Roughriders easing into training camp after ‘freak’ injuries days before

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are taking the slow, cautious approach to begin training camp.

Head coach Craig Dickenson said the coaches originally planned to have one-on-ones and have the players compete against each other on Saturday.

But with four players — linebacker Larry Dean, defensive end Freddie Bishop III, defensive back Nelson Lokombo and running back Jonathan Femi-Cole — suffering what are believed to be torn Achilles injuries on Thursday, those plans were turned asunder.

“That was a gut shot. That was something I never experienced in all my years of football,” Dickenson said Saturday. “It was really heartbreaking for me as a coach, knowing that it was really damaging to our team but also as a human being and knowing you’ve got four young men that have worked really hard to put themselves into position to play football. To have something like that is just heartbreaking.

“I think the team is still in a bit of shock, to be quite honest, but we’re going to work through it and try to support those guys as best we can and try to give them all the reassurances that we can to get them healthy again and get them on the field. We asked the team to basically let us earn their trust back and I felt today was a good step in that direction.”

Safety Mike Edem and quarterback Cody Fajardo were both present on the field on Thursday when the injuries occurred.

Edem doesn’t believe the drill — which involved medicine balls and explosively running to a spot on the field — led to the injuries.

“It’s a freak accident; 10 out of 10 times that’s not going to happen again,” Edem said. “We’re trying to put it behind us and look forward.”

Fajardo said it seemed like it was out of a movie with how quick everything happened.

“It’s not like it was some random, new drill that we just threw in. We’ve done those before and we could do it a million times and I don’t think you see four of the same exact injuries happen. I think it was a super fluke thing,” Fajardo said.

Dickenson is now electing to not have competitive drills or one-on-ones until Day 3 of camp on Monday.

“I don’t think we’re going to be behind any other team. We’ve got to stay healthy. We’ve failed in that so far, but hopefully moving forward we can continue to get stronger and get our conditioning better and start to learn the system and I don’t think we will be behind at all,” Dickenson said.

“I’m not going to put a lot of stock in what these guys do (Saturday or Sunday). In fact, I told them you’re not going to make the team in these next two days.

“The reality is we’re trying really hard to tell these guys to learn, go through the procedural stuff, learn the drills, learn the scheme, learn how to practise, get a feel for how your coach coaches and Day 3 and Day 4 when we start heating it up, that’s when I’ll start watching these guys a little closer.”

Fajardo thinks taking things slow is the right move, especially for the rookies.

“We signed some rookies that have never seen a CFL field, never done a waggle and to be able to come out here and not go straight against a defence is a benefit, not only physically but mentally as well, Fajardo said. “I think (the coaches) are doing a good service for these young guys to have a good shot making this team with no pre-season games.”

Dickenson admitted that after Day 1 of camp, conditioning is a concern.

“I’ll be honest with you: Our guys were not in great shape,” he said. “But we kind of knew that and we expected that. We’re not going to punish them for that.

“One of the things I did say to the team in the first meeting is that we do have time and I want them to be patient and we will be patient with them and it’s really important that they allow their bodies to slowly come along because I think a lot of them have trained.

“When you look at them, they’re mean and they’re lean and they’re strong. You know they have been training. It’s just different when you play football.”

But while there was some sombre feelings about what had occurred earlier in the week, there was a lot of excitement as many players hit the field for a full team practice for the first time in about 600 days. The 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID-19.

“When I was sitting at home, I told myself I would do anything I could to play CFL football and that’s the situation we’re in,” Fajardo said. “The restrictions are hard but I wouldn’t want it any other way because I get to play CFL football.”

Dickenson said the time away from the game helped him find a new appreciation for it.

“I think absence makes the heart grow fonder, I really do,” he said. “I will say that doesn’t work in my personal life with the people I’ve dated, (but) I think when it comes to football, when you really love something and it’s something you cherish and really want to do on annual basis, on a daily basis being away from it is really tough on you.

“I think these last 18 months or so has really energized a lot of coaches … The absence has made each coach hungrier to get out there and coach and I think it has made us all appreciate our jobs and what we do that much more.”

Early look at offensive line, linebacker battles

Two of the positions of interest at this year’s training camp are the offensive line and the linebackers.

With all-star Brendon Labatte and Takoby Cofield electing to sit out 2021 as of now, there are only two returning players from the 2019 group along the O-line — centre Dan Clark and tackle Terran Vaughn.

During the first day of camp, Evan Johnson and Brett Boyko lined up at the guards while Vaughn and newcomer Cyrus Kouandijo lined up at the tackles. Clark was in his normal centre position with the starters.

At linebacker, with the loss of Dean, Edem lined up at the strong-side linebacker spot with Oluwaseun Idowu in the middle and Canadian Micah Teitz at the other spot. Jacob Dearborn handled the safety position.

That could be changed with the arrival of Deon Lacey, who is expected to have his first day of camp Sunday. Dickenson said Lacey still had to quarantine for one more day.

NOTES: Along with Lacey, defensive back Blace Brown is also expected to arrive in camp Sunday. Quarterback Paxton Lynch and defensive back Nick Marshall are expected to be in camp on Monday, offensive lineman Antonia Garcia is expected to be there on Wednesday, defensive lineman Tim Williams on Thursday and defensive back Mike Stevens on July 17. Offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson, wide receiver Carlos Henderson and defensive back Kentrel Brice are not in camp yet but the team is working on getting them to it. Linebacker Gary Johnson Jr. and defensive lineman Sterling Shippy both became new fathers recently and the team is expecting them to join shortly … Defensive lineman Jonathan Woodard had some groin tightness so the Roughriders shut him down early for the day.