Riders work on establishing a fresh identity for the upcoming season
Building a team identity can takes weeks or months for a football team, but it’s vital to a team’s success.
Throw in a 20-month break and no preseason, it’s understandable that the Saskatchewan Roughriders are still finding their groove.
"It’s too tough to tell right now," Riders’ quarterback Cody Fajardo said. "The only way you can find out your true identity is what you do in the first couple of games, it’s not going to be you play one game and that’s your identity."
The Riders’ players arrived in Regina about a month ago, they’ve been on the field together for three weeks and now will play their first game that counts in almost two years coming up on Friday.
Head coach Craig Dickenson said the Riders are in the process of figuring out what kind of team they want to be.
"We’ve got a team that likes to work hard, we’ve got a team that likes to be around each other and then we’ll just see how it plays out over the next month or so," he said. "We’ll figure out who we are sooner or later, hopefully, it’s the best version of ourselves."
When the Riders’ last hit the field in 2019, it had established a stellar offence led by Fajardo. Many of the key pieces from that offence are back from 2021.
Fajardo will be back at quarterback, he’ll have Shaq Evans to throw to and William Powell steps back in at running back.
"We got a lot of guys back and we got a lot of new pieces that are going to be big contributors to us," said Powell, who finished with 1,093 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns in 2019. "We’ve seen flashes in camp from a multitude of different people, like newcomers that are joining our starting offence and I’m excited to see them play.
"We’ve just got to continue to get better. I’m excited to see everybody building our chemistry and getting into it."
Jason Maas takes over at offensive coordinator for the Riders after being hired prior to COVID-19 shutting down the Canadian Football League for 20 months.
Fajardo can’t wait to see Saskatchewan’s new offence in action.
"It’s incredibly exciting and I really can’t put it into words," he said. "We’ve grinded really hard for two years, just non-stop getting ready for this moment."
Fajardo, the West Division’s Most Outstanding Player in 2019, admitted that while he’s excited, he’s also a little nervous to hit the field against the B.C. Lions on Friday.
"I’m going to be super nervous, I might sail my first couple of passes because I’ll be so amped up with a sold out stadium, but we’ve got to put our emotions in check and we’ve got to go out there and play football like we’ve been doing all of our lives," he said.
The Riders host the Lions on Friday night at Mosaic Stadium. Kick-off is at 7:30 p.m.
HARKER WINS BACKUP QUARTERBACK JOB
Coach Dickenson revealed on Tuesday that Fajardo’s backup for Week 1 will be Isaac Harker. The second-year quarterback put together a strong showing over the past three weeks during training camp to beat out former NFL first round pick Paxton Lynch.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NDP motion regarding Palestinian statehood passes after major Liberal alterations
A motion from the federal New Democrats initially calling on Canada to recognize the 'State of Palestine' passed amid widespread acrimony on Monday, after the Liberals drastically altered its wording to see the government simply work towards that aim as part of a two-state solution.
'He didn't want to die': Family of Calgary man killed in standoff speaks out
Family of a Calgary man killed after a 30-hour standoff with police last week are speaking out, sharing details of the tense and heart-wrenching experience.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Ohio mom who left toddler alone 10 days when she went on vacation pleads guilty to aggravated murder
An Ohio mother whose 16-month-old daughter died after being left home alone in a playpen for 10 days last summer while she went on vacation was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Retired teacher pleads guilty to paying for sex with 15-year-old in Collingwood, Ont.
In a Barrie courtroom on Monday, a retired high school teacher from the Niagara Region pleaded guilty to sexual touching and obtaining sexual services from a 15-year-old boy in Collingwood in 2021.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
5 charged in Calgary kidnappings that targeted women
Calgary police have charged five men in a pair of kidnappings last year that targeted innocent victims.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Canadian commander of volunteer fighter group dies in Ukraine
A Canadian-born commander of the so-called Norman Brigade, a volunteer fighting group in Ukraine, has died.