VANCOUVER — Davis Tull aced his final exam.
Whether he passes the course remains to be seen.
Tull had five tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in their 42-10 pre-season loss to the B.C. Lions on Friday. With the CFL roster deadline set for later today, Tull — and others like him — may have needed a strong performance to lock up a job.
Well? Did he do enough?
“I hope so,” he said after the contest at BC Place. “That’s not my decision to make. Hopefully it all works out.
“I’m not stressing too much. I learned a while ago to take that pressure off myself, so I’m just going to see what happens and go from there.”
The Roughriders have to declare their 46-man roster, their 10-man practice roster and their injured lists by tonight. With 70 players dressing for Friday’s game — and with many others remaining in Saskatoon with injuries — a large number of players will be cut later today.
Asked following Friday’s contest if he and his staff faced some tough decisions, Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones replied: “There were a couple of guys who played their way on and a couple of guys who played their way off.”
Linebacker Erick Dargan performed well at the Roughriders’ mini-camp in Florida in April and during training camp in Saskatoon, so he seemingly was safe. But when he was asked after Friday’s game if he felt he was in danger, Dargan offered a simple “Definitely.”
“Obviously, I believe in myself and I feel like I’m good enough to contribute a lot to this team, but I just want the coaches to feel the same,” he said.
“As a player, you always feel like you should be able to do something better, whether it’s making your reads quicker or finishing plays or just being in the right spot. I’m kind of hard on myself. I want to be the best. I had zero mental errors (Friday), but I feel like I could have done something better.”
Defensive back Warren Gatewood had a similar mindset.
Gatewood struggled Friday — and his day would have been worse if the Lions’ Douglas McNeil had held on to a perfectly thrown pass that would have resulted in a fourth-quarter touchdown.
“It wasn’t my best game,” Gatewood admitted. “I’ve definitely had better, obviously. But everything I did was at 100 per cent. I’ve just got to lock in mentally and prepare better.”
Like Dargan, wide receiver Antwane Grant attended the mini-camp in Florida and, thanks to an impressive showing there, earned an invitation to training camp.
With the roster deadline looming, Grant planned to get treatment and work out to keep himself physically ready for Monday’s practice.
“I’m not really expecting nervous moments because I feel as though I did my share,” said Grant, who had two catches for 27 yards Friday. “Whatever happens, I’ll just take it with my head held high.”
And if “it” is a call from the coaches telling him to report to them with his playbook?
“It’ll be time for me to get back to the drawing board,” Grant replied. “There will be more that I can improve on and I’ll just take it as that.”
Jones and Co. have decisions to make at several positions before the deadline.
They have to pick a starting tailback. They have to settle on two starting outside linebackers. Two vacancies in the secondary need to be filled. A punter and/or kicker could be on the way out. Choices must be made on who will remain to provide depth at which positions.
The fact remains, however, that the players have done all they can through training camp and in the pre-season to make the decisions difficult. The situation now is out of their control.
“This is what you sign up for,” Gatewood said. “You put your best foot forward and you try to do the best that you can every day in training camp, not just in the games.
“This is a long three-week process. I definitely would have liked to finish strong. I’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and hopefully when I get another opportunity, I take advantage of it.”
