New faces join Rider lineup as old faces return

Old and new faces were present at Riders practice as the team prepared for their Western Conference showdown with the Calgary Stampeders.

Injuries have recently plagued the team, but the team received good news when it comes to the quarterback position.

“It’s 100 per cent, you know, I wouldn’t be out here if it wasn’t,” Kevin Glenn told reporters following Wednesday’s practice.

“You never want to put your team in an awkward position as a quarterback when you can’t make certain throws, especially when you see the game plan and you know what the game plan entails.”

Head coach Chris Jones echoed Glenn’s statement, saying he expects the Quarterback to be fine for the upcoming match-up.

Glenn missed last week’s game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats due to a hand injury he sustained in the Banjo Bowl.

He said he told Chris Jones to keep him out of the game because he could feel his hand wasn’t fully healed.

“I didn’t want to put the team in an awkward situation where I’m out there to call a play and then I can’t make that throw because of the way my hand feels.”

Jones said having a few extra days between games helped the current injury situation.

He said the injury to Mike Edem appears to be a long-term one but it isn’t all doom and gloom for the defensive back.

“He told me this morning that he thought he’d be back quicker than what our trainers thought.”

Brouillette out of retirement, Bouka joins Riders

A few new faces were seen on the field as well.

Marc-Olivier Brouillette signed with the Riders this past off-season but announced his retirement shortly before training camp. He was practicing law in Montreal when the Riders gave him a call.

“I spoke about it with my family and my boss as well, I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t leaving him hanging and that I could continue working from a distance,” Brouillette said. “I’m dragging my laptop and my phone with me everywhere I go. There was a lot of shuffling that had to be done as far as court appearances that had to be done but the people back in Montreal at my law firm were amazing and made it a very seamless transition to get here.”

Brouillette said he was fine watching football on TV but got on the field during pre-game warm up during a Montreal and Toronto game.

“That night was tough, I almost picked up the phone and reached out to them to see if I could come back.”

Elie Bouka also joins the Riders after being at Arizona Cardinals training camp.

Bouka has a history of injuries, with a torn Achilles that stopped him from playing his final season at the University at Calgary and a hamstring injury that landed him on the injury reserve all of last season.

— With files from Arielle Zerr.