Mitchell Blