Cameron Marshall returned to some old surroundings in a new number Wednesday.
The 26-year-old tailback was wearing No. 33 during his first full practice with the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium, not the No. 32 he wore during his first season with the CFL team in 2017.
“I talked to (rookie fullback Alexandre) Gagne about (getting No. 32 back), but he had already got his family some gear and I didn’t want to intrude on that,” said a grinning Marshall, whose addition to the practice roster was announced Monday. “Family comes first, so I understood.
“It’s just a number at the end of the day. Thirty-two was a great number, but my goal is to make 33 work for me.”
Marshall was the Roughriders’ starting tailback for the first half of the 2017 season, but a knee injury suffered in a game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sept. 3 put him on the shelf. He returned to play one more regular-season contest, Oct. 20 against the Calgary Stampeders, but that was the last time he appeared in a game in 2017.
Despite playing in only 10 regular-season contests, he finished the season as the Roughriders’ leading rusher.
Marshall was expected to compete for the starting job again during the team’s 2018 training camp in Saskatoon, but he was cut on the eve of camp after failing his physical due to the lingering effects of the left knee injury.
“I wasn’t 100 per cent at the time, but I felt like I was in a position where I could compete,” said Marshall, a 5-foot-11, 215-pound product of San Jose, Calif. “Obviously (the Roughriders) felt a little differently about it.
“It is what it is. That’s the nature of the business. I took it as a challenge to go home, get even more ready, get in shape and make sure my body was feeling good so that when I got another opportunity here or elsewhere, I would be ready.”
Marshall spoke with a couple of other teams about resuming his career, but the Roughriders won what he called “a race to the finish” for his services.
Even though Saskatchewan has two international tailbacks in Marcus Thigpen and Tre Mason, Marshall viewed returning to the Green and White as his best opportunity.
“If you look around the league, every back is healthy and every back is playing well,” Marshall said. “There’s probably 10 or 12 really good running backs in the league at a minimum. This for me was kind of home and I was familiar with the culture here, so I wanted to be back.”
Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones said Marshall “won’t play until we have a necessity for him to play,” but the tailback vowed to do everything he could to earn himself some playing time.
He’s just looking for another chance after missing three months.
“It was really humbling, going from being a starter last year to getting cut to not getting a call right away to coming back on the practice roster,” he said. “It’s humbling, but I consider all these things a blessing. God’s going to use me where He wants to use me. Whatever role that is, I’ll accept it.”
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According to the CFL’s transaction wire Tuesday, Thigpen had been suspended by the Roughriders. But the veteran tailback was on the field Wednesday.
Jones explained that Thigpen was dealing with some family issues in Detroit during the bye week and couldn’t fly back to Regina on schedule. Because of that, he was suspended.
Meanwhile, one of Saskatchewan’s other tailbacks from 2017 — Trent Richardson — was released Wednesday. The Roughriders had suspended him prior to training camp due to family commitments.
The move frees up Richardson to sign with the Birmingham entry in the proposed Alliance of American Football.
“He’s got four young children at home and he has been in a custody situation …,” Jones said. “(The AAF) was an opportunity for him to go down and make a living.”
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Defensive back Loucheiz Purifoy took snaps with the starting unit Wednesday in place of Crezdon Butler.
It’s unclear which of those DBs will play Sunday, when the Roughriders entertain Calgary at Mosaic Stadium. Jones said Wednesday’s practice was a chance to see Purifoy in action.
“There’s only a certain number of reps that we have during the course of a day,” Jones said. “When you get a new guy, you’ve got to be able to evaluate him. We had three or four other new ones out there today.”
There certainly was a new starting left tackle, as Takoby Cofield worked out with the No. 1 offence in place of Terran Vaughn. Jones said Vaughn was sick and likely won’t play Sunday.
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The Roughriders enter Sunday’s game with a 3-4-0 record, tying them for fourth in the CFL’s West Division with the B.C. Lions.
Jones said his players know the situation they’re in — and they know they can get out of it.
“The bad news is, we’re 3-and-4 and probably should have a better record, but we don’t; we face it square in the face,” Jones said. “The good news is, we’re 3-and-4 and the second-best record in the league is 5-and-3.
“Three losses versus four losses is not that much and you’ve got them head to head (in future games). You couldn’t ask for a better situation. It’s not like we’re sitting here with one win. We’ve given ourselves an opportunity to at least compete head to head with these other teams.”
