Mace runs rookies through their paces

It wasn't only first-year players hitting the field for Roughriders rookie camp this week — it was also a first for Corey Mace as a head coach in the CFL.

After serving as defensive coordinator of the Toronto Argonauts for two seasons, Mace was hired by the Roughriders in November to replace Craig Dickenson.

Mace is the man in charge with rookie camp running Wednesday to Sunday at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon.

“It was good to kind of take it from a wide scope and kind of have input (everywhere),” Mace said after Day 1. “To this point, I've never been able to watch anything that the offence does during practice, so that was cool to go check out those guys.

“From the base level of rookies coming in and understanding of what we're trying to get done was pretty high from the meeting rooms and taking that to the field.”

Participating in rookie camp are four running backs, seven defensive linemen, eight offensive linemen, nine linebackers, 10 receivers and 12 defensive backs. There's also one punter in Australian Joe Couch.

While all six quarterbacks on the roster — including starter Trevor Harris — are also participating in the three-day camp, most of the other players are either recent draft picks, CFL rookies or in some cases players entering their second year with the team like defensive lineman Christian Albright or receiver Kendall Watson.

Following rookie camp, CFL clubs need to cut down their roster to 85 players — excluding non-counters like 2024 draft picks — by Saturday at midnight before main camp opens on Sunday at 8:30 a.m.

Teams will need to trim their rosters to 75 players by Tuesday at midnight, leaving just a few days for rookies to impress if they want to make it to the first pre-season game, which is set for May 20 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.