Ideally, Mario Alford will require only one play to establish a Saskatchewan Roughriders career record.<\/p>\n
A 101-yard kickoff return, which does appear on his glittering resume, would suffice.<\/p>\n
Entering Friday\u2019s CFL game against the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Alford is 100 yards shy of tying Corey Holmes for the most kickoff return yardage in Roughriders history.<\/p>\n
Holmes amassed 4,077 yards over 75 regular-season games. Alford is preparing for his 58th appearance in green and white.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really look at the stats right now,\u201d Alford said after Tuesday\u2019s practice at Mosaic Stadium. \u201cI just want to win and continue to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan (12-4) has clinched first place in the league\u2019s overall standings and hosting privileges for the Western Final (Nov. 8, 5:30 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).<\/p>\n
As a Roughrider, Alford has returned 160 kickoffs \u2014\u00a025 fewer than Holmes. Alford\u2019s four career kickoff return TDs are a franchise record.<\/p>\n
Alford scored on a 101-yarder against the visiting Edmonton Elks on Aug. 3, 2024. His longest kickoff return this season was a 99-yard touchdown, game-winning TD against the host Toronto Argonauts on June 20.<\/p>\n
There is a precedent for Alford taking a kickoff return to the house in Winnipeg. He scored on a 92-yarder against the Blue Bombers on Sept. 10, 2022.<\/p>\n
On punt returns, Alford boasts the Roughriders\u2019 third-best career yardage total (2,718). He trails Holmes (3,440) and Gene Wlasiuk (3,296).<\/p>\n
Wlasiuk is the runaway leader in total punt returns (549), followed by Stewart Fraser (256), Jim Walter (256), Holmes (249), Alford (247) and Harry Lunn (247).<\/p>\n
Alford needs one more punt-return TD to equal Holmes\u2019 franchise record of five.<\/p>\n
Albert Brown leads the Roughriders in career missed field goal return yardage (704), followed by Alford (580).<\/p>\n
Holmes tops the list in combined return yardage (7,713). Alford is in second place, 438 yards off the pace.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really hit me right away when I break a record,\u201d Alford said, \u201cbut one day, I\u2019ll look back on it and be like, \u2018That\u2019s cool.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019M ITCHING FOR THAT RING\u201d<\/p>\n
Cornerback Tevaughn Campbell is ticketed to return to the Roughriders\u2019 lineup on Friday after missing four games with a head injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to get out there and get an opportunity, at least,\u201d he said after being a full participant in Tuesday\u2019s practice. \u201cThat\u2019s all I can ask for \u2014\u00a0to get an opportunity to go out there and make plays and get back into the flow of a game. If I happen to make plays, I make plays. If I don\u2019t, I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he last appeared in green and white, he had two fourth-quarter interceptions to help the Roughriders secure a 21-13 win in Winnipeg on Sept. 6.<\/p>\n
He emerged from the Labour Day Rematch with league-high totals in picks (six) and interception return yardage (205).<\/p>\n
Even after missing four contests, he is 80 interception return yards ahead of the closest pursuer \u2014\u00a0teammate Rolan Milligan Jr.<\/p>\n
As well, Campbell has maintained a grip on the interceptions lead, which he now shares with Stavros Katsantonis (Hamilton Tiger-Cats) and Tarvarus McFadden (Toronto).<\/p>\n
Campbell has a chance of becoming the Roughriders\u2019 seventh league leader in interceptions, following Dale West (10 in 1963), Bob Kosid (eight, 1968), Ken McEachern (10, 1980; tied for the lead), James Patrick (nine in 2010), Ed Gainey (10 in 2017) and Milligan Jr. (eight in 2024).<\/p>\n
In 1963, West established the Roughriders\u2019 single-season record for interception-return yards (226). Campbell is 21 yards shy of tying that long-standing mark.<\/p>\n
It would be nice to leapfrog West, but \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just itching for that ring,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cThat\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
INJURY UPDATE<\/p>\n
Along with Campbell, the full participants in Tuesday\u2019s practice were defensive lineman Habakkuk Baldonado (foot), receiver Shawn Bane Jr. (knee) and linebacker Aubrey Miller Jr. (knee).<\/p>\n
Listed as \u201climited\u201d on Tuesday\u2019s injury report were quarterback Trevor Harris (load management), defensive lineman Micah Johnson (load management), defensive backs Jaxon Ford (knee) and Nelson Lokombo (ankle) and offensive lineman Trevon Tate (pectoral).<\/p>\n
The following players did not practise: Receivers KeeSean Johnson (knee) and Dohnte Meyers (ankle), Milligan Jr. (foot\/knee) and fellow defensive back Marcus Sayles (ankle), kicker Brett Lauther (back), linebacker Melique Straker (illness), defensive lineman Shane Ray (neck) and quarterback Tommy Stevens (knee).<\/p>\n
Asked whether Johnson and Stevens, specifically, will be back on the field this season, Head Coach Corey Mace replied: \u201cI can\u2019t answer in totality, but I would say we\u2019re definitely gearing towards \u2018we\u2019re going to be seeing those guys.\u2019 As is the case with anything with injuries, you never know. There\u2019s always potential setbacks, et cetera, but we\u2019re gearing that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ideally, Mario Alford will require only one play to establish a Saskatchewan Roughriders career record. A 101-yard kickoff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-213814","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\/213814","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=213814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}