Riders punter Jon Ryan out 2-3 weeks with ankle injury

The Saskatchewan Roughriders will be without the big leg of Jon Ryan against the Montreal Alouettes.

In the third quarter of Saturday’s 20-17 CFL win over the Stampeders in Calgary, Ryan ran down the field to try and recover his own punt, but badly turned an ankle on the attempt. Kicker Brett Lauther handled the punting duties for the remainder of that game.

“(Ryan’s) not going to play this week. He’s got an ankle that’s swelled up pretty good, so he’s going to be out for two to three weeks,” Saskatchewan head coach Craig Dickenson said Tuesday.

“(The doctors) are going to take a look at it again and make sure nothing’s broken. We think it’s just a high-ankle (sprain) but it’s severe enough that he won’t play this week.”

In the absence of Ryan, the Riders appear poised to turn to one of their global punters — Australian Ben Scruton and Norway’s Kaare Vedvik — in the game in Montreal on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m.

“We’re going to let those guys punt this week and see which one has a better week of practice and go with that one,” Dickenson said. “Scruton is learning — he has his good days and his bad days and I think his consistency is an issue, but hopefully we can straighten him out that way. He’s got plenty of leg.

“Kaare Vedvik, we don’t know enough about him since he has only been with us for a week. I like what I see and the film of him shows him able to do it at a high level.”

Vedvik played college football at Marshall University and was named to the 2017 C-USA All-Conference First Team as a punter.

Vedvik had stints with eight NFL teams between 2018 and 2021, making stops with the Baltimore Ravens, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Washington Football Team and Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Riders announced his signing on Oct. 10.

Scruton spent four seasons at the University of Hawaii before coming to the CFL.

Clark grateful for the opportunity with Riders

Having backups play a big role isn’t new for the Riders, with the latest examples coming in the win over Calgary.

Due to injuries in the secondary, defensive backs Damon Webb and Jeremy Clark got their first CFL starts with second-year safety Jacob Dearborn also getting a lot of playing time.

All three intercepted Calgary quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell in the win.

“It was crazy. It was like a dream. With COVID and everything, I was just happy to be back on the field. To get the pick, that was just icing on the cake,” Clark said.

Clark caught the pass and nearly ran it in for a defensive touchdown before getting brought down at the Calgary seven-yard line.

“Some guys had the angle on me. Some (Roughriders) went to block linemen and that’s not who we need to worry about; I can outrun the linemen. It was some of the receivers who needed to get blocked,” Clark said.

Clark played college football at the University of Michigan and was taken by the Jets in the sixth round of the 2017 NFL draft. He was waived in 2019 and last played football in 2020 in the XFL with the Seattle Dragons.

“I had a good time (with Seattle). I felt like the entire organization of the XFL was a good one and it was fun. I had a good time in it,” Clark said. “I had no prior knowledge (of the CFL) but I was just excited to play football again. I knew some of the rules were a little different.”

While he and his fellow contributors on defence didn’t have the CFL resume many others had, he wasn’t surprised they were able to step up in Saturday’s game.

“Everybody holds each other to a high standard here and all week in practice, guys were making plays,” Clark said. “If anybody gets an opportunity to get on the field, I believe anyone will be prepared for it.

“The more people that get on the field, the more you guys (in the media) will see there’s a lot of talent in our room.”