SASKATOON -- The opening day of rookie camp for any Canadian Football League team is all about making a good first impression, and to that end, defensive back Gideon Agyei was right on point.
The University of Calgary Dinos fourth-year didn’t take long to turn heads when Saskatchewan Roughriders rookie camp opened on Wednesday morning at Griffiths Field in Saskatoon, making a handful of solid plays and showing that he may have what it takes to crack the main camp roster at the end of the week.
Now it’s a matter of keeping things going, and keeping all eyes on his game.
“I felt really good,” Agyei said when asked by the Voice of the Roughriders Dave Thomas how things went on opening day.
“(It helps) having coach [Joshua] Bell and coach [Jordan] Linen always around us making sure we're doing good and everything like that, not just going through the motions and making sure everything movement-wise is effective and what we're doing on the field is going to be used in game.”
One sequence of plays immediately raised eyebrows. Agyei used his explosive speed to close distance and break up a screen pass by quarterback Michael Heirs into the flat for Joe Robustelli, much to the delight of coach Bell. Not long after, Agyei would get his first interception of camp, hauling in a pass by Jack Coan.
Two plays that acted as a small sample of what fans might see from Agyei -- the Riders’ sixth-round pick in the 2025 CFL Draft -- in the near future.
“It was a great feeling and just getting to the ball, making sure I'm always around the ball and just being a ball hog,” he said “That's all I'm about…I always got to get to the football and got to be obsessed with possession.”
Agyei might have a bit of a leg up on some of his fellow rookie campers thanks to Dinos defensive back coach Mike Edem, who himself is a former Roughriders d-back and brought a pro mentality to his USports team
“It definitely helps, just because every notion of the game that he taught me, it's being implemented here as well,” Agyei said. “But it's just learning a different playbook and everything like that.”
The Roughriders selected Agyei -- a native of Toronto out of Notre Dame high school -- in the sixth round, 52nd overall. Coming in at 6-foot-2 and 189 pounds, Agyei had 59 tackles, two interceptions and 11 pass deflections during 21 games over four seasons with the Dinos.
While his stats attracted attention, his performance at the CFL Combine put Agyei on the map. He had the fourth best 40-yard dash (4.59 seconds) and was second among defensive backs in that category, while also leading the DB class with 16 bench press reps and record the second best shuttle run at 4.27 seconds.
That all had Agyei hoping for a higher selection in the Draft, with going in the sixth round acting as extra motivation coming into his first pro season.
“Even coming into the season, I was very motivated and then obviously the season went how it went (a 2-6 finish, tied for last in Canada West),” Agyei said. “But I feel like I didn't accomplish things that I always set for myself when I got to the Dinos and set for myself this year. So, going to the sixth round is definitely some motivation with that.”
The key for the rest of camp will be to use that motivation to the best of his ability while putting the talents that got him to this point to good use.
“Just being aggressive and just having that dog mentality,” Agyei said. “Making sure I'm using my body well and just really using my leverages and understanding the different leverages, using my length to my advantage and always topping it off with a little bit of speed. So far, so good through one day.”
Roughriders rookie camp takes place from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. from Wednesday through Friday, leading into Main Camp beginning Sunday.
You can follow the team’s progress through training camp with the Saskatchewan Roughriders Training Camp Report, presented by Red Zone sports bar behind the Saskatoon Travelodge. Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder will break down the daily workouts with their analysis and insights from special guests on the SportsCage at 3 p.m. daily.
