Former Riders relish return to Regina
REGINA — Zack Evans was beaming Saturday as he showed off the Grey Cup ring he won in 2013 with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
It seemed a tad strange, though, that he was wearing an Ottawa Redblacks uniform while modelling the Roughriders’ ring.
“It’s a little weird, for sure,” the defensive lineman said after Ottawa’s 21-17 loss to the Roughriders in CFL pre-season action at Mosaic Stadium. “I don’t know how to react to it, really.
“But I’ve been wanting this ring for a very long time and now I’ve got one. I don’t think I can wear it around Ottawa, though.”
Evans and four other Roughriders- turned- Redblacks — offensive linemen Brendan Dunn and James Lee, defensive tackle Keith Shologan and receiver Aaron Hargreaves — received their Grey Cup rings before Saturday’s game.
The contest marked the first time the five players have been back in Saskatchewan since the Roughriders received their rings in a private ceremony May 30.
“(Getting the bauble) was emotional,” said Shologan who, like Evans and Lee, was selected off the Roughriders’ roster by the Redblacks in the expansion draft this off-season. “We worked hard for that ring. In my career here, we got close a couple of times, so winning it this last time was huge. I’m glad I got it.
“Seeing all the guys I was friends with was awesome, too, but people get traded all the time and get moved around all the time, so we had to fight through that.”
Shologan spent six seasons with the Roughriders before going to Ottawa in the expansion draft.
On Saturday, he said he didn’t feel any sting over being left unprotected — “That’s football,” he noted.
“The first day was a little weird, but after that, it’s just football,” Shologan said. “It’s actually pretty good. We’ve got a great group of guys, the coaches are class acts and they’ve got character people in here.
“As long as we can become a team and we all produce and perform well, then we’ll do really well this season.”
But the Redblacks are unlike any other team in the CFL. Whereas the other eight clubs are trying to add pieces to an existing puzzle, Ottawa just opened the box.
For the most part, players acquired via the expansion draft or free agency have never played together.
Quarterback Henry Burris, who was signed as a free agent from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, suggested that the players view building the franchise from the ground up as a golden opportunity.
For that reason, Burris described Saturday’s contest — the first of any kind in Redblacks history — as “a special moment.”
“We’re going to have to build things from scratch, which is a little bit longer of a process than what a team like Saskatchewan is doing,” he said. “They’ve been there and they’ve got the same guys. They’re just trying to replace a couple of guys here or there.
“That’s where we want to get to. But with the talent we have, we’re definitely going to put in the time to make sure we speed up that curve.”
The coaches are still learning about their players and what each of them can do and the players are still learning about each other.
Asked if it was difficult to play his first game as a Redblack against his former team, Evans shrugged: “Football’s football.”
“No matter what, I’m going to line up, put my hand in the dirt and keep going,” he added. “Actually, it was kind of cool going against my ex-team. I knew the guys really well and I knew all of their calls. They knew that, so they tried hushing it up. It was really fun.”