Though he looked good to outsiders at Thursday’s walk-through, Shaq Evans remains in doubt for Friday’s game.
“He was moving around okay. We didn’t ask him to do much–it’s just a walk-through. But it was encouraging to see walking and participating,” says Riders Head Coach Craig Dickenson.
Evans missed the previous two practices after spraining his ankle on Monday. Evans is in his usual spot on the depth chart. Whether or not he plays will be a game-time decision.
Dickenson re-iterated that if Evans can’t play, newly-acquired Kenny Stafford will be in.
“(Justin) McInnis will play as well and then the receivers will rotate because Kenny’s only been here two days. To ask him to know the offense the way a guy that’s been here all camp, that’s probably unfair to him.”
The Riders will have three new starters on the defensive line Friday. AC Leonard and Zach Evans are on the six-game injured list and Micah Johnson is on the one-game injured list. In their spots respectively will be Lavar Edwards, Makana Henry and training-camp cut Jeremy Faulk.
“Jeremy was a guy we really liked coming out of camp. We actually offered him a (practice roster) spot” says Dickenson.
“He’s a big, strong guy that’s got a lot of experience. He doesn’t have a lot of CFL experience, but he’s played quite a bit of ball.”
Henry has played every game this season. This week he faces the possibility of getting a lot more reps.
“If they start getting tired, that’s when mistakes happen,” says Dickenson. “Our D-line coach, Mike Davis, is going to have to keep a good eye on that defensive line. And when a guy looks like he’s tired, we’ll have to roll a fresh guy in.”
Edwards comes back off the injured list to provide depth at defensive end along with rookie Earl Okine.
Halfback Loucheiz Purifoy is one of a handful of other players dealing with injury. From a health perspective, the coming bye week can’t get here fast enough.
