Rob Vanstone: Spring is in the air — and in everyone’s step — as Rider season begins
SASKATOON — One of Saskatchewan Roughriders punter Joe Couch’s most recent hang times was 38,000 feet.
To facilitate his second season with the team, there was the imperative of making his way to Saskatoon from his native Australia. Reliable sources confide that it was not a direct flight.
While appreciating Couch’s cheery comportment, you would not suspect he is combatting the inevitable jet lag.
Keep in mind, though, that the perpetually pleasant punter is someone who would find a way to smile through oral surgery or, worse yet, an interview with the CFL team’s resident journalist/historian/artifact.
But his mood was reflective of the overall tenor as Roughriders players, coaches and support staff converged upon Saskatoon to kick off a season of considerable promise.
For the Saskatchewanians on the team, it was an easy, breezy jaunt. For several others, several flight connections were on the agenda. One player/motorist mentioned before rookie camp that he arrived in Saskatoon after 27 hours on the road and three rest stops.
Not to be outdone, a teammate motored 33 hours with two rest stops (Tennessee, Minnesota).
One of the players — defensive back Nicario Harper — sported what might be the first Atlanta Hawks sweatshirt seen in Saskatchewan since the halcyon days of Dominique Wilkins.
Harper, you have likely deduced, is from Atlanta.
Hugs, handshakes and fist-bumps are routine as you cross paths with teammates and friends, many of whom you last saw in November.
You might run into them in the dorms, in the cafeteria or elsewhere on campus, but the reaction is invariable.
Great to see you.
Great to be back.
“Let’s go!” as Head Coach Corey Mace is wont to exclaim.
Rookie camp began Wednesday and continues until Friday at Griffiths Stadium. Coors Light Training Camp kicks off Sunday morning at the University of Saskatchewan.
All sessions, to this point, are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. and conclude around noon.
In one sense, “rookie camp” is a misnomer, because there is an assortment of familiar faces.
For example, the three-day prelude to main camp will include four quarterbacks with CFL experience — Trevor Harris, Jake Maier, Jack Coan and Tommy Stevens.
Another signal-caller, Michael Hiers, also arrived in Saskatoon with at least a passing familiarity with Canadian football. He spent some time on the Roughriders’ practice roster last fall.
The presence of the quarterbacks, who will limber up their throwing arms and strive to master every nuance of the playbook, enables the offences to run efficiently and put the onus on the defensive players and coaches to react accordingly.
Even when you subtract the marquee power quarterbacks provide, the Roughriders’ springtime sessions have been intriguing from the opening drill.
Although we are still early in the getting-to-know-you stage, there are far fewer introductions than at this point last year when Mace led a largely reinvented coaching staff.
Continuity was a buzzword during the off-season, so the team should be able to hit the ground running while hoping to build upon a 2024 season in which it finished in second place, earned a home playoff game and advanced to the Western Final.
Expectations are elevated entering Year 2 of the Mace era, but his message is unaltered: “The standard is the standard.”
The ground rules, established and ingrained in May of last year, are second nature to the returnees. Newcomers will quickly grasp what is required of them on the field, in meetings, in the locker room and in the community.
At this stage, there isn’t a lot Mace absolutely has to say, although all words will be well-chosen. A powerful veteran influence will provide plenty of direction, from the outset, as the 2025 Roughriders take their first few steps toward building upon last year’s progress.
If anyone needs to know where the bar is set, take a glance at Vice-President of Football Operations and General Manager Jeremy O’Day and one of this year’s guest coaches.
Hello again, Gene Makowsky.
After starring for the U of S Huskies, “Geno” joined the Roughriders in 1995 and began a 17-year career that was deservedly decorated with enshrinement in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
For our legendary No. 60, the incontestable highlight took place on Nov. 25, 2007, when Saskatchewan defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23-19 to win the 95th Grey Cup Game.
The signature post-game photo shows O’Day and Makowsky — long-time cohorts on the offensive line — hoisting Earl Grey’s grail.
The objective, of course, is for everyone to take a turn after the 2025 Grey Cup Game is played at Winnipeg’s Princess Auto Stadium on Nov. 16.
The on-field team-building process began 193 days earlier … on Wednesday morning at Griffiths Stadium.
You are cordially invited to come out and see us over the next fortnight. Repeatedly, in fact. Devotedly, as ever.
Revel in the arrival of another football season in Saskatchewan and, at long last, the departure of snow.
Get off the couch, if need be, and meet Joe Couch … and several dozen of his closest friends.
