REGINA -- Saskatchewan Roughriders' receiver Samuel Emilius is back in action.
The team's final injury report for Week 7 revealed the fourth-year veteran receiver has recovered from a foot injury with him listed as available for the game on Saturday night in Vancouver against the B.C. Lions
Emilus suffered the injury in Week 2 against Hamilton and wasn’t expected to miss much time, but recovery proved slower than expected which resulted in him sitting out three games. He was taking a pragmatic approach even with what turned into a rather frustrating situation.
“You want to play, but you have to be smart because it’s a long season,” he said. “You want to make sure you’re available for the team… I feel good, there’s been progress every week.”
Emilus recorded 12 catches for 170 yards and one touchdown through Saskatchewan’s first two games. He’s coming off a stellar 2024 campaign where he hauled in a career-high 87 catches for 1,064 yards, marking the second year in a row he cracked the 1,000-yard mark.
Fortunately for the Green and White, a handful of players stepped up in Emilus’ absence which took a bit of pressure off when it came to forcing a return.
“We've got guys like Dohnte Meyers, KeeSean Johnson, Joe [Robustelli] stepping up big, almost 200 yards,” Emilus said, referring to Robustelli’s break-out showing against Calgary in Week 6. “It's easy to make sure I'm back 100 percent, but like I always say: 'We have a strong group, everybody can make plays and we're showing this right now.”
Defensive back Tevaughn Campbell (groin), receiver Tommy Nield (ankle) and defensive lineman Caleb Sanders (back) are also back off the one-game injured list and eligible to return to the line-up.
The Riders also received good news as defensive backs Rolan Milligan Jr. (back), Marcus Sayles (hip) joined offensive lineman Noah Zerr (elbow) in recovering enough from nicks suffered last Saturday and will be in action against B.C. The news wasn’t all good on the injury front for Saskatchewan, though, as return specialist Mario Alford was unable to practice all week and has been ruled out for Saturday’s game.
How everyone slots back into the line-up will be revealed on Friday morning when the depth and positional charts are released.
Game time for Saturday’s contest at B.C. Place is 5 p.m. Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk and Wes Cates have the pre-game show at 2 p.m. Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 5 p.m. You can hear everything on the 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
