Campbell Fair’s first road trip with the Saskatchewan Roughriders was a snap.
Board WestJet aircraft. Take chartered flight to Ottawa, where the Roughriders are to oppose the REDBLACKS on Friday night. Take bus to team hotel. No complications, delays, cancellations, hassles, etc.
His previous excursion? Well, that was a different story — a 32-hour saga that involved multiple vehicles, airplanes and scheduling adjustments, plus a border crossing.
It all began on the evening of Aug. 18 in Trenton, Ont., where the 25-year-old placekicker/museum exhibit technician was building dinosaurs.
After fielding a call from the Roughriders, Fair quickly pivoted and began the painstaking process of making his way to Saskatchewan.
No chartered flight. No direct flight. No time to spare.
“I drove to Hamilton and then I switched cars,” Fair recounted in advance of his CFL regular-season debut. “My grandpa drove me down to Buffalo. Then I flew from Buffalo to Newark and then from Newark to Denver, but (the first) flight got cancelled and then the second one got delayed.
“Then it was Denver to Minot, and then we drove from Minot to (Regina). I got here at 3 in the morning and kicked that same day.”
Fair, who had previously been on the Roughriders’ practice roster in 2023, wasn’t exactly eased into his second stint with the Green and White. As part of a game-simulation exercise, he was asked to kick a 55-yard field goal.
“There was a long kick in there and it was good,” Fair said. “I was surprised. Once it came time to kick the field goals, it was pretty smooth and easy.
“The hard part was holding the first-down marker on the sideline. My legs were so tired. It was a struggle to just stand up. But field goals were fine.”
Fittingly, Fair is poised to handle the placekicking in the same city where he starred for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. In 2022, he kicked the longest field goal (55 yards) in Gee-Gees history.
The Calgary Stampeders took notice, selecting Fair in the sixth round (51st overall) of the 2023 CFL Draft. He attended training camp with the Stampeders that year before spending 3½ weeks with the Roughriders.
Leading up to his latest CFL stop, he was working for a company that builds dinosaurs for museum exhibits that are displayed world-wide.
“I’ve been doing that in the summers since I was 15,” Fair noted. “The past couple of years, I’ve been doing it full time. That’s kind of my plan when football is over — to go back into that and see where it goes.”
Fair is one three-pointer away from becoming the 50th Roughrider to register a field goal since the franchise’s inception as the Regina Rugby Club in 1910.
The first field goal was registered on Sept. 26, 1914, when Elver (Heinie) Rogers completed the scoring in a 34-5 Saskatchewan Rugby Football Union victory over the Moose Jaw Robin Hoods at Dominion Park in Regina.
GIFTS OF GRAB
Friday’s game will feature two of the CFL’s premier receiving corps.
Kian Schaffer-Baker, who was injured on the Roughriders’ first offensive series this season, returns to the lineup and joins Samuel Emilus, KeeSean Johnson, Dohnte Meyers and Tommy Nield in the starting five. Ajou Ajou and Dhel Duncan-Busby also provide proven receiving options.
The REDBLACKS counter with Eugene Lewis, Justin Hardy, Bralon Addison, Kalil Pimpleton and Luther Hakunavanhu, with 2025 first-round draftee Keelan White backing up.
“It’s a tall task for (the Saskatchewan) defensive backs but, at the same time, we feel like we can put the same amount of pressure on their secondary,” Roughriders Head Coach Corey Mace said. “It should be an entertaining game.”
The REDBLACKS’ Dru Brown went 34-for-41 for 431 yards at Mosaic Stadium on June 5, when Saskatchewan posted a season-opening, 31-26 victory. Brown and the Roughriders’ Trevor Harris each threw two TD passes.
Despite an array of playmakers, Ottawa has a 4-10 record — although numbers can be deceiving.
“The discrepancy of talent in this league is not much from roster to roster,” Harris said.
“At the beginning of the year, everybody feels like they have a legit chance to do it, and (the REDBLACKS) were no different. A lot of people were picking them at the beginning of the year.
