WINNIPEG \u2014 Sam Emilus has dealt with this his ups and downs this year. Now the challenge of performing on the biggest stage awaits.<\/p>\n
The Saskatchewan Roughriders receiver has returned from two different injuries to play as well as he did when he posted more than 1,000 yards receiving in 2024. He is expected to be Saskatchewan\u2019s \u2018go-to guy\u2019 in Sunday\u2019s Grey Cup contest versus the Montreal Alouettes with leading receiver, KeeSean Johnson, ruled out due to injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been some ups and downs, especially for me, personally,\u201d said Emilus, 28. \u201cI was hurt early in the season (ankle), then being hurt again midseason (knee). It was a real challenging season, physically and mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n
The six-foot, 200-pound Montreal native still caught 37 passes for 588 yards and two touchdowns in seven games.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing through the injuries he\u2019s had this year and see him just keep pressing, keep pressing, and make good decisions about himself, and thinking about the team long term and sit with the coaches (to recuperate),\u201d said Saskatchewan quarterback Trevor Harris. \u201cThis guy\u2019s a future hall-of-famer, man, and it\u2019s an honour to suit up next to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t understand what he does \u2014 aside from what everybody seeing him catch passes and getting up field. He\u2019s got some insane highlight reels \u2014 he\u2019s got vice-grips for hands. But he blocks like an O-lineman, man. He\u2019s an animal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emilus, who led all pass catchers with nine catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns in Saskatchewan\u2019s 24-21 victory over the B.C. Lions in the West Final, said the whole receiving corps has shared the wealth all year.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur receiver group is really unselfish and we all know that the ball\u2019s gotta be shared,\u201d he said. \u201cThe receiver room just wants to play good football and obviously show everyone what it can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emilus also credited Harris for the success he and his fellow pass catchers have achieved.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s special,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople might think his age (39) is gonna slow him down but really, he always does something special, from his IQ or anything else. He puts the ball in the right place where it needs to be to make things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
It will also be special to play against the Alouettes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my hometown,\u201d he said. \u201cI grew up watching them when I was young. It\u2019s the first Grey Cup I\u2019m playing in, so obviously, that\u2019s special. And I know what we\u2019ve got to do in order to win this game.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it won\u2019t be easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely going to be a clash,\u201d Emilus said. \u201cBoth teams are playing great football right now. It\u2019s the best team out of the East, it\u2019s the best team out of the West. So, we\u2019ll just have to lace them up and play a good game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prospect of winning the Grey Cup on the home field of their hated rivals, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, adds to the intrigue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know the rivalry between us and the Bombers and having the chance to win on their home turf is something that we have in mind, what we want to accomplish, and that\u2019s definitely a motivation,\u201d Emilus said.<\/p>\n
While Emilus grew up in Montreal, Roughriders kick returner Mario Alford played for the Alouettes before they traded him to Saskatchewan in 2022 for a sixth-round pick in 2023.<\/p>\n
But Alford tried to play down the revenge angle on the eve of the match.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat ship\u2019s been sailed,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019ve still got it in the back of my mind, if you know what I mean. So, they traded me away but whatever, I\u2019m past that now. I just want to play to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a big game like this, it would be special to win, period. But against them, for sure. But no hard feelings. Just part of the business at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alford was limited 11 games due to injury (hip) this season, but still returned 44 punts for 476 yards (10.8-yard average) and 31 kickoff returns for 876 yards (28.3-yard average), including one 99-yard touchdown.<\/p>\n
Alford, 34, has enjoyed a lot of success playing on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers turf, including one memorial one.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was the Banjo Bowl,\u201d recalled the five-foot-eight, 177-pound Greenville, Ga., native. \u201cI was sick, we were all sick with some kind of flu and I was sick as a dog that game. I came out here and ran one back and I was so sick that day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always play well out here,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019re playing against Montreal. It\u2019s a different team and it\u2019s a big game, so they\u2019re gonna come ready and we\u2019re gonna come ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2025.<\/p>\n
Jim Bender, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINNIPEG \u2014 Sam Emilus has dealt with this his ups and downs this year. Now the challenge of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-285503","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\/285503","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=285503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}