The suffocating air temperatures relented Friday just as the on-field intensity heated up for the final practice of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 2026 training camp.
And at the end of it all, asked about how many roster spots were already in the bank versus those left to be decided, head coach Corey Mace’s poker face was chill as could be.
“I'd say guys like the Rolan Milligans and the Trevor Harrises, you know, those guys are probably going to make the team,” Mace told reporters post-practice, drawing laughs from the assembled media. “But percentage wise, I don't know. We have to sit down and have a long, long, long powwow.”
The highest-profile of those decisions, as final season-opening roster cuts come due at 10 p.m. tonight, will revolve around whether or not to keep all four of quarterbacks Trevor Harris, Jack Coan, Brayden Schager and Tommy Stevens.
“You'd like to say yeah, of course, just because it's just what it's been, but you can't promise anything,” Mace said. “We'll always just make the best decision for the team.”
Other choices likely to draw attention will include how many of the seven Canadian receivers and nine offensive linemen in camp stick around; what to do with the glut of bodies at both defensive line and in the secondary; and who will get first dibs on the chances to replace Brett Lauther as placekicker and A.J. Allen as starting weak-side linebacker.
Allen was Saskatchewan’s team award winner for most outstanding Canadian last season and left for Ottawa in free agency this winter.
“There's debate, and there should be. If there's never any debate then that means that we didn't have good players,” said Mace. “What I know (is) that we did bring a bunch of good guys that are pushing multiple positions in multiple spots on the roster. So yeah it's a healthy debate.
“I tell these guys at the beginning of camp, make one of us stand on the table for you when today comes, and I think a lot of guys did that.”
On the intensity that permeated parts of Friday’s practice – the Riders’ last until June 8 when they come off their Week 1 bye – at least some of it may have stemmed from Mace’s promise Thursday to put his players in situations Friday that would “make them think.”
“It's good not only for them but for us as coaches,” he elaborated Friday. “And a lot of things I was telling the guys is, things that happen here at practice can drastically affect the decision making by me. But we got to build the trust out here on the practice field. So it's good, I think, to put everybody through those situations.”
Excluding players on the one-game or six-game injured lists, teams can keep a maximum of 45 players on their active roster, up to 15 on a freshly-expanded practice roster, and two more on a newly-created reserve roster that does not count toward ratio requirements.
And those who make the cut will most likely be the ones Mace and his staff learned one key trait about over three weeks of camp.
“That they're not going to accept anything less than the expectation, the bars that we've re-set for ourselves,” he said.
