Ali Saad ready to compete for job with Sask. Roughriders

It’s been a whirlwind last week for Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive lineman Ali Saad.

After completing rookie camp with the San Francisco 49ers, the Riders first-round draft pick in the 2025 CFL Draft went home to Michigan, grabbed his gear and headed north to Saskatoon for the club’s main camp.

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“It’s been hectic. I ended up getting here really late. Coach took me in, got me the playbook, trying to catch me up,” Saad said. “Didn’t really have time to process it, they threw me out here today to test the water. It’s been going good for sure.”

Saad is a 280-pound defensive lineman from Windsor, Ont and signed his contract with the Riders on Monday morning.

He played his college football at Bowling Green University and also grew up playing high school football across the river in Michigan, meaning he played mostly with American football rules growing up as opposed to Canadian.

Saad admitted on Monday that it took a little bit of time to adjust to the Canadian game when he stepped onto the field.

“Today, my biggest issue was getting used to that one yard off the ball. It’s just getting your footwork right. Honestly, that was the main thing, getting your feet right — especially because I like to move around a little. I’m not a bull rush type of guy, but if I have to do I have to do it,” Saad added.

Although he was dealing with the rules of Canadian football and a little tired from all the travel, Saad was still out there making plays for the Riders.

He was physical and even had his jersey ripped while participating in one of the drills.

Saad was happy to show off his badge of honour.

“That shows I competed today. That shows you guys the competition that they have here and what they got going on,” Saad said.

Saad mentioned he’s had his jersey ripped before, but never before on the first day of training camp.

Defensive line coach for the Riders, Phillip Daniels, loved to see Saad getting into the thick of things and making his presence known at camp.

“If you’re a physical player and you’re coming with violence all the time and you’re doing the things you need, you’re gonna get a ripped jersey,” Daniels said.

“He kind of reminds me when I played. But yeah, he’s one of those guys that they got to try to block him some kind of way. He’s one of those guys who brings it every play.”

“I was proud of him. He came in here last night at 10:30 p.m., so I had to come over to the office and meet with him and give him the playbook. I asked him, ‘How much do you want to do tomorrow?’ He said, ‘Coach, I’m all in.’ I wanted to hold him back. I didn’t want to do too much today, but at the same time, he wanted to go,” Daniels added.

“He still learned the playbook, he was fine today and hitting off. That was awesome. So he’s always going to get better down the road as you get rest. I told him to rest up because we’re in full pass tomorrow. He said, ‘I’m ready to go.’”

News and notes from Day 2 of Riders camp

The energy was high on Day 2 of Riders camp in Saskatoon. Players were chatting, communicating and appeared very engaged in all of the drills the coaches laid out for them.

Head coach Corey Mace liked the energy the players gave him on Monday.

“This is a competitive group. They’ll go back and forth, but it’s always a family environment. It’s just healthy competition, but we just got to make sure that there’s a line that can’t be crossed with that as well,” Mace said.

Quarterback Trevor Harris continued to take first-team reps and did a good job getting a majority of the receivers’ touches throughout the course of the skelly portion of the practice.

Rookie receiver Brayden Misseri got multiple targets and made multiple big catches throughout the portion of the practice. He made one of the biggest plays of the day when he climbed the ladder to catch a deep ball thrown by Jake Maier for a big gain.

On the defensive side of the football, running back Marcus Sayles had the best play on that side of the football. He jumped up and picked off Harris for an interception.

There were a couple of players missing on the field as both Erik Andersen and Seth Hundeby were sitting out drills.

Mace wasn’t too worried about the guys who were missing in action.

“Guys are just a little bit nicked up. You know, some of the rookies, too, this is not just day two for them. They’ve been going a little bit. So just being precautious so we can get them back on the field as fast as possible to be able to put their best foot forward,” Mace explained.

Mace confirmed that the pads will be strapped onto the players for the first time tomorrow.

The Riders practice begins at 8:30 a.m. at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon.