Roosevelt returns to Riders practice after knee sprain

Just a week after being moved to the six-game injured list, Naaman Roosevelt was back out on the field practicing with his teammates.

The star receiver hurt his knee during the Sept. 22 game but finished out the game. It wasn’t until the following day that the extent of the injury was felt.

“It was weird, my knee kind of twisted some type of way and at first it didn’t feel so bad, so I played the rest of the game,” Roosevelt explained. “The next day I woke up and it felt funny, it didn’t feel right.”

It was then that Roosevelt realized there was something else going on and the team decided to move him to the injured list just in case.

Since Roosevelt had hurt his knee before – though this time not nearly as badly – he had some idea of where he was at and how to tackle getting back into the line up as soon as possible. He worked hard with the team’s athletic therapists and strength and conditioning coach Clint Spencer and finally got the go-ahead to get back on the field.

“It felt good today, so we’ll see what happened for this Monday game and I’m excited if I can go out and play for you,” Roosevelt said.

Head coach Chris Jones said he was assured by their training staff that Roosevelt was at no risk of further injury which allowed him to take him off the six-game injured list.

“Naaman felt much better and our people in the training department said … he’s ready to play if we need him,” Jones said, adding placing him there, to begin with, was the safe thing to do.

Roosevelt will see how he felt after practice Saturday, but since he’s been pulled off the six-game it’s likely he’ll be suited up come Monday afternoon.

And don’t expect him to play any differently than he usually does.

“It’s hard knowing that injuries – they happen, but for me, it’s just to go out there and try to avoid them pretty much,” he said with a chuckle.

“If I’m going out there I’m full go no matter what. If it’s a ball in the air I’m going to get it. If my team needs me to go block I’m going to go make that block. For me, I know I’m the type of guy that’s just going to go out there and give it my all. Things like (injuries) happen, but I’m going to continue to do what I’m going to do for this team.”

NOTES

• Shaq Evans was absent from practice after going down hard near the end of practice on Thursday. Jones said that they weren’t monitoring him to see if he’d be able to play Monday. In the meantime, Kenny Shaw was practicing in his place.
• Loucheiz Purifoy, who had also been moved to the six-game injured list, was also practicing Saturday and expected to suit up for Monday’s game.