The Montreal Alouettes and Ottawa RedBlacks will wrap up their preseason against each other in Ottawa on Friday night. Highlighting 10+ players from each team who stood out in the first preseason game.
Game Details:
Date/Location: Friday, May 29 / TD Place, Ottawa, ON
Kickoff Time: 7:00 PM ET, 4:00 PM PT
Channel: TSN, RDS (Canada), CFL+ (USA, Global)
Alouettes to Watch
9 QB Anthony Brown
Brown will make his CFL debut in this tilt after being signed by Montreal in February. After finishing his NCAA career with Oregon, he signed with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent, where he appeared in 2 games, completing 22 of his 49 passes for 302 yards with 2 interceptions. He spent some time with the Las Vegas Raiders, Buffalo Bills, and Arizona Cardinals before appearing with the Houston Roughnecks in the UFL in 2025.
4 QB James Morgan
Morgan needs to maximize his playing time to prove that the organization should retain him for another season. Last week, he completed 3 of his 6 passes for 31 yards with 1 interception.
Last preseason saw him complete 19 of his 31 passes for 186 yards and a touchdown.
18 QB Arnaud Desjardins
The offense was moving well with the Laval product under center. He completed 7 of his 8 passes for 71 yards. There were a couple of throws nearly intercepted, but he showed some strong potential last week.
16 QB Dustin Crum
Crum completed 15 of his 20 passes last week for 130 yards. He started in 14 games for Ottawa in 2023, where he played the last 3 seasons.
35 RB Shomari Lawrence
Lawrence rushed 5 times for 31 yards and a touchdown last week and caught 1 pass for 13 yards. He is the only running back listed for this final preseason game.
81 WR Z Franklin
Franklin caught 5 of his 7 targets last week for 49 yards. He looked like a reliable receiver, making a couple of difficult catches.
82 WR D Blankumsee
Blankumsee caught all 3 of his targets for 55 yards last week.
71 WR Nathan Udoh
Udoh was a 3rd round draft pick out of Manitoba this past draft. He caught 3 passes for 13 yards last week.
Alouettes’ CFL Draft Summary: Montreal Selects Arizona TE Rohan Jones 8th Overall, Alouettes CFL and Global Draft Summary
65 LG Doxtater
Doxtater was the only offensive lineman last week who I did not track an allowed pressure from. There are fewer OL dressed for this game so we will see how he holds up with additional playing time.
S Nate Beauchemin
Beauchemin was a 2nd round pick for Montreal in 2025 and is listed as the starting safety this week. Arthur Hamlin is likely to be the starting safety to start the season with.
0 S Jonathan Sutherland
We will also see Jonathan Sutherland at safety wearing number 0 who was a first round pick in 2023 before spending time in the NFL. He had 1 tackle last week officially and had an additional uncredited assisted tackle.
99 DT D Hawthorne
Hawthorne had the most run stops for Montreal last week. He had 2 tackles officially (due to CFL not tracking assisted tackles) but had 2 solo tackles and 1 assisted tackle, all of which were run stops.
RedBlacks to Watch
13 QB Jake Maier
Maier was recently named the week 1 starter for Ottawa. This will be a critical tune-up game before he gets his first start as a RedBlack in week 1. Last week, he completed 10 of his 15 passes for 155 yards with 2 touchdowns.
3 QB Dru Brown
If I were Dru Brown, I would be frustrated by Ottawa’s new head coach, Ryan Dinwiddie, replacing me as the starter after not being dressed in the first preseason game. This is a big game for Brown to show that he is still a starting-calibre quarterback.
16 QB Max Duggan
The former Heisman runner-up completed 4 of his 7 passes for 20 yards last week.
17 Bryson Barnes
Barnes looked great when he came in late in the game last week, completing all 8 of his throws for 109 yards and rushing twice for 15 yards and a touchdown.
87 WR Geno Lewis
Lewis had his 4th 1,000-yard season last year.
85 WR McDonald
McDonald is listed as a second-string slotback this week. Last week, he caught all 4 of his targets for 73 yards.
5 RB Greg Bell
Bell will make his debut as a RedBlack in this match after being Hamilton’s starter last season.
68 G Giordano Vaccaro
The first overall pick in the draft will start at left guard and is a key piece of the future O-line.
18 CB Ro Torrence
Last week, Torrence faced 4 targets his way, which resulted in 2 completions for 16 yards and an interception.
94 DE Charlie Parks
Parks was drafted by Ottawa in the 4th round this past CFL Draft. He had 4 total pressures past a blocker last week by my count, although he did not get on the stats sheet.
99 DT Dennis Briggs
Briggs had 4 pressures past a blocker last week and was in a run stop, despite not having his name listed on the stats sheet.
Depth Charts:
Score Prediction:
I am predicting Ottawa to win 24-17. Ottawa is playing many projected starters in this game, while Montreal is not.