Josiah St. John back in Riders’ lineup after knee injury in training camp

Josiah St. John expected the worst.

“Did I just tear my ACL? Is my season over?” St. John said, remembering his thoughts after he suffered a knee injury early in Saskatchewan Roughriders training camp.

“This off-season, me, (Logan) Ferland and Dan (Clark) had a really good off-season. We were here at 5 a.m. working out and all three of us were really excited about the prospects of this season. So to see me go down that early was heartbreaking not only for me, but for all of us.”

Luckily for the 30-year-old St. John, the prognosis ended up being a torn medial collateral ligament.

“That’s the better of the (ligaments) to tear, which was an interesting process three days into camp. I was really feeling good (and) I had a really good off-season,” St. John said. “It was a little setback but (my mindset was to) just keep working.”

With Logan Bandy out for Friday’s CFL game against the visiting B.C. Lions due to being in COVID-19 protocol, Ferland will move from guard to centre and St. John is expected to start at guard. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Green Zone pre-game show begins at 5 p.m.

“It’s good to get (St. John) back out there and I know he’s keen to get going again and he will get some playing time this week,” Riders head coach Craig Dickenson said.

“He’s still working the rust off a little bit. It takes time, but he’s going to be better this week than he was last week and hopefully next week he will be better than he was this week.”

“It means a lot (that the coaches have faith in me). I’ve been here for a while — other than Dan, I’m the oldest-tenured offensive lineman we’ve got here,” St. John said. “I’m really excited and really happy they feel that way about me.”

The injury was yet another hurdle for the 2016 first overall draft pick. From 2016 through ’19, St. John had only appeared in 22 regular-season games.

In 2021, he appeared in 14 games for the Riders, mostly as the team’s sixth offensive lineman.

While 2022 once again saw him land on the injured list, he used that time to go into “off-season mode” and focus on lifting weights and increasing his upper-body strength.

“What can I do to make sure I’m using this time as an advantage and make sure I’m physically strong and mentally sharp when I come back so I don’t have to miss a beat?” St. John said of his mindset.

St. John returned to the lineup last week against the Toronto Argonauts.

“It was interesting. Because of the COVID situation, we barely practised last week so it was kind of a rough run for me — just kind of get out there and feel space again,” St. John said. “Having this time to practise and be able to suit up last week, it’s been able to get me back into the mode how I usually feel.”

The Riders’ offensive line will also look to re-establish the run game after struggling the past couple games against the Argos. The Riders had 140 yards rushing over two games, 51 of those coming on one run from Jamal Morrow in the Touchdown Atlantic game on July 16.

“We will pick it up. It’s one of those things where we’ve had a lot of adversity but we need to push and work through all of that,” St. John said. “We have a good group (in the locker room) and everyone cares. It matters to everybody.”

NOTES: The Roughriders announced the signing Wednesday of running back Shaq Cooper. The 29-year-old was at training camp with Saskatchewan but was released after camp ended. With Frankie Hickson in COVID protocol, Cooper is expected to back up Morrow in Friday’s game.