{"id":38877,"date":"2025-08-01T07:47:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T07:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/38877\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T07:47:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T07:47:12","slug":"albert-awachie-is-among-the-leaders-on-longevity-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/38877\/","title":{"rendered":"Albert Awachie is among the leaders on longevity list"},"content":{"rendered":"

Albert Awachie<\/a>, one of the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 leaders in active service, is proud to be back on the field.<\/p>\n

Awachie missed the first four games of this season with a hip injury before resuming CFL on-field duty.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, it feels good to be out there,\u201d the 32-year-old fullback, who joined the Roughriders in 2017, said with his familiar smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked all year and I was training hard. When you have the feeling of touching the field, all that hard work comes to fruition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s early in the season, but I\u2019m just glad to have my feet on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

And his hands on the football.<\/p>\n

Awachie caught a Trevor Harris pass for a six-yard gain on Friday, when the Roughriders improved their record to a league-best 6-1 by defeating the Edmonton Elks 21-18 at Mosaic Stadium.<\/p>\n

It was the 80th CFL regular-season game for Awachie.<\/p>\n

With Awachie sidelined, Morgen Runge was the Roughriders\u2019 fullback for the first four regular-season games<\/a>. An undrafted player like Awachie, Runge helped the team enjoy a 4-0 start.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very good fullback and he\u2019s a viable starter in this league, too,\u201d Awachie said. \u201cHe stepped up big-time. But for me to come back in and also contribute, it\u2019s a good feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Awachie expressed similar sentiments on Aug. 7 of last year<\/a> after rejoining the Roughriders. He had been released the previous day by the hometown Toronto Argonauts, with whom he had signed as a free agent on Feb. 13, 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing away definitely gave me an appreciation \u2014\u00a0not only for the fans, the stadium and the staff, but also for the scheduling and the equipment that you have here,\u201d Awachie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much here in Saskatchewan so, if you really want to be a pro, I think this is definitely the place to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long snapper Jorgen Hus is the longest-serving active Roughrider in terms of uninterrupted duty. He joined the team in 2015 \u2014 two years before Awachie played in his first seven games with the Green and White.<\/p>\n

Receiver Mitch Picton\u2019s Roughriders ties also date back to 2017, when he was on the practice roster while completing his Canada West eligibility with the University of Regina Rams.<\/p>\n

Like Hus, offensive tackle Jermarcus Hardrick played for the Roughriders in 2015. He returned to the CFL team as a high-profile free-agent signing in 2024.<\/p>\n

Cornerback Tevaughn Campbell, who was with the Roughriders in 2016 and the early part of the 2017 season, rejoined the team in February.<\/p>\n

Also high on the longevity list: Kicker Brett Lauther, a full-time Roughrider since 2018. He had practice-roster stints in 2015 and 2017.<\/p>\n

THE FUTURE IS SATURDAY<\/p>\n

The Roughriders are entering a six-game stretch that is laden with games against formidable opponents.<\/p>\n

Next on the agenda is Saturday\u2019s road game against the Montreal Alouettes. Montreal is tied with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, also 5-2, for first place in the East Division. Hamilton visits Mosaic Stadium on Aug. 16<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One week later, the Roughriders will meet the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium. Calgary (5-2) is the only team to defeat the Roughriders so far this year.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 31, the Roughriders will begin the annual home-and-home set with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers \u2014\u00a0winners of the past five West Division titles.<\/p>\n

The 60th Labour Day Classic will be played at Mosaic Stadium on the final day of August. The Roughriders and Blue Bombers will then collide on Sept. 6 at Princess Auto Stadium.<\/p>\n

The aforementioned six-game stretch will conclude on Sept. 13th when the Roughriders play host to Montreal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we just control the now, the rest will take care of itself,\u201d Head Coach Corey Mace said. \u201cWe\u2019re 100-per-cent dialled here on (the game in) Montreal. After that, we\u2019ll look to the following opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just process-oriented. We can\u2019t look too far ahead at this stretch. It\u2019s hard to win games in this league every week, so we look at them as good opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Albert Awachie, one of the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 leaders in active service, is proud to be back on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-38877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38877","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=38877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}