It was due to an injury suffered during practice this week with the Saskatchewan Roughriders that receiver, Duke Williams injured his ankle. He left the practice field in serious pain, it seemed. Specifically this occurred at Wednesday’s practice. Now his playing with the team in the CFL‘s week 2 against the Elks on Saturday is in question.
As the Regina Leader-Post reported, this is all familiar territory for the Roughriders, as it was only in the 2019 season that receiver Shaq Evans broke his leg during their second game of the season…subsequently missing a total of seven games, as per the same aforementioned source.
As for this past Wednesday, when the injury happened and shortly after, not much was known of what was to come of Williams and how serious the injury was. While speaking to the press, even head coach for the Riders, Craig Dickenson, knew very little of how serious the injury was. This is what he had to say soon after the injury:
“I think he’s going to be all right … I sure hope so…I don’t have much more than that. Duke’s a tough guy…It’s going to be tough to keep him out of the game but certainly, if he injured himself, we’ll find out about it later (on Wednesday). Hopefully it’s not too bad.”
via Regina Leader-Post (link above)
Later that day, the head coach knew a tad more, telling the press that Williams was “50-50.” He intended to give Williams a day or so and they would see where they were by that point. Thursday’s practice was closed to the press and to spectators. No news yet on if he will be playing as of this writing.
As per the injury report posted on Twitter for the Riders, Williams is still marked as “Questionable.”
Apparently after he suffered the injury, he was seen trying to put weight on it on the sidelines, then even did some light jogging on the field but succumbed to the injury it seemed, ultimately going back to the dressing room soon after. So it’s a tad hush-hush right now, but a plan B is obviously in the works, which is smart.
This means that receiver Mitchell Picton, will be seeing some play, as he is Williams’ backup on the first-team receiving corps.
Picton, for his part, had a lot to say about Williams himself and the situation at hand:
“I haven’t talked to Duke. I’m not really sure what happened or about the extent of it, but I’m sure it’s fine. I train every week as if I’m a starter. I practice every week like I’m a starter. I’m ready to step in anywhere the team needs me to…
In any role that they need me to play, I’m able to do so and I’m ready to go. He always told me to prepare every week like you’re the starter, because one week it’s going to happen. That’s how I’ve attacked things since I was pretty young. I continue to do that now and I’m ready to go in whatever role the team needs me…
We’ve got a deep receivers’ room, which is nice…We feel like we’ve got a lot of guys who can play and a lot of guys who can make plays. That’s a good thing, because there’s a lot of good guys in there to compete with.”
via Regina Leader-Post (link above)
Sometimes history repeats and the fear here is yet another drop in performance like seasons past and all after the season opener, but sometimes, dear readers, sometimes things turn out differently…much differently, and maybe in the end, it’ll work out just fine for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Yet they seem ready and in the right headspace, whether it’ll be a “50-50” Williams or Picton in the position come game day.
