Tevaughn Campbell and Vernon Adams Jr. go waaaaay back.
On Oct. 22, 2016, for example, Campbell registered his first CFL interception — stepping in front of a pass by Adams Jr., then of the Montreal Alouettes, in the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ second-last game at Taylor Field.
Campbell and Adams Jr. were traded for one another on Aug. 15, 2017. Campbell and third-round Draft picks in 2018 and 2019 were sent to the Alouettes for Adams Jr. and a fifth-rounder in 2018.
Adams Jr. rejoined the Alouettes on June 26, 2018 and was a teammate of Campbell’s for the remainder of that season.
They will be opponents on Saturday, when Campbell will start at cornerback for Saskatchewan against a Calgary Stampeders team that will be quarterbacked by Adams Jr. at McMahon Stadium.
“It’s a small football world, for sure, just seeing how things happen,” Campbell said after the Roughriders practised at Mosaic Stadium on Wednesday.
“It’s crazy because it was so long ago — literally 10 years ago.”
At the time, Campbell was a second-year CFLer on his second pro team. The former University of Regina Rams standout spent his rookie season with Calgary after being selected by the Stampeders in the third round (22nd overall) of the 2015 CFL Canadian Draft. He was acquired by Saskatchewan for a 2017 fourth-round Draft pick on Feb. 11, 2016.
After spending most of the 2017 season and all of 2018 with Montreal, Campbell began an NFL journey that lasted from 2019 to 2024. He rejoined the Roughriders on Feb. 3, 2025 and went on to earn All-CFL honours for a Grey Cup-winning team.
The 2025 season was the first in Calgary for Adams Jr., who had previous CFL experience with the Alouettes, Roughriders, Hamilton and B.C.
“It’s good to compete against him,” Campbell said. “He’s always getting better. He’s a great quarterback and a great guy.”
The small-world nature of the CFL, cited earlier by Campbell, is also reflected by the fact that Adams and current Roughriders starting quarterback Trevor Harris were teammates with Montreal in 2021 and 2022.
Facing Harris in practice helps Campbell refine his already-considerable skills for matchups against other premier passers, such as Adams Jr.
“Trevor’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league,” Campbell said. “When you’re going up against the best, iron sharpens iron.
“You go back and forth and ask, ‘What were you doing on this play? What were you doing on that play? What did you see? Did you see me jump that (route)?’
“He gets to give a lot of his knowledge to you and, as a corner, you get to take that and apply it to other quarterbacks.”
SNAPPING UP A LONG SNAPPER
The Roughriders announced the signing of long snapper Mike Benson on Wednesday.
Benson, 39, has 158 regular-season games of CFL experience with Edmonton (2012), B.C. (2014-18), Ottawa (2019) and Winnipeg (2021-25).
The day Benson arrived, Roughriders long snapper Aaron Crawford missed a second consecutive practice with a knee injury.
“I don’t want to say it’s a long-term (injury),” Head Coach Corey Mace said. “A lot of teams don’t have a lot of backups, so you’ve got to be really smart with that situation.”
Crawford was signed due to the retirement of Jorgen Hus, who had handled most of the Roughriders’ long snapping since 2015.
Last Saturday, Crawford became the first Roughrider other than Hus to line up at long snapper since Randy Chevrier performed those duties against the host B.C. Lions on Nov. 5, 2016.
Beginning in 2017, Hus played in 140 consecutive regular-season games, 10 playoff contests and one Grey Cup Game.
