REGINA — The Saskatchewan Roughriders have been having quite a bit of luck on the roster front the last couple games, and that continued on Friday morning when their depth chart for Saturday’s contest against the Calgary Stampeders revealed a single change.
Still, the move the Canadian Football League team did have to make was a tough one for a player who hasn’t had a lot of luck on the injury front in his young career.
Linebacker and former University of Saskatchewan Huskies standout Nick Wiebe was unable to practice in the latter half of the week and was officially ruled out for Week 12 with a knee injury. Wiebe suffered a torn ACL late in his final season with the Huskies in 2023 and returned to the Riders late last season, only to reaggravate the same injury and miss the remainder of the 2024 campaign. Luck has been on his side through the first nine games, but Wiebe now finds himself on the one-game injured list.
As a result, Jayden Dalke moves from weak-side linebacker to take over Wiebe’s spot backing up middle linebacker Jameer Thurman. A.J. Allen starts at weak-side linebacker with Melique Straker backing up, and C.J. Reavis remains as the starter at strong-side linebacker.
That linebacking group will look to join their defensive compatriots in continuing what has been an impressive run of success as of late -- eight straight quarters without allowing a touchdown, including 29-9 and 34-6 wins over Hamilton and Montreal respectively.
With Calgary product Wiebe out, fullback Morgan Runge slots into the line-up as a back-up to Albert Awachie to satisfy the Canadian player ratio.
On the offensive side of things, running back Mario Anderson Jr. missed time at practice due to illness earlier in the week but is now all systems go. Receiver Shawn Bane Jr. continues to get closer and closer to returning from his knee injury but remains sidelined another week.
Once the focal point of Roughriders injuries, the offensive line gets a third straight game with no changes to their line-up.
A pair of players on the one-game injured list are also working their way back onto the field, as standout return specialist Mario Alford saw limited action in practice while recovering from a shoulder injury and offensive lineman Daniel Johnson is close to a return from a shoulder injury.
There was some bad news earlier in the week as defensive lineman Lake Korte-Moore revealed he will be out for the remainder of the 2025 season due to a torn ACL.
The Roughriders pre-game show with Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk and Wes Cates begins at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 5 p.m.. You can catch all the action on the Rider Broadcast Network.
