SASKATOON \u2014 Osasere Odemwingie will feel right at home on the road.<\/p>\n
A 21-year-old rookie linebacker with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Odemwingie is poised to visit his hometown of Calgary to play in his first game of professional football.<\/p>\n
The Roughriders are to face the Calgary Stampeders in pre-season action on Monday at McMahon Stadium \u2014 Odemwingie\u2019s home facility for the past four seasons with the University of Calgary Dinos.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to feel different because I\u2019m on the other side,\u201d he said after Saturday\u2019s walk-through at the University of Saskatchewan. \u201cGoing back home is going to be great, playing in front of my family. Everything that led me to here \u2014 being with the Roughriders \u2014 started in Calgary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eight family members, including his parents, will be in the stands for the Roughriders\u2019 first of two pre-season games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the first time I\u2019ll play in front of my family as a professional athlete, so that\u2019s much cooler than anything I could even dream of,\u201d said the 6-foot-0, 220-pounder, who was the Roughriders\u2019 fourth-round selection (38th overall) in the 2026 CFL Canadian Draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a big milestone. I knew I always wanted to play professionally. I knew if I kept working hard, I could get the opportunity. I seized that opportunity and now I\u2019m a professional athlete with the Roughriders.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first step was to attend Coors Light Riders Training Camp. Now, what will it be like to emerge from the tunnel in advance of live combat?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be surreal,\u201d Odemwingie said with a smile. \u201cI\u2019ve just got to get some contact and then I\u2019m going to be chill after that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to be jittery before that, but I\u2019m also going to be excited. Being a part of the Roughriders organization and playing for them brings me so much excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n
The excitement is shared by the Head Coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing out of rookie camp, I thought that among the linebacker group he was really dialled in as far as job responsibilities,\u201d Corey Mace said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell that he\u2019s a cerebral kid. Now, as we go from the practices to a game, we\u2019re looking for him to go out there and prove that he can do it from a physical standpoint \u2014 which was something we liked about his film.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re excited for him and for his opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
DALKES DESCEND ON CALGARY<\/p>\n
Roughriders linebacker Jayden Dalke, who is from Leduc, Alta., expects about 40 family members to attend Monday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re part of Rider Nation,\u201d Dalke said. \u201cThey show up, even at away games \u2014 especially if it\u2019s close.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s in Alberta, so it\u2019s a little day trip.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dalke will always have a bit of a soft spot for McMahon Stadium.<\/p>\n
That was the site of his first CFL start \u2014 at safety for Saskatchewan against the Stampeders on Oct. 29, 2022. He registered five defensive tackles and four more stops on special teams. The latter total is a career high.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just made the plays when they came to me,\u201d Dalke recalled. \u201cI know special teams tackles are hard to come by, so it was a good game.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Roughrider has not registered more than four special teams tackles in a game since Nov. 24, 2013, when linebacker Brian Peters felled a Hamilton Tiger-Cats returner five times in the 101st Grey Cup Game.<\/p>\n
There are nine instances of a Roughrider recording five special teams tackles in a game.<\/p>\n
The team record of six was set by Derek Krete on Oct. 6, 2000 \u2014 at McMahon Stadium.<\/p>\n
As for the pre-season, the Roughriders\u2019 special teams tackles record is four:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bob Poley vs. Winnipeg, June 26, 1992.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Dan Rashovich vs. Calgary, June 29, 1999.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Antoine Brooks Jr. vs. Winnipeg, May 30, 2025.<\/p>\n
HOOPS = WHOOPS!<\/p>\n
Due to snow accumulation at Griffiths Stadium, the Roughriders held Saturday\u2019s walk-through in the main gymnasium at the U of S.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s session was followed by a three-point shooting competition \u2014 won for the offence when long snapper Reed Hughes nailed a trey. \u201cWe are really bad at basketball,\u201d Mace said. \u201cWe can\u2019t shoot, anyway. I assume we could foul or maybe play a little defence.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther than that, pass the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the Roughriders pass the ball on Monday, expect plenty of throws to be allocated to quarterbacks Jack Coan and Brayden Schager.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SASKATOON \u2014 Osasere Odemwingie will feel right at home on the road. A 21-year-old rookie linebacker with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-675057","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\/675057","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=675057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}