Mario Alford is eyeing a big return that does not involve yardage \u2026 yet.<\/p>\n
A return to the active roster would suffice, for starters. And then, ideally, he will be off to the races in accustomed fashion.<\/p>\n
Alford, the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 All-Time leader in kick-return touchdowns, hopes to be back in the lineup on Sunday when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers visit Mosaic Stadium for the 60th Labour Day Classic.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is feeling good and that\u2019s the plan,\u201d Alford said after Wednesday\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n
Alford averaged 12.1 yards per punt return and 30.5 yards per kickoff return before suffering a hip injury in the Roughriders\u2019 fifth game of the season.<\/p>\n
Drae McCray and Dohnte Meyers have handled most of the returns over the past four contests.<\/p>\n
After being listed as \u201climited\u201d in last week\u2019s post-practice injury reports, Alford was a full participant in Monday\u2019s session.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to be able to bring a spark to the team, like I was doing before I went down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Until July 25, Alford had not missed a game since being acquired from the Montreal Alouettes on July 3, 2022.<\/p>\n
Over the 13 games he played for Saskatchewan in 2022, he scored four times on returns en route to being named the CFL\u2019s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player.<\/p>\n
He scored three more TDs in 2023, when he was a divisional All-CFL selection.<\/p>\n
Alford has scored on a kickoff return in 2024 and 2025. The latter TD was a 99-yard game-winner against the host Toronto Argonauts on June 20.<\/p>\n
One of his franchise-record nine return touchdowns was a 99-yarder on a kickoff in Winnipeg on Sept. 10, 2022.<\/p>\n
Another sparkling performance dates back to Sept. 3, 2023, when he had four kickoff returns for 155 yards against Winnipeg. He averaged 38.8 yards per kickoff return in the 58th Labour Day Classic, taking off for gains of 47, 40, 35 and 33.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven in the West Final against them last year, I was close to popping one,\u201d Alford recalled. \u201cWe owe these guys and it\u2019s going to be a great game.\u201d<\/p>\n
ACTION JAXON<\/p>\n
With Nelson Lokombo unlikely to play on Sunday due to an ankle injury, Jaxon Ford is expected to step in as the front-line safety.<\/p>\n
It would be the second Labour Day Classic start for Ford. His first pro start was against Winnipeg in the 2023 showdown.<\/p>\n
In fact, a blitzing Ford \u2014\u00a0then a rookie \u2014 knocked down a Zach Collaros pass on a two-point convert attempt in overtime to give the Roughriders a 32-30 victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to forget that one,\u201d Ford said with a smile. \u201cIt\u2019s probably my favourite play so far in my career, but there will be more plays to make.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan enters the game with a league-best 8-2 record. The Calgary Stampeders (7-3) are second in the West Division, followed by Winnipeg (6-4).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a huge game in Saskatchewan and a huge game for us,\u201d Ford said, \u201cand it\u2019s huge for the fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be the most packed it has ever been here, so we\u2019re real excited for this one.\u201d<\/p>\n
CLASSIC CROWD COUNT<\/p>\n
An overflow crowd of 34,000-plus, including standing-room attendees, will watch Sunday\u2019s proceedings.<\/p>\n
That will be the largest crowd at new Mosaic Stadium, which officially opened in 2017. The current record, which will be on the books for four more days, was set last year when 33,861 patrons took in the Labour Day Classic.<\/p>\n
As well, the Roughriders are poised to set a single-game team attendance record for a non-Grey Cup year. The top 12 attendances are from 1995, 2003 and 2013 \u2014 years in which the Grey Cup Game was played at historic Mosaic Stadium.<\/p>\n
The Roughriders are poised to exceed 1.6 million in Labour Day Classic attendance, dating back to the inaugural late-summer matchup with Winnipeg in 1949.<\/p>\n
The current All-Time crowd count is 1,589,992, with a sellout of 34,000-plus assured for Sunday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
NUMBERS GAME<\/p>\n
The Roughriders are 38-21 in Labour Day Classics, having outscored the Blue Bombers 1,654-1,254.<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan has scored 153 touchdowns over those 59 games. Winnipeg has reached the end zone 130 times.<\/p>\n
In terms of net yardage, Saskatchewan is ahead 21,176-19,054. Winnipeg, however, enjoys a slight advantage in interceptions made (81-79).<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan\u2019s Dave Ridgway is the All-Time LDC points leader (167). Roughriders legends Kent Austin (1,881) and Darian Durant (1,865) are only 16 apart as the passing yards leaders.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg\u2019s Milt Stegall is the All-Time LDC touchdown leader, with nine. Don Narcisse (eight) and Ray Elgaard (six) are atop the Roughriders\u2019 TD list.<\/p>\n
SHORT SNORTS<\/p>\n
\u2022 Saskatchewan kicker Brett Lauther missed Wednesday\u2019s practice for what Head Coach Corey Mace termed a \u201cpersonal\u201d matter.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Alford, receiver Shawn Bane Jr. (knee), quarterback Jack Coan (hand) and linebacker Nick Wiebe (knee) were listed as full participants in Wednesday\u2019s practice. Offensive lineman Daniel Johnson (shoulder) was a limited participant.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Along with Lauther and Lokombo, the following players did not practise on Wednesday: McCray (head), offensive tackle Jermarcus Hardrick (personal) and cornerback Marcus Sayles (hip).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mario Alford is eyeing a big return that does not involve yardage \u2026 yet. A return to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-102417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}