JONES COY ON STARTING QUARTERBACK

Riderville.com

The Saskatchewan Roughriders were back on the Mosaic Stadium turf on Monday. It was their first practice since Friday’s 39-12 preseason loss to the Calgary Stampeders in Regina.

The Green & White will open the 2018 CFL season on Friday at home against the Grey Cup-champion Toronto Argonauts, however we still don’t know who will be behind centre for Saskatchewan.

Head Coach & GM Chris Jones says it’s still a battle between Zach Collaros and Brandon Bridge for the #1 job coming out of training camp.

“They’re both competing for a job,” Jones said on Monday. “Zach’s certainly a guy who’s played a lot of football and we know what Brandon did for us last year. We’ll talk about the rotation later in the week.”

As far as Collaros is concerned, he says the indecision won’t affect how he prepares for the Argos.

“You just really have to worry about what you’re doing personally,” Collaros shrugged. “If you do that, and your teammates see that and follow you, whoever’s out there, they’ll follow you.”

As for last week’s loss to Calgary, Collaros said they were far-from-perfect but it’s still very early in the season.

“We left some plays out there and we just have to get better at the details,” Collaros offered. “Everybody does, starting first and foremost with myself. It’s a process – it is each and every year – and we just look forward to getting better every day.”

Collaros was battered around in that game, taking a forearm shot to the head and a double-team that folded him in half.

“I took a couple good shots in that game!” Collaros laughed. “I was a little sore but I felt really good today and the training staff’s done a great job. I’m just taking care of myself and I’ve learned a lot of things from a lot of great players along the way on how to take care of yourself. I’ll be ready for game day.”

NOTES: The Riders released rookie RB Zac Stacy on Monday. Chris Jones said Stacy declined to accept a practice roster spot … The Riders host Toronto Friday at 7:00 on TSN, ESPN2 and the 620 CKRM Rider Radio Network.

RP
@rodpedersen