Saskatchewan Roughriders' running back A.J. Ouellette is confident in the Green and White's chances to win the West Division in 2025.
"I think the reason people love the CFL is because it can be anybody's team, anybody's day -- it doesn't matter. We've got some good teams in the West, I'm excited to see the way it unfolds. I hope the target's on our back. It's going to raise the level of play for the guys in our locker room," Ouellette told Riders broadcast network analyst and 3DownNation insider Justin Dunk.
"I know nobody in our locker room is going to fold from pressure, so I hope the target's on our back."
3DownNation has ranked the Roughriders as the No. 3 team in the CFL entering the 2025 campaign. Last year, Saskatchewan finished with a 9-8-1 record, second place in the West Division in the first season under head coach Corey Mace. The Green and White made it to the West Final, where the Riders lost to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 38-22 in November.
During the 2024 season, Saskatchewan endured a seven-game winless streak from Week 8 through Week 14. Ouellette credits Mace for his motivational tactics during the toughest times.
"Tributes to coach, I don't know how he finds methods to keep guys motivated and the right timing for certain messages -- he is awesome," Ouellette said.
Ouellette suited up for the Riders eight times in the regular season last year, rushing 130 times for 558 yards and three touchdowns. He was previously with the Toronto Argonauts for four years (2019-2023) then left in free agency to play for the Green and White.
"I had a labrum issue in my hip and it was getting achy. Talking to some other doctors, I had some shots put in my hip to try to stop the pain. So many shots could weaken tendons and my quad tendon ended up getting tendinopathy in it, little tears in my quad. Anytime I made a cut, my quad had to contract. It was a sharp pain being sent through my hip and that was from overwork with those shots," Ouellette explained.
"Now managing the structure of the hips and workload, the hip pain went away. Talking to three, four, five doctors in the offseason and specialists about the hip, they gave me regimens. With the inflammation, you're gonna feel the pain and you're gonna start running differently. Once you get the inflammation down, you'll run normally, and that's when everything starts working better. I'm excited to get going and feeling healthy."
The Riders hired CFL legend Andrew Harris in the off-season as the team's running backs coach and Ouellette enjoys learning from him.
"He showed me videos from his career, they were highlights. He said to pay attention to the way I look and the way I move at the beginning versus the way I look in the middle. You can tell that he bulked up and he was having trouble breaking tackles. His balance wasn't there," Ouellette recalled.
"He sent me workout regimens, balance-wise and mobility. I took those and some of the other workout things, I thought I could add a little bit of different and better methods. I took his balance and mobility workouts and agreed that I needed to slim down to make me a threat in the passing game and open field moves."
The Green and White begin the regular season on Thursday against the Ottawa Redblacks at home. Catch the pre-game show with Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk and Wes Cates at 4 p.m. while Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 7 p.m. You can hear everything on the 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
