Samuel Emilus has registered his highest receptions totals in the games of greatest magnitude.<\/p>\n
He caught a career-high 10 passes for the Saskatchewan Roughriders en route to being named the Most Valuable Canadian in the 2025 Grey Cup Game \u2014 a 25-17 victory over the Montreal Alouettes.<\/p>\n
Both of his nine-catch games have been against the B.C. Lions, during home playoff games in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n
During the one post-season contest in which he did not catch at least nine passes, he scored a touchdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever you play in games like this, you have to be at your best,\u201d Emilus said on Wednesday<\/a>. \u201cI know the team required this from me. I know that when the game is on the line, the ball is probably going to come my way.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the work that I put in during the off-season and during the season, I\u2019ve got to show up. I pride myself in being accountable and having my coaches trust in me to make those plays.\u201d<\/p>\n Emilus, whom Saskatchewan selected seventh overall in the 2022 CFL Canadian Draft, emerged as a premier playmaker as a second-year Roughrider.<\/p>\n He surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in 2023 and 2024, earning the team\u2019s Most Outstanding Canadian award in both seasons.<\/p>\n Injuries limited Emilus to seven regular-season games in 2025. Over that time, he caught 37 passes for 588 yards.<\/p>\n Factor in the Western Final and the Grey Cup and Emilus made 56 receptions for 796 yards in nine games last season. Extrapolate those totals over 18 games \u2014 the length of each team\u2019s regular-season schedule \u2014 and it works out to 112 catches and 1,592 yards.<\/p>\n Only once has a Roughrider caught at least 112 passes in a season. Don Narcisse<\/a> amassed a Club-record 123 in 1995.<\/p>\n As for 1,592 yards, that would be the third-best total in franchise history. Joey Walters<\/a> posted 1,715 receiving yards in 1981 and 1,692 the following year.<\/p>\n Elite company, indeed.<\/p>\n Emilus applies such a description to his cohorts on the Roughriders\u2019 receiving corps \u2014 such as returning starters KeeSean Johnson<\/a>, Kian Schaffer-Baker and Dhel Duncan-Busby.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ve got another level we can achieve,\u201d Emilus said. \u201cGuys like me, KeeSean, Schaff and Dhel \u2014 the veterans of this group \u2014 can take it up another notch. By doing that, we\u2019re going to bring the other guys along.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re excited. We obviously know that we\u2019re the champions, so other teams are going to bring their best against us. Because of that, we\u2019re going to have to bring our best, also.\u201d<\/p>\n Having completed the pre-season, the Roughriders are now winding down Coors Light Training Camp. Workouts are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, after which the team will begin a bye week.<\/p>\n