RIDERS OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCE ST. JOHN SIGNING

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are pleased to announce national offensive lineman Josiah St. John has officially joined the team after signing with the Club last week.

St. John (6’5 – 309 lbs.) was selected by the Green and White first overall in the 2016 CFL Draft, after spending the last three seasons at University of Oklahoma. In 2015 the Toronto, Ontario native played in seven NCAA conference games, starting four at right tackle. The 24-year-old St. John played in eight conference games in 2014 after redshirting the 2013 season. Prior to Oklahoma, St. John spent the 2012 season in Junior College with the Trinity Valley Cardinals.

News of a contract agreement first broke on Wednesday as Riders Assistant Vice President of Football Operations & Player Personnel, John Murphy revealed during a visit on the 620 CKRM SportsCage with host Rod Pedersen that a deal was imminent.

Riders Vice President of Football Operations, General Manager & Head Coach Chris Jones later confirmed the signing during a press conference following Thursday’s season opening loss at Mosaic Stadium.

Following Monday’s Day 1 of the practice week at Mosaic Stadium, St. John told reporters he was never of the feeling a deal wouldn’t get done.

“I don’t think so,” St. John reported. “I think we would’ve got to the bottom of it. I had my agent handle all my stuff on that end and there’s a great staff here handling it on this end. I just kind of left it to them. They’re all professionals and I left it to them. I’m just happy it got worked out.”

The 6’6″ lineman said it was tough sitting at home while the whole situation played out.

“It was kind of weird seeing everybody else play football,” the Toronto product admitted. “My old college team, they are back working now and I was just home doing my workouts. I was eager and watching the Riders play on TV, I was like ‘Man I want to be there so bad’.”

Roughriders Head Coach and General Manager cautioned that it’ll take some time for St. John to be ready to play at the CFL level.

“He’s a good player,” Jones said. “We picked him first for a reason. We’ve got a lot of work to do, he’s got a lot work to do both in the book and on the field. We look forward to seeing what he brings to the football team.”