Two players were removed from Tuesday's practice after emotions boiled over at Saskatchewan Roughriders' training camp.
The Riders put on shoulder pads for day three of training camp at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon. The pads immediately increased the physicality of the workout, ramping up emotions and intensity.
The workout began with special teams working on open-field tackling drills. Following some systemic work on protection and blocking schemes within special teams, the Green and White split into their individual positional groups for one-on-one battles between linemen, receivers and defensive backs, and running backs and linebackers.
The coaching staff, along with vice president of football operations Jeremy O’Day and player personnel coordinator Larry Dean, paid great attention to the offensive and defensive line battles. There are currently 17 offensive linemen in camp with the Roughriders and 16 defensive linemen on the field. Defensively, Alex Gubner, Eric Black, and Shane Ray performed well in the one-on-ones. Offensively, Jermarcus Hardrick, Jacob Brammer, and Daniel Johnson showed well.
Following that portion of practice, head coach Corey Mace blasted his whistle and called all players into a huddle on the 25-yard line at the north end of the field. After brief instructions, the players began hollering as the team was going to enter an offensive versus defensive full-contact period.
After a spirited session where both sides of the ball took turns making plays, it was into full team period. The full-contact scrimmage saw both sides of the ball make plays. Trevor Harris threw two touchdown passes to Joe Robustelli, the first of which saw the receiver do the 'Griddy' in front of his defensive teammates.
When the next group of players came onto the field, Jake Maier was at quarterback. One of his first pass attempts was into the breeze, holding the ball up in the air. This allowed A.J. Allen to elevate and snatch the ball for an interception and his subsequent return ended in the north end zone.
In the following sequence, emotions began to run high. Maier was forced to scramble out of the pocket on first down, eventually running out of bounds by defensive lineman Justin Jefferson, much to the delight of his defensive teammates. On second down, Maier returned to pass, Jefferson broke through the line and hit the veteran quarterback. Jefferson was immediately confronted by his teammates, particularly offensive lineman Julius Buelow. The sidelines emptied with players looking to break up a scuffle, resulting in both Jefferson and Buelow being sent off the field by Mace.
“We looked at some stuff last night, a little scrum here and there is OK, but if we get punches thrown, you’re out of practice," the 39-year-old bench boss said.
When cooler heads prevailed, the Roughriders resumed their team work before stretching on the field to wrap up the workout. Aside from the fight, Mace was happy with the intensity from his team with the pads on.
“Every year in this league, that’s what it is, day one of pads. We talked about it last night, about doing it the right way and for the most part, we did that.”
Star Canadian receiver Kian Schaeffer-Baker was happy to have the pads on again.
“95 percent of the game we’re blocking, so that’s what we get to do, go out and smack something. You can’t hide when the pads are on. You saw the energy.”
Other notes from day three:
- FB Natan Girouard-Langlois left the workout early with medical staff.
- LB Seth Hundeby did not practice for a second straight day.
- REC Shawn Bane Jr. was running on the sidelines at Griffiths Stadium but did not participate in practice.
- FB Albert Awachie did not practice.
- DeMarcus Fields made an athletic interception early, catching a ball from Trevor Harris that was off the mark.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are back on the field at Griffiths Stadium at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
