{"id":114592,"date":"2025-09-02T16:13:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T16:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/114592\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T16:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T16:13:08","slug":"redblacks-add-six-to-practice-roster-including-lb-woodly-appolon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/114592\/","title":{"rendered":"REDBLACKS add six to practice roster, including LB Woodly Appolon"},"content":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2014 The Ottawa REDBLACKS announced on Tuesday they have added six players to their practice roster, including National defensive lineman Deionte Knight, American quarterback\u00a0Matt Morrissey, National offensive lineman David Knevel<\/a>, American defensive lineman Ramon Puryear, National linebacker Woodly Appolon, American\u00a0linebacker\u00a0Jamie Pettway Jr.<\/p>\n

Before joining the REDBLACKS for this year\u2019s training camp, Knight dressed in two games for the Toronto Argonauts in 2024, prior to a stint with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats where he made 12 tackles in 14 appearances.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Ajax product was drafted in the second round, 10th overall by the Double Blue in 2022, going on to appear in two games that season. Knight made 17 appearances the following year, posting 17 tackles, two sacks, and a forced fumble.<\/p>\n

He helped lead the Western Mustangs to a Vanier Cup in 2021, earning the J.P. Metras Trophy as U Sports\u2019 Most Outstanding Down Lineman, with a total of 52 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, ten sacks, and two forced fumbles.<\/p>\n

Morrissey appeared in 13 games for Eastern Kentucky in 2024, completing 187 passes for 2,088 yards and 14 touchdowns, also rushing for 297 yards and scoring three touchdowns on the ground. <\/p>\n

He made 11 appearances for Western Illinois the year prior, throwing for 2,014 yards and 13 touchdowns. Morrissey dressed in five games for Northern Iowa from 2021 to 2022, after beginning his career at Trinity Valley Community College, where he recorded 1,523 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, 107 rushing yards, and two rushing touchdowns in eight games.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Drafted in the third round, 21st overall by the BC Lions in 2018, Knevel is a veteran of 72 CFL games. He dressed in 16 during his rookie season, making his first career start the following year.\u00a0Knevel re-signed with the Lions in 2021, and did so again ahead of the 2024 season.<\/p>\n

Puryear picked up an All-ACC Honourable Mention in 2024, making 34 total tackles, three and a half tackles for loss, two and a half sacks, and three fumble recoveries in 12 games. <\/p>\n

He appeared in 62 games from 2020 through 2024, racking up 87 total tackles,\u00a014.5 tackles for loss, nine sacks, a pass deflection, an interception, and five fumble recoveries.<\/p>\n

Initially drafted in the fifth round, 40th overall by the REDBLACKS in 2022, Appolon was traded to the Edmonton Elks the following February, going on to make five special teams tackles in 17 games over the next two seasons. <\/p>\n

He appeared in 18 games for Tuskegee from 2021 to 2022, making 88 total tackles, three and a half tackles for loss, one and a half sacks, two pass breakups, an interception, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Appolon suited up in one game for Northern Illinois in 2020, after dressing in\u00a0eight games for Butler Community College in 2019, and Highland Community College in 2018.<\/p>\n

Pettway saw action in 13 games for USF during the 2024 season, recording 56 total tackles, six and a half tackles for loss, two sacks, a fumble recovery, and two pass breakups. He dressed in 13 games the year prior, making 19 total tackles, two and a half tackles for loss, and a sack.<\/p>\n

Pettway appeared in 10 games for FAU in 2022, where he picked up 41 tackles and a sack, after nine games at Missouri from 2019 to 2021 that saw him make two tackles, one for a loss.<\/p>\n

The team also announced they have released American receiver Easop Winston, American defensive lineman Eric Black<\/a>, National defensive back Tysen-Otis Copeland<\/a>, and American defensive back Alijah McGhee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 The Ottawa REDBLACKS announced on Tuesday they have added six players to their practice roster, including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-114592","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114592","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=114592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}