SASKATOON \u2014 Erik Andersen is at a new stage in his football career.<\/p>\n
Nothing is guaranteed.<\/p>\n
Having exhausted his U Sports eligibility in grand style, the 25-year-old offensive lineman is striving to earn a roster spot with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no going back,\u201d the 6-foot-6, 314-pounder said. \u201cThere\u2019s no sixth year, so you just come out every day, work as hard as you can, try to play football as long as you can, and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andersen was selected by Saskatchewan in the second round (13th overall) of the 2025 CFL Canadian Draft. He attended last year\u2019s Coors Light Training Camp but did not take part in drills due to an injury.<\/p>\n
After returning to Western University \u2014 based in his hometown of London, Ont. \u2014 he enjoyed a banner season. He received the J.P. Metras Trophy, presented to the premier lineman in U Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a team, we didn\u2019t reach our goals and the season wasn\u2019t as successful as we wanted, but it was good to go back for one last season,\u201d Andersen said on Friday after the Roughriders\u2019 rookie camp concluded at Griffiths Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cI graduated (after studying criminology and psychology) and, obviously, winning the Metras was a great way to end it. I got to come down to Regina for the All-Canadian banquet (during Vanier Cup week).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a cool year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andersen is the fifth J.P. Metras Trophy winner to be drafted by the Roughriders, following Chris Gioskos (the 1989 winner, from the University of Ottawa), James Repesse (1996, University of Saskatchewan), Tyson St. James (UBC, 1999) and Chris Best (2006, Waterloo).<\/p>\n
JUST FOR KICKS<\/p>\n
Special teams took centre stage during Friday\u2019s practice, when placekickers Michael Hughes and Jonathan Kim took turns attempting field goals.<\/p>\n
They were flanked by the rest of the team. Players were encouraged to distract the kickers by making noise, thereby simulating the hostile environment a visiting team would encounter.<\/p>\n
The coaches even called out timeouts just before long snapper Reed Hughes delivered the ball \u2014 the intent being to see how Kim and Michael Hughes responded to attempts to ice the kicker.<\/p>\n
As the drill progressed, the kicks were lengthened by five yards at a time. Kim and Hughes both connected from as far as 53.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to put the spotlight on some guys throughout camp,\u201d Head Coach Corey Mace said. \u201cIt\u2019s good, healthy competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey went back and forth and we extended it to overtime kicks. I thought the guys all appreciated it. It broke up the practice a little bit and it stuck to who we are as far as competing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guys made some tough kicks. If they would miss one, they would bounce back and hit one from even longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of those positions that\u2019s going to battled out throughout training camp. We\u2019ll walk away with the right one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kim and Hughes are vying to succeed Brett Lauther, now of the Ottawa REDBLACKS. Lauther had been Saskatchewan\u2019s full-time kicker since 2018.<\/p>\n
Another placement specialist, Alex Hale, is to begin practising with the Roughriders once main training camp begins on Sunday.<\/p>\n
EXTRA POINTS<\/p>\n
Highlights from Friday\u2019s rookie camp session:<\/p>\n
\u2022 The ground game was accentuated when Peny Boone took off on two long runs. He also impressed after catching a screen pass. Corbin Ebben, a junior-eligible training-camp invitee from the Saskatoon Hilltops, also had a nice scamper.<\/p>\n
\u2022 D\u2019Angelo Martell had Friday\u2019s lone interception. Fellow defensive back James Burgess Jr. added two pass deflections.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The secondary as a whole turned in a strong performance. On one play, tight coverage forced quarterback Jack Coan to hold on to the ball and ultimately scramble toward the sideline.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The smooth stride of receiver Ali Jennings III continues to be evident. Mace also lauds the speed of receiver Tyrie Cleveland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SASKATOON \u2014 Erik Andersen is at a new stage in his football career. Nothing is guaranteed. Having exhausted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-657670","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\/657670","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=657670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}