FRIDAY WITH THE RIDERS
SASKATOON – The rain hit about halfway through the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Day 13 workout at 2018 Training Camp on Friday. 35 millimetres of rain are expected to dump on the Bridge City, and the Riders had made contingency plans.
“We scheduled the pool but we saw how crazy the weather was,” said Head Coach Chris Jones after the workout. “I kept looking at the weather radar and it gave us a little sliver of clear weather. We got some good work in today.
“It’s the first time we’ve had rain. The QBs had some errant throws because of the rain but, offensively, it’s the first day that we’ve won offensively in about 3 or 4 days. It’s good to do that when it’s raining.”
Quarterback Zach Collaros says they were happy to hit the field, and practice in those conditions.
“It’s good for the QBs to feel the wet ball,” Collaros offered. “The weather isn’t what you’d expect for this time of year, but it’s good to get mentally ready to do that. It’s not like we’re out there hitting, or playing a game. It’s good we overcame that, we played music to help the energy out, and we had a good day.”
On Saturday the Roughriders will hold their annual Green & White Scrimmage at 3:00 pm a Saskatoon’s SMF Field. The controlled scrimmage will be complete with CFL officials.
“It’s going to be more of a polished day,” Jones explained. “We’ll work on our pregame, make sure everybody knows where they are. Then we’ll go through our regular pregame script and our special teams callouts; A group, B group, that type of thing. And then we’ll just go out and throw and catch the football.
“We’ve already played a game so it’s not like we’re going to go out there and beat each other up. We’re going to go out there and do what we’ve go to get down. We’ll see the fans, sign some autographs and get back over here (to the U of S facility).”
Collaros is looking forward to his first action as a Roughrider “under the lights”.
“You’d have to ask Coach Jones what to expect but for us, we’re just treating it like another day of practice,” Collaros said. “Obviously there will be some game situations we’ll do and then afterwards, interacting with the fans will be great. For anybody who hasn’t played for Saskatchewan before, it’ll be fun to interact with them.”
On Sunday the Roughriders will head to Humboldt, SK for a practice to show support for that grieving community. Collaros was asked what it means to the team to go to the home of the SJHL’s Broncos.
“It’s kind of a tough one to answer,” Collaros said. “There’s really nothing we can do to ease their pain. But we’re just gonna try to help out and put a smile on a couple kids’ faces, and families’ faces. You can’t imagine going through something like that. Anything we can do to help try to put a smile on their face, we’re going to try to do.
“Anytime you’re around a tragedy like that, being close to the families, again, you can’t feel their pain but we’ll kind of see what they’ve gone through. It puts things in perspective and anytime that happens, it makes you remember what’s important in your life. Being around a group of guys, it’ll definitely bring us together for sure.”
NOTES: Veteran receiver/returner Chad Owens left the field on Friday with an undisclosed injury. He and veteran Rob Bagg are leading the team in offensive reps through 13 days of camp … Veteran OT Josiah St. John did not participate on Friday after aggravating a lower body injury on Thursday.
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