fans at the teams’ annual State of the Nation address. “It sucks. It sucks for him more than anything. You feel for Sean.”
When asked about what exactly the injury was for McEwen, Mace didn’t want to elaborate into it any further.
“I’m not going to get too much into that right now. It’s fresh for everybody – just sucks for Sean,” Made added.
Mace said despite the bad news on Saturday, McEwen still wants to hang around the team while trying to get healthy.
“He’s going to do everything he can to help us still in some form or fashion. He’s a heck of a mind,” Mace said.
“It’s good to hear that validation for somebody coming from the outside in — just unfortunate situation and unfortunately part of football.”
Players take the field in Saskatoon for the Green and White game on May 17, 2025. (Saskatchewan Roughriders/X)
Mace pleased with Green and White game
The Green and White game on Saturday afternoon brought plenty of Riders fans out to SMF Field in Saskatoon.
For nearly an hour, the offence and defence held a scrimmage and also took part in Mace’s “showcase,” giving the players an opportunity to go one-on-one against each other.
When it came to passing, Trevor Harris got the most reps going 9/11 with two touchdown passes and 103 yards.
Jake Maier wasn’t far behind Harris and had a great day going 5/6 with two touchdowns and 73 yards through the air.
Jack Coan was 3/6 passing in the game and threw a touchdown and an interception for 57 yards. Tommy Stevens went 4/6 on his attempts, threw for 30 yards and an interception.
Zack Fry, Logan Ferland and Philippe Gagnon all took turns snapping the ball at the centre position.
Mace for the most part was pleased with what he saw from his quarterbacks.
“It’s kind of tough without true tackling, but I thought there was some efficiency out there with quarterbacks. I thought they found the receivers in the holes and some of the soft coverages that we had going on,” Mace explained.
Mace said he challenged his receivers to make plays and he felt they did. D’Sean Mimbs and Dohnte Meyers were the two most targeted receivers.
Mace said there will be a couple things they will be looking to coach the players on in the film room heading into the second week of training camp, such as penalties by the defence and pre-snap penalties.
The Riders will have an off day on Sunday before returning to start the second week of training camp on Monday at Griffiths Stadium.
Excitement building for fans
Fans at the Green and White game were excited to see their team on the field in uniform for the first time.
Jordan Mooney said he can’t wait to see how the team builds off of last season’s Western Final appearance.
“I’d like to see a first-place finish,” he said. “If Trevor Harris stays healthy, I think it’s not unreasonable to think they can get there.”
With players on Winnipeg Blue Bombers getting older, Mooney feels the Riders have a chance to steal the crown from their arch rival.
“It’s there for the taking, they just gotta want it,” said Mooney.
Nathan Clearihue also has high expectations for the Riders this year.
“You anticipate a Grey Cup win,” he said. “This off-season has just been incredible, the amount of effort they’ve been putting into signing these marquee type players, it’s been one wonderful ride so far.”
Clearihue is also excited to see how coach Mace handles the group now that he’s in his second year on the job.
“Last year, we didn’t know what coach Mace was going to do or how he was going to perform,” he said.
“Now the bar has been raised and now we have more expectation than doubt and it’s just looking very promising.”
Calvin Smith is also feeling very optimistic as the football season begins to roll around.
“I’m gonna say we’re going all the way,” he said.
Meanwhile, Brent Upton has set some limits on his expectations.
“I’m going to say Western Final,” he said.
— with files from Will Mandzuk
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