Terran Vaughn to start on Saskatchewan Roughriders’ offensive line

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are to make another change to their offensive line early this CFL season.

Terran Vaughn is to make his first start of the season at right tackle when the Roughriders meet the Toronto Argonauts on Monday night.

“We want to go into the bye week having a good idea of who our offensive line is,” Saskatchewan head coach Craig Dickenson said after practice Saturday at Mosaic Stadium. “We feel like to truly evaluate everyone, they need to play in a game.”

Vaughn joined the Roughriders in September 2017 before re-signing a couple months later in December. He dressed for seven games in 2018.

Vaughn will be replacing seven-year veteran Thaddeus Coleman. Coleman joined the Roughriders in 2016 and has played in 56 games with the team. Before coming to Saskatchewan, Coleman was a member of the Edmonton Eskimos for three seasons.

“(Coleman) understands we have to constantly develop this team and he was our weakest tackle,” Dickenson said. “(Left tackle Takoby) Cofield graded out higher (than Coleman) — not that Thaddeus had a bad game, but the plan was to get Vaughn some reps all along so it just happened to be Thaddeus (who Vaughn will be replacing).”

Vaughn said he’s anxious about the opportunity to get onto the CFL field as a starter.

“You’re just excited to get back out on the field with the guys and just play out there with them,” Vaughn said. “It’s real exciting.”

He added the offensive line group is tight-knit, which allows different players to jump into the starting role without missing a beat.

“That just speaks to how great these guys are and how much of a family we are,” Vaughn said. “It makes it so much easier preparing for the game knowing Thaddeus is in my corner and he wants me to do well and he’s helping me so I can do well.”

Vaughn’s insertion into the line marks another change the Roughriders have made to the group since the beginning of the season.

The team is missing offensive linemen Brendon LaBatte and Dariusz Bladek. LaBatte is on the six-game injured list due to a leg injury, and Bladek injured his knee in the Roughriders’ Week 1 23-17 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Dakoda Shepley is playing right guard in Bladek’s absence while veteran Philip Blake has been playing left guard in LaBatte’s absence. Cofield and centre Dan Clark round out the team’s starters.

Despite the changes on the offensive line early in the season, the Roughriders are averaging a league-best 140 rushing yards per game after two weeks.

“We don’t just want to be the No. 1 rushing group, we want to be the No. 1 O-line,” Vaughn said. “Every week we’re just trying to get one per cent better. We’re running the ball pretty good but we’ve got to protect (the quarterback) and just keep doing everything as an offensive line that we need to do to put our best foot forward to get some wins.”

The team will be looking to bounce back from an 0-2 start when it takes the field Monday against an Argonauts team that lost 64-14 against the Tiger-Cats in Week 2.

Dickenson said it’s tough to make sure everyone remains in the right mindset when going against an opponent that just got blown out.

“It’s natural for guys to relax, but the reality is (Toronto) is a good football team on paper and I tried to express this to the guys,” Dickenson said. “Our guys know (Toronto) is going to come in hungry, they’re a wounded animal right now and they’re very much set on proving they’re a better football team than the last game.”

Dickenson said there’s more pressure on the Roughriders to come out and perform well than there is on the Argonauts.

“We’ve had two games to figure out what we’re doing, and it’s time to go out and perform,” Dickenson said.

No decision reached on Elimimian, Arceneaux

The playing status of two of the Roughriders’ free-agent signings from this past off-season still remains in question.

Linebacker Solomon Elimimian and wide receiver Emmanuel Arceneaux have been practising all week after starting the year on the one-game injured list.

Elimimian suffered a calf injury during training camp and didn’t take the field all season until earlier this week. Arceneaux suffered a torn ACL that ended his season last September and has been out on the field for a few weeks.

Dickenson said a decision hasn’t been made on the two of them.

“We’re going to hold off on that until the last minute,” Dickenson said.

Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. Monday. The Green Zone pre-game show will begin at 3 p.m.