Murray Wood: A party 100 years in the making
Murray Wood and a couple of hundred others attended a birthday party on the weekend for a woman who turned 100, and cele...
As the Saskatchewan Roughriders return to Regina for the last week of training camp, a few players are looking to make things difficult when it comes to who the coaches end up sending home.
The Riders are coming off a 31-27 pre-season win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Saskatoon on Saturday. In that contest, a number of players trying to claim a spot on the roster had impact plays.
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Tough decisions are exactly what this coaching staff is looking for.
“We’re going to have some hard ones. We still have another week of evaluation, obviously, but that’s what you want,” Riders head coach Corey Mace said.
“You want guys to shine and we definitely thought we had more than a few of those guys do that. We will leverage the weight of those two games and the full body of work throughout camp to make those decisions.”
One of those players was wide receiver Johnny Johnson III. Despite only joining the team on May 19, he finished the game with four catches on four targets for 64 yards and a touchdown.
“I would say it was a little bit of validation — it just felt good to be back on the field,” said Johnson, who missed last season with the NFL’s Houston Texans due to a dislocated elbow.
“Finally getting an opportunity to be on the field and get hit by guys and see a whole game and compete against another team, it was a blessing and it felt great, especially getting the (win).”
Johnson said his dad wanted him to play basketball as a kid.
“I was fouling out every game. I couldn’t really dribble but then I saw dudes playing football. I was naturally a physical guy my whole life — I was in my backyard tackling trash cans. Just love of the game and (my dad) said we’re going to go hard with this and he got me cleats and do this and that and it just went from there,” Johnson said.
The former Oregon Duck also had a reunion with a former teammate as linebacker Nick Wiebe was with the NCAA program from 2018-20 before joining the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.
“I was with him for three years. That was the first guy they mentioned when I got here. Wiebe has always been a hard worker, so it’s no surprise he was up here,” Johnson said.
Another player who had a big game was defensive back James Burgess Jr. The 24-year-old had an interception and a pass knockdown in the pre-season game.
“It felt wonderful. It was a great atmosphere out there, so to get an interception and see the crowd get excited, it felt great,” Burgess said.
“It was an out route and a vert so I was playing under the vert but I really wanted to take the out route. When I saw it, I saw (Carson Sombach) and I saw him at the last minute so I had to dive or we were going to head-to-head collide.
“I hate to take his pick, but more to come.”
The Riders no longer have a pre-season game to prepare for and need to wait until June 13 before they play their first game due to having a Week 1 bye.
But despite there being no game on the immediate horizon, this is an important week when it comes to determining the 2026 roster.
“This week for us is a mix of training camp and practices throughout the week just to get these guys in a bit of a rhythm and understanding our order of operation here,” Mace said.
“Days are still going to be a little bit longer than what we get in a season as well. The main thing is we are getting enough reps out there to get a good evaluation.”
And Johnson hopes he’s one of the guys who can help this team win another championship.
“I want to be here. I’m trying to win that Grey Cup. I didn’t come here to play around; I came here to get a job and help this team win,” Johnson said.
Notes
The Riders announced it has signed American receiver Javian Hester and American defensive back Steven Weston Jr. In corresponding moves, the team has added defensive lineman Lake Korte-Moore to the one-game injured list and released offensive lineman Darius Washington … Quarterback Jack Coan had one of the plays of the day, connecting with James Letcher Jr. for a long touchdown pass in pass skeleton … During team drill, quarterback Trevor Harris his Dhel Duncan-Busby with a deep pass … Defensive back Marcus Sayles nearly came up with an interception after jumping a route … Seyi Oladipo Jr. had an interception off of Tommy Stevens.
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