It’s the final Friday before the final home game of the Roughriders’ 2015 season.
With the Riders out of playoff contention, there won’t be any more CFL games in 2015 at Mosaic Stadium after Saturday’s contest against the Edmonton Eskimos. There are still two road games remaining, so there more to this disappointing season.
With that in mind, here are the highlights from Friday’s walk through at Mosaic Stadium:
— Loads of changes to the Riders’ 46-man roster. The Riders have added seven players – QB Blake Sims, K Tyler Crapigna, RB Anthony Allen, TB Chad Spann, LB Nathan Kanya, FB Mat Rea and DT Rory Connop. Off the 46 are DE Alex Hall, QB Kevin Glenn, K Paul McCallum, DB Dan West, RB Jerome Messam, LB Nehemie Kankolongo and RT Jermarcus Hardrick.
— Hall, McCallum and West have all been added to the one-game injured list. Hall is out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury, so I expect he will be on the one-game list for a while. McCallum was deactivated on Monday and won’t return for the remainder of the season.
Tyron Brackenridge is expected to sit out Saturday’s game as the Riders evaluate some prospects (BRYAN SCHLOSSER/Leader-Post)
— Centre Dan Clark worked out with the Riders on Tuesday for the first time since suffering a concussion against the B.C. Lions on Oct. 3. Interim head coach Bob Dyce said Friday that Clark suffered a setback after the practice and was placed on the one-game injured list. Clark’s status is game to game.
— Most of the roster moves take place on the defensive side of the ball. DT Tearrius George and LB Tyron Brackenridge will likely be scratched from Saturday’s line-up. George didn’t take part in Friday’s walk through and Brackenridge was in street clothes. They will both pick up game cheques, which is some consolation for not playing.
— The moves are a result of the Riders wanting to evaluate some of their younger players. Tim Agbaje and Rory Connop are listed as George’s replacements at defensive tackle. George is listed as Andre Monroe’s backup on the depth chart. Markus White moves into a starting role with Hall on the injured list.
— The return of middle linebacker Jake Doughty from a serious knee injury contributed to the move with Brackenridge. Doughty is to start in the middle with rookie Jeff Knox Jr. at weakside linebacker and Macho Harris remains on the strongside.
— Matt Webster is listed as the starting safety, but Keenan MacDougall has worked with the first-team defence during practice this week. That tells me MacDougall will see a great deal of action on Saturday.
— Offensively, Levy Adcock starts at right tackle. Adcock has been sidelined with a knee injury since Aug. 8. Anthony Allen takes over at running back with Spann as his backup.
— As expected, Brett Smith starts at quarterback with Keith Price and Sims serving as his backups. I’ll have more on Smith’s seventh start of the season online later and in Saturday’s Leader-Post.
— I also have a feature on Knox, who is wearing pink in honour of his father passing away last year from colon cancer. Saturday’s game is the Riders’ Pink Game, which is designed to raise awareness and funds for women’s cancers. Knox is aware of that and supports the program. He just felt strongly about recognizing his father’s struggles with the disease so decided to wear pink. I don’t think anyone will be too upset by Knox’s decision.
