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‘Three yards and a bucket of blood’: Riders RB A.J. Ouellette aims to continue bruising running game in Banjo Bowl

After putting together grinding performance in Labour Day Classic win over Blue Bombers, Ouellette looking for even more in rematch on Saturday
Randy Palmer
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Roughriders running back turned in another solid effort in the Labour Day Classic and will look to continue his quest for a 1,000 yard rushing season in the Banjo Bowl on Saturday. Saskatchewan Roughriders

REGINA -- Put in the work in the off-season and you’ll see the results when you start playing games that matter.

Saskatchewan Roughriders’ running back A.J. Ouellette took that mantra to heart and then some after the 2024 Canadian Football League campaign and the results have shown on the field.

A bruising back to begin with, Ouellette has become even more difficult for opposing defenders to take down this season and that’s resulted in arguably the best campaign of his career to this point. With 158 carries for 802 yards, he’s well on pace to eclipse his single-season, career-best 1,009 yards rushing in the 2023 season with Toronto and is currently third overall in the CFL, 62 yards behind B.C.’s James Butler for the league lead.

A major reason for that success is the dramatic physical transformation he went through in the off-season, slimming down from 225 to 208 pounds while increasing his muscle mass. 

“It’s night and day when it comes to preparation and getting the body to feel good, feeling great now compared to then,” Ouellette said in a conversation with voice of the Roughriders Dave Thomas.

Combine that with an offensive line that has proven to be dominant against the vast majority of opponents this season, and you get the kind of season Ouellette is having.

That was once again on display during the Labour Day Classic, where he’d rack up 89 yards rushing while taking advantage of plenty of openings created by the big guys up front.

“You can see me basically skipping back there behind the o-line because they're pushing the D-line five yards back,” Ouellette said. “So when I get a little head of steam, then it's bad for the DBs.”

That was no more evident than during his second-quarter touchdown, where the line cleared everyone out to the weak side and left Ouellette with nothing but daylight to the endzone for a seven-yard major.

Here’s how that play looked:

“When you see a gap that big, sometimes you're waiting for a linebacker to flow over top, some type of twist game,” Ouellette said in explaining the touchdown. “So you hug it and you see everybody's covered up, you bend it back on the backside like we did there. One thing that kind of helped with that play was getting a receiver out of the box, which sent the DB that would have been filling that gap out of there to cover him. So it was a great play call and great execution.”

When the Winnipeg defence did get to him quickly, Ouellette more often than not found a way to drag defenders with him and crank out a few more yards. The kind of football that grinds teams down, and the kind of football that Ouellette spent his off-season preparing for.

“That’s always enjoyable for me,” he said. “I don't know how much some football fans enjoy it, but to me that's true football. Three yards and a bucket of blood is what I grew up with, with the wing-T triple option style stuff. In the CFL, you're going to need the five yards and a bucket of blood because you get that one less down.”

Wearing down the defence in the process certainly doesn’t hurt, and here's an example of what Ouellette was putting the Bombers through:

“When you can make a defense sore the next day, that's the running style that we want. And especially with this quick turnaround, we're hoping that they're still feeling it from the last game and know that we're going to come out with the same M.O.”

That opportunity will come on Saturday, although it’ll be in a much, much different environment. The rabid Mosaic Stadium Rider fans will be replaced by the rabid Princess Auto Stadium Bomber fans, with all that entails. Asked how preparations have gone this week to prepare for the noise and crowd shenanigans, Ouellete said a big part is making sure everyone knows what to expect.

“I’ve been there many times, know how their fans are and what to expect, and you treat it like another game,” he added. “Hopefully with a playoff feel to it, hopefully there's a little brisk in the air like today.”

Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk and Wes Cates have the pregame show at 11 a.m. on Saturday, followed by Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder with the game call at 2 p.m. You can catch all the action on the Rider Broadcast Network.