Jamie Nye’s observations on the Roughriders’ Green and White game

The Green and White game went down on Saturday and here are the names that caught my attention ahead of cut down day on July 30.

#77 Alain Cimankinda – The 2021 draft pick and defensive lineman compared his game to that of Aaron Donald of the NFL early in camp. Comparing yourself to Donald is a little brave, as the undersized tackle is one of the best defenders on the planet. Now, I’m not saying Cimankinda is accurate and will be a star in the NFL anytime soon, but the young man was in the backfield and around the running backs a lot on Saturday and already looks like he’s fitting in nicely to professional football.

#81 Mitch Picton – We shouldn’t have to introduce you to Picton in Saskatchewan. He was a star receiver for the University of Regina and is hoping to finally get a regular role with the Roughriders. He caught passes from all but one quarterback and was a reliable target all day. Coach Craig Dickenson even noticed his versatility after the practice as a quality that could land him a job.

#92 Garrett Marino – Sacks, pressures, run stopping. He was all over the offensive linemen on Saturday and it’ll be hard to keep him off the field despite the tremendous depth the Riders have along the defensive line. Marino has been a headache for most of training camp on the offence.

#42 DeMarquis Gates – Gates not only had an interception on the day that he finished off with a somersault into the end zone, but he also had several would be tackles as he was going sideline to sideline. Like Marino, however, was it enough to push out some other linebackers with the team’s tremendous depth? We’ll find out on cut day July 30.

#88 Paul McRoberts – McRoberts may have had the most difficult catch of the day, in traffic, and came up with the catch. He also made a great catch on a tipped ball on the first throw from scrimmage off the hand of Cody Fajardo. McRoberts is getting a lot of reps with the first team offence with Jordan Williams-Lambert’s hand injury and he appears to be making the best of it. He was a standout in last year’s training camp as wel,l but never got much of a chance in the regular season.

#71 Henry Nell – I have to give a shoutout to the international kicker, who went 3 for 3 on field goals, with two coming from 37 and 38 yards. While it’s highly unlikely he pushes Brett Lauther out of a job, the kicker showed well on Saturday.

#93 Pete Robertson – The defensive end had a few pressures, a knockdown and a sack. Robertson is getting time off the edge with starter A.C. Leonard not playing, and other training camp standouts Keion Adams and Tim Williams watching from the sideline as well. The Riders appear to have some options to replace future Hall of Famer Charleston Hughes at DE.

#4 Paxton Lynch – Lynch closed out both halves with the ball and led the team to field goals. He did throw an interception on a tipped ball, but on his next drive he completed all four of his passes to close out the scrimmage. To end the first half he made a great throw across the middle to Mitch Picton to extend the drive on third down before hitting Justin McInnis and Paul McRoberts to set up another field goal that ended the half. He showed good control of the huddle to run a one minute offence.