Roughriders travel to Edmonton ahead of pre-season finale

After spending just over the last two weeks in Saskatoon, the Roughriders completed their portion of training camp in the Bridge City on Friday with a final walkthrough before their pre-season finale in Edmonton on Saturday.

“Everybody is excited to roll,” said head coach Corey Mace after the walkthrough. “We’re not going to (be) playing a tremendous amount of starters, but it is an opportunity for guys to prove that they deserve to be a part of this team. There’s a lot of close battles that us coaches have to keep an eye on and this is the best opportunity that you can have for being in the situation.”

It does not appear that quarterback Trevor Harris will dress for the game Saturday afternoon in Edmonton, but he will make the trip with the team to help guide some of the younger players.

“(He is a) leader. Really to be able to be an extra coach on the field and allow these quarterbacks to be as successful as possible (is) what I love about Trevor and all the leaders out here,” Mace said. “We’re encouraging each other to be the best version of ourselves and I love that from our veteran leadership.”

With Harris likely being on the sideline, Mason Fine is expected to see a lot more reps than last week as he makes the case to become the backup quarterback.

He’s excited for the opportunity.

“I think you just go out there and do your job. Nothing is solidified yet. You got to go out there and execute and play within the offence,” he explained. “I just need to make sure my eyes are sharp, my feet are sharp, throw accurate balls, make the right reads and what happens, happens.”

Fine added his biggest goal if he earns the backup quarterback spot will be to always be available in case there are points where he gets inserted into the action.

“I’m excited to get out there on the football field and just play loose, play free, don’t put too much pressure on myself and just see these guys make plays and see this offence roll down the field,” he said.

Earlier in the week, coach Mace said that Monday’s pre-season opener against Winnipeg saw them find a lot more answers than questions. When asked about what questions still need to be answered, Mace said there are a couple of positions still up for grabs.

“At some certain positions, I think there’s still opportunities for guys to solidify themselves and also for filling out the roster spots – we talk about special teams and the importance of that – and this is the time when you get an aggressive amount of reps from that standpoint – so it allows us to see if you have a strong grip of the playbook,” Mace explained.

Mace added fans could see some players on the defensive side of the ball moving around in different positions throughout the lineup.

“It’s one of those things why I love coach (Joshua) Bell. Early on from the defensive back standpoint he’d say, ‘Hey, here’s your position, but know all of them, because we will move you everywhere.’ We’ve been doing that in camp and we’ll probably end up doing that in the game,” Mace said.

“The more you can do is the old adage and that holds true. We’ll mix up the lineups, but we prepped them for that. If we do get in a jam for whatever reason – whether it’s tomorrow or throughout the season – we feel comfortable that the guys can understand and can digest the playbook and we can still execute the gameplan without having to hamper it,” he added.

Saturday’s game in Edmonton at Commonwealth Stadium is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.