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 Wednesdayās practice. Now his playing with the team in the CFLās 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 seasonā¦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:
āI think heās going to be all right ā¦Ā I sure hope soā¦I donāt have much more than that. Dukeās a tough guyā¦Itās going to be tough to keep him out of the game but certainly, if he injured himself, weāll find out about it later (on Wednesday). Hopefully itās not too bad.ā
via Regina Leader-Post (link above)
Later that day, the head coach knew a tad more, telling the press that Williams was ā50-50.ā He intended to give Williams a day or so and they would see where they were by that point. Thursdayās practice was closed to the press and to spectators. No news yet on if he will be playing as of this writing. Ā
As per the injury report posted on Twitter for the Riders, Williams is still marked as āQuestionable.ā
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 itās 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 Williamsā backup on the first-team receiving corps.
Picton, for his part, had a lot to say about Williams himself and the situation at hand:
āI havenāt talked to Duke. Iām not really sure what happened or about the extent of it, but Iām sure itās fine. I train every week as if Iām a starter. I practice every week like Iām a starter. Iām ready to step in anywhere the team needs me toā¦
In any role that they need me to play, Iām able to do so and Iām ready to go. He always told me to prepare every week like youāre the starter, because one week itās going to happen. Thatās how Iāve attacked things since I was pretty young. I continue to do that now and Iām ready to go in whatever role the team needs meā¦
Weāve got a deep receiversā room, which is niceā¦We feel like weāve got a lot of guys who can play and a lot of guys who can make plays. Thatās a good thing, because thereās a lot of good guys in there to compete with.ā
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 differentlyā¦much differently, and maybe in the end, itāll work out just fine for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Yet they seem ready and in the right headspace, whether itāll be a ā50-50ā Williams or Picton in the position come game day.
