Earl Okine is quickly establishing himself as a key member of the Rider defense after scoring a defensive touchdown in his fourth game as a Rider.

He's only been with the team for four weeks, but says it feels like he's been wearing green and white for the whole year.

"Oh man it was fun man, just to put my team up that was the only thing I was thinking about. So yeah it was great,” Okine said at practice Thursday.

"Okine’s done a good job, he's gotten steadily better each week, and he's got some length to him, so he does bring some length and some ability to rush the passer,” Riders head coach Craig Dickenson said.

Okine has seen all kinds of football, spending time in other leagues like Arena Football, Alliance of American Football, and the National Football League. But he is learning the Canadian game from familiar faces like A.C. Leonard.

"He was one of my best friends even before we came up here because we're from around the same area, so we hangout anyways, but yeah I learned some tips from him. But I get a lot of stuff from Charleston Hughes, I just pick his brain pretty much every day, always nagging him and stuff,” Okine said.

In four games with the Riders, the 6'7” 280 lbs defensive end out of Gainesville, Florida has recorded three tackles and a touchdown.

Okine has started in place of Leonard, who was on the six game injured list. Leonard is back practicing, and questions continue to swirl around who will start against the Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday.

"We’re not sure yet, we've also got 95, Lavar Edwards in the mix. So we'll just see, I mean that's a conversation I’ll have with the defensive staff later today. We can't dress them all but we'll figure out which group we want to dress and we'll go from there,” Dickenson said.

Dickenson says there are a couple options they can take with the d-line, like rotating three linemen at end, or tackle or just having four ends. But after two weeks of rest, Leonard says he's ready to play.

"I’m feeling great man, I’m feeling great, ready to go, energized, man I’m ready to get out there,” defensive end Leonard said.

Okine says he's not that worried whether it's going to be a rotation, or if he's going to get the start. He just wants to play football.