Riders training camp intensifies as players sport pads on the field

The Saskatchewan Roughriders brought out the pads at Griffiths Stadium on Tuesday for spring training.

“The intensity rose, and that was to be expected,” said head coach Corey Mace.

At one point, Mace had to stop a skirmish between defensive end Malik Carney and running back AJ Ouellette.

“It’s all love,” Carney said following practice. “When you get two dogs on the field, there might be a little barking, but you know it’s all love and competition.”

Mace said they had assumed something like that was bound to happen once the pads went on.

“It does every year, to be honest. The main thing is understanding we are a family first, and like most families, you might not always agree, but we got to make sure we come to a solution,” Mace said.

“We just have to be smart because we get into situations like that, those are penalties. We don’t want to lose anyone to that, and we don’t want to hurt our team.”

After a long off-season, new linebacker Jameer Thurman said the players were champing at the bit to get some contact in during camp.

“Once the pads come on, all that aggression through the off-season of no training and stuff like that, you get to take it out on someone else,” Thurman said.

Centre Peter Godber was also glad to finally hit someone a little harder than they have been.

“We have been at it for a few days – even without pads on, it feels like a physical sport but it ramps it up a little bit more,” Godber said.

While the pads were on, the team still had to be aware it was their teammates they were going against.

That won’t be the case on May 20, when the Riders have their first preseason game with a home date against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Riders sign fifth-round pick Daniel Johnson

One of the Riders’ 2024 draft picks has inked a deal with the team.

Offensive tackle Daniel Johnson is expected to join the green and white after agreeing to a deal. The fifth-round draft pick (41st overall) had attended rookie mini-camp with the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.

The London, Ont., product spent the past two seasons (2022-23) at Purdue University, where he played 10 games for the Boilermakers, making four starts. The 6′5”, 307-pound lineman has shown versatility having lined up as an offensive tackle on both the right and left side of the line.

Before attending Purdue, he spent four seasons at Kent State University where he played 13 games and made six starts.