“They have a lot of talent. They’re very physical. They’re fast. They have good schemes. They’re well-coached and they have a good quarterback. When you have that, you always have a chance.
“There’s no gimmes in this league.”
“NO STONES LEFT UNTURNED,” EITHER
Although the Roughriders carry a league-best 10-4 record into Friday’s game, the emphasis of late has been on what to fix.
Saskatchewan is looking to rebound from back-to-back defeats, the most recent being a 27-25 loss to the host Edmonton Elks on Saturday.
“We’ve just got to figure it out and we’ve been looking to do that,” defensive halfback Rolan Milligan Jr. said. “There’s no stones left unturned.”
Part of the self-examination includes a deep dive into why slow starts have been an issue in recent weeks.
“It gets old,” Milligan Jr. said. “We’re just trying to do everything we can to change that.”
There was an immediate change after Calgary defeated the visiting Roughriders 32-15 on Aug. 23. Saskatchewan responded by sweeping a home-and-home set with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“We’re just trying to be who we are,” Milligan Jr. said. “We’ve been winning a lot of games throughout the year.
“We had the loss in Calgary and we were able to bounce back. We just have to be who we are and make sure we’re doing it for four quarters, not two or three.”
ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE
Milligan Jr. was asked whether a shorter week — six days between games — was opportune in light of the Roughriders’ burning desire to reverse their recent fortunes.
“It doesn’t really matter to me,” he replied. “I get another opportunity to play football and that’s all I love to do.
“I love to play ball. Whether it’s a six-day week, seven-day week or eight-day week, it doesn’t matter. I’m just happy I get another opportunity.”
Under any circumstances, opportunities are something to cherish in professional football.
A CFL player will take part in, at most, 21 games of consequence during a season. Compare that to Major League Baseball (162 regular-season games per team), the NHL (82) or the NBA (82).
“It’s a privilege to be out here, doing this week in and week out,” Milligan Jr. said. “If you stay healthy and you’re able to play the full 21 if you make it to the Grey Cup, it’s a blessing. A lot of people don’t get an opportunity to do that.
“I’m just taking it one at a time, knowing that it could all be gone. We don’t get many of them as it is. It’s something I always keep in mind.”
EXTRA POINTS
• The Roughriders will clinch a home playoff game if they defeat Ottawa on Friday and the B.C. Lions get past the visiting Stampeders on Saturday. Saskatchewan secured a playoff berth, period, on Sept. 11.
• Harris is 21 completions shy of moving into ninth on the CFL’s all-time list. Matt Dunigan is currently ninth at 3,057. Harris needs 244 yards to record the 13th season of 4,000-plus passing yards by a Roughrider — and the first since Kevin Glenn in 2017 (4,038).
• While with Ottawa in the 2017 playoffs, Harris tied a single-game record for completions against Saskatchewan (37). He shares the record with Hall of Famers Dieter Brock (at Hamilton Tiger-Cats, July 8, 1984) and Doug Flutie (versus B.C., Aug. 21, 1991; versus Calgary, Oct. 23, 1993). Harris went 37-for-60 for 457 yards against the visiting Roughriders, who were a crossover participant in the Eastern Semi-Final on Nov. 12, 2017.
• Meyers needs 102 yards to join Johnson as a 1,000-yard receiver this season. Meyers and Johnson would give Saskatchewan multiple 1,000-yard pass catchers for the 13th time in franchise history. Emilus and Shawn Bane Jr. both exceeded 1,000 yards in 2023.
• Fair and defensive back Sheldrick Redwine are to make their debuts with the Green and White on Friday. They will increase the Roughriders’ lifetime total of active-roster players to 2,209. Redwine was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the fourth round (119th overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft.
• Saskatchewan is making its third post-pandemic visit to Ottawa. The Roughriders did not play in the nation’s capital in 2021 or 2022.
• Philippe Gagnon will play left guard on Friday while making his first start as a Roughrider.