Riders Canadian receiver rookie duo catching on during training camp panow.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from panow.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A change in diet led to a change in explosiveness for Saskatchewan Roughriders receiver Brayden Lenius.
The second-season CFL pro has lost 26 pounds since the last time he took the field in 2019. He now weighs in at 215 pounds.
â(I) just want to be more successful in my position and with Cory (Watson) departing last year, I knew I had to take the next step,â Lenius told media on Friday following training-camp practice. âI also got to be with (receivers coach) Travis Moore for the 2020 off-season for a bit before COVID hit.
âIâm now plant-based. Iâm a pescetarian. Iâll still eat fish because Iâm from the coast â I canât not â but the diet played a huge role. But my consistency (working out) over the last 18 months is what did it.â
REGINA With five solid quarterbacks at Saskatchewan Roughriders’ training camp, cracking the roster is an uphill battle. Cody Fajardo, the CFL West Division Most Outstanding Player in 2019, is the only pivot with a spot locked up. Isaac Harker, Tom Flacco, Paxton Lynch and Mason Fine are all battling for the final two spots, as the Riders are likely to only keep three. For the past 18 months, Harker, the Riders’ backup quarterback in 2019, has been studying the playbook so closely, he could major in a Jason Maas offence. “I know it like the back of my hand,” Harker said. “I could be brain dead and somebody could call a play from this offence and I feel like (my brain) would show some activity.”
Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Isaac Harker throws a pass during training camp on July 14, 2021. (Saskatchewan Roughriders)
Preparations for the 2021 CFL season were a family affair for Isaac Harker.
“I was having my sister (Tori) call out the (plays) so I could call out the (plays) and work on footwork. The biggest thing was visualization and doing that five times a week and it’s huge and such a big advantage and now all that’s left to do is get some physical repetitions,” the Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback said after Wednesday’s training-camp workout at Mosaic Stadium.
“For every couple hours of playbook study and help out, I had to get her a Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. She probably knows the offence as well as anyone.”
Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Cody Fajardo. (File photo courtesy of the Saskatchewan Roughriders)
For the first time in his CFL career, Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Cody Fajardo is preparing to enter training camp as a team’s incumbent starter.
Fajardo, who is entering his fifth season in the CFL, won the Roughriders’ starting job in 2019 after then-starter Zach Collaros went down with a concussion in the first game of the year.
Fajardo went on to win the award as the West Division’s most outstanding player, throwing for 4,302 yards and 18 touchdowns while also rushing for 611 yards and 10 scores.
For the 29-year-old, this year’s camp feels different because he doesn’t have to be so selfish.