signed with Saskatchewan as a free agent on Feb. 11<\/a> after spending seven seasons with the Montreal Alouettes and one with the Ottawa REDBLACKS.<\/p>\nLauded by Roughriders quarterback (and former Alouettes teammate) Trevor Harris as a \u201cstrong, physical, mauling type of guard,\u201d Gagnon brought a championship pedigree due to his contributions with Montreal during its Grey Cup-winning season of 2023.<\/p>\n
With Gagnon on the shelf, the Roughriders soared to the top of the league\u2019s regular-season standings by winning 10 of their first 13 games.<\/p>\n
Thanks to his intensive and determined rehabilitation regimen, he can now be part of the successes on the field. That must be a source of considerable pride, but Gagnon is focusing on far more than, say, patting himself on the back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe work\u2019s not done, right?\u201d he emphasized. \u201cWe haven\u2019t done what we set out to do this year. We haven\u2019t done anything yet. We\u2019ve clinched a playoff spot and that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still looking for that first-week bye in the playoffs. We\u2019re still looking to go the way. We\u2019re still looking to win it all, so the work\u2019s not done.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s all said and done, I\u2019ll sit back and think about it, but for now there\u2019s more work to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Gagnon\u2019s case, much of his work to this point has been done outside the public eye. Whether he has been in the meeting room, the weight room or consulting with athletic therapists and doctors, he has attacked the rigorous recuperation process as he would a rival defensive lineman.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The injury) was a setback,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was something I didn\u2019t want to see happen, but it did. There\u2019s no point in complaining. You\u2019re not going to get any better if you just pout and complain in the corner, so I figured, \u2018You\u2019ve just got to work more now.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew it was already going to be hard to earn a spot on this team, because it\u2019s filled with talented players. I knew that if I couldn\u2019t even practise and I couldn\u2019t even be a part of this team, I\u2019d have to work twice as hard, so I go twice as hard in the gym and twice as hard in the meeting room.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old native of L\u2019Ancienne-Lorette, Que. opted to remain in Regina throughout the lengthy and gruelling rehabilitation process.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have that injury in training camp was really tough for him, but he made it very clear from that day that he wasn\u2019t going back east,\u201d Mace said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was staying here. He wanted to be with the team and be with his brothers and attack rehab like crazy. He said he was going to be back and he\u2019s a man of his word.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome for him. I love to see him out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gagnon\u2019s availability is especially timely because Zack Fry, who has started seven of the past eight games at left guard, has yet to practise this week due to a knee injury.<\/p>\n
Cornerback Tevaughn Campbell, who has already sat out one game with a head injury, did not practise on Tuesday or Wednesday. Mace said it will be \u201cmaybe a week or two\u201d before Campbell \u2014\u00a0who has a league-high six interceptions \u2014\u00a0can return to the lineup.<\/p>\n
Next up for the Roughriders is Saturday\u2019s game against the host Edmonton Elks.<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan is also on the road on Oct. 3 versus Ottawa before playing host to the Toronto Argonauts on Oct. 10 in the annual \u201cLights Out\u201d game.<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Training camp had barely begun for Philippe Gagnon when, suddenly, it was over. A \u201cfreak accident,\u201d in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-167116","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\/167116","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=167116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}