‘It’s fun’: Riders’ Shivers excited to face off against Jones in Edmonton

Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive co-ordinator Jason Shivers will get a chance Saturday to take on the man who brought him into the CFL coaching ranks.

“It’s fun. This will be the first time we get to go against each other in a game,” said Shivers, who took on his current role when then-head coach Chris Jones left the Roughriders for an NFL opportunity with the Cleveland Browns in 2019.

“He had a big impact as far as allowing me to grow as a coach and give me the ability to take my players and groom them under his watch. But he taught me a lot.”

Jones is to meet his former team for the first time as the Edmonton Elks head coach at Commonwealth Stadium. Kickoff for the game is set for 7:30 p.m. The Green Zone pre-game show is to begin at 5:30 p.m.

Shivers first broke into the pro coaching ranks as a defensive assistant with the Toronto Argonauts under Jones, who was the defensive co-ordinator at the time. Shivers was then hired as defensive backs coach for Jones’ first run in Edmonton and eventually joined Jones in Saskatchewan as well.

Now into his third season of running the Riders’ defence, Shivers has turned the game plan into one of his own — but he admits there is still some of the Jones’ influence in it.

“I think our defences both start from those foundations, but over time I’ve changed the terminology or thought process of how I want to attack offensive co-ordinators,” Shivers said. “Even though we come from the same tree, we do have a difference in how we want to attack.”

It could turn into an interesting chess match between Shivers and Elks offensive co-ordinator Stephen McAdoo.

McAdoo held that same title in Saskatchewan and had his offence go against Shivers’ defence many times in practice.

“We know each other. You just try to have some wrinkles in there,” Shivers said. “I know they will have some.

“They know I’m a fundamental-type coach, so I’m not going to get too far out of the framework but I’m going to have something exotic for them, just to say hello.”

Jones is back as a bench boss in the CFL and brought in some of his old staff from his time as the Riders’ head coach from 2016 to ’18, including McAdoo, passing game co-ordinator Jarious Jackson, running game co-ordinator Markus Howell, linebackers coach Cam Robinson, special-teams coach Merritt Bowden, and special-teams assistant Mike Scheper.

A number of Jones’ former assistants are still members of the Riders’ staff, including Shivers, current head coach Craig Dickenson, special-teams co-ordinator Kent Maugeri, receivers coach Travis Moore, and offensive line coach Stephen Sorrells.

“It’s no different than anyone else: He’s trying to get his team ready and I’m trying to get mine (ready),” Dickenson said of Jones.

“He’s a smart individual and he will have them playing hard, I’m sure of that. He will have some tricks up his sleeves as well. It will be good to see them before the game but once the game starts, it’s just a game.”

The teams find themselves on two different paths following Week 1. The Riders are coming off a 30-13 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, led by a defence that had eight sacks and forced five turnovers.

Meanwhile, the Elks will try to regroup following a 59-15 drubbing at the hands of the B.C. Lions.

Shivers has an idea about what the locker room was like after the Elks’ loss with Jones on the bench.

“I know he got after them,” Shivers said. “I know he likes to work and he’s not going to leave any stone unturned, especially after something like that.

“I know he’s going to go back to his fundamentals, he’s going to demand a lot out of his coaches (and) he’s going to demand a lot out of his players. We are going into a hostile house and they are going to want to fight.

“It’s not going to be a sparring match. It’s going to be a boxing match.”