SASKATOON -- It’s safe to say that Dalton Urban is having the time of his life at Saskatchewan Roughriders rookie camp.
The Saskatoon Hilltops standout is currently taking the field in his hometown and doing all he can to try and crack the roster for main camp as one of dozens of up-and-coming players in action this week at Griffiths Field.
And if everything goes according to plan for the 6-foot-0, 180-pound defensive back and two-time Prairie Football Conference all star, he’ll be wearing the green and white for the foreseeable future.
“It's surreal to be out here, exciting every day,” Urban told the Voice of the Roughriders Dave Thomas after camp wrapped on Thursday afternoon. “I'm happy to be out here and just grateful for the opportunity to come to practice. These are some great athletes out here so I'm thankful for one and then just trying to get to know the guys, get to know the playbook as much as I can so I can just learn and get better each day.”
Urban got the call to Riders rookie camp a couple weeks ago, thanks to someone extremely familiar with Saskatchewan football putting in a good word for the four-year Hilltops veteran.
“I got a call from my head coach Tom Sargeant and he let me know that he was going to put my name forward to get invited to the camp,” Dalton explained. “Then they got in contact with me shortly after and then I've been ready to go ever since.”
Sargeant’s recommendation came for good reason.
In 2023, Urban racked up seven interceptions in 12 games, and last season the former St. Joseph Guardian standout had three interceptions, a 39-yard fumble recovery touchdown and three pass knockdowns.
Urban has brought a positive attitude to the field and has done his best to attract the positive kind of attention, even as a late addition to the rookie camp roster.
“I mean all the guys, they're like brothers right now,” Urban said. “They're helping me out as a new guy coming in, especially getting the playbook late and all that stuff so I got to compete in every drill for sure. But we're also learning together, growing together just because as a DB we all got to work together.”
The good news is the coaching staff -- including one rather important member -- have noticed him out there, and even had a bit of fun with his name.
“Our junior player, Urban, got himself a little pick there, so I'm sure I can't wait for what the nicknames are for Urban,” joked head coach Corey Mace after Wednesday’s rookie camp. “They called him Keith Urban earlier, so we'll see if that sticks.”
For his part, Urban really doesn’t care about what nickname he receives as long as it’s prefaced by ‘Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive back’.
“Yeah I just found out, he told me in the meetings room before joking around that some of the guys were calling me Keith, so yeah, they can call me whatever they want,” Urban said. “I'm good with whatever.”
One day remains in rookie camp, running Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 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.
