{"id":268028,"date":"2025-11-07T15:40:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T15:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/268028\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T15:40:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T15:40:10","slug":"paytons-place-is-saskatchewan-thanks-to-stellar-rookie-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/268028\/","title":{"rendered":"Payton\u2019s place is Saskatchewan thanks to stellar rookie season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Payton Collins<\/a> is viewing the looming Western Final through a slightly different lens than more-experienced members of a veteran-laden Saskatchewan Roughriders team.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-7 left tackle \u2014\u00a0the CFL team\u2019s Most Outstanding Rookie \u2014\u00a0is seeing everything for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve experienced this season has really been amazing,\u201d Collins said leading up to Saturday\u2019s high-stakes game against the B.C. Lions (5:30 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe city \u2026 the fans \u2026 I literally can\u2019t wait to see what this place looks like on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 32,000 seats have been sold for a game that will determine the West Division representative in the 112th Grey Cup Game, to be played on Nov. 16 at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

A year ago at this time, Collins was applying the finishing touches to a stellar college career with the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CFL in general is a very cool league,\u201d said Collins, 24, who hails from Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know much about it, coming from America. I\u2019m just really glad that I came up here. With the atmosphere and all the games, Regina is a very cool place, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins signed with the Roughriders on May 2 \u2014\u00a0six days after the NFL Draft and five days before rookie camp began at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has meant a lot, because I wasn\u2019t quite sure what my future was going to hold,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t really have anywhere to go. Then (Assistant General Manager) Kyle Carson reached out.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back on that and then fast-forwarding to Saturday, I\u2019m about to be in a West Final. It\u2019s pretty amazing that I\u2019m here right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot wait for Saturday, especially coming from the FCS level. We had big games, but nothing like how many fans are going to be here on Saturday. I\u2019m truly excited for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins is part of an offensive line corps that includes three All-CFL performers \u2014 centre Logan Ferland, right guard Jacob Brammer and right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the veterans, like Logan, Yoshi (Hardrick) and Sean (McEwen), along with Coach Ed (Harrison), they\u2019ve really helped me grow as a player this season,\u201d Collins said. \u201cThey\u2019ve helped make the transition as easy as possible, coming from college to the CFL. I\u2019m really fortunate to be able to look at people in the room and see what they do and see how successful they\u2019ve been over their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have three all-stars in our room and a guy up for Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman (Hardrick). I get to watch how they prepare, how they work. I try to do what they do so I can be successful as well. I feel that\u2019s the biggest thing that has helped me so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

SEIZE THE MOMENT<\/p>\n

The 2025 regular season is in the books. Having registered a CFL-best 12-6 record, the Roughriders know the slate is wiped clean come playoff time.<\/p>\n

Brett Lauther can attest to that as his seventh post-season appearance with the Green and White approaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never know when you\u2019re going to be back,\u201d the seventh-year Roughriders kicker said<\/a>. \u201cYou never know whether it\u2019s going to be the same team, the same staff \u2014\u00a0especially in this league \u2014 so you try to make the most of every opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel like we have the guys this year. All year, we\u2019ve stuck together through the highs and lows, no matter what. We\u2019re just excited for the opportunity to go out there on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lauther is among six players who were also with the Roughriders in 2019, when the team previously played host to a Western Final.<\/p>\n

The other holdovers are defensive tackles Micah Johnson and Charbel Dabire, fullback Albert Awachie, long snapper Jorgen Hus and receiver Mitch Picton. Ferland was a practice-roster player in 2019, when he saw game duty for the PFC\u2019s Regina Thunder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team is never the same (from year to year),\u201d Lauther said. \u201cThe players aren\u2019t. It\u2019s never the same with the organization or with coaches. It\u2019s hard to look back on things and try to keep moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you can always learn, whether you\u2019re here or somewhere else, from certain things. But this team hasn\u2019t been in those situations so, for us, it\u2019s just focus on B.C. and focus on trying to get a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

INJURY UPDATE<\/p>\n

All-CFL receiver KeeSean Johnson<\/a> was listed as questionable for the Western Final when the Roughriders\u2019 injury update was released on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Johnson missed the final two regular-season games with a knee injury.<\/p>\n

He was a limited participant in Thursday\u2019s workout, as was fellow receiver Ajou Ajou (ankle). Ajou is also questionable.<\/p>\n

Running back Mario Anderson Jr. (knee) and defensive lineman Shane Ray (neck) are out.<\/p>\n

However, 14 players were classified as \u201cavailable\u201d on the injury list.<\/p>\n

Included among them are halfback Rolan Milligan Jr. (foot\/knee) and receiver Dohnte Meyers (ankle), both of whom missed the final three regular-season contests.<\/p>\n

Short-yardage quarterback Tommy Stevens (knee) is ready to return after sitting out four games.<\/p>\n

The lengthy list of available players also includes Lauther (back), receivers Samuel Emilus (load management) and Joe Robustelli (knee), offensive linemen Zack Fry (knee), Philippe Gagnon (head) and Trevon Tate (shoulder), defensive backs Jaxon Ford (knee), C.J. Reavis (load management) and Marcus Sayles (ankle), defensive lineman Mike Rose (load management) and linebacker Nick Wiebe (back).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Payton Collins is viewing the looming Western Final through a slightly different lens than more-experienced members of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-268028","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\/268028","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=268028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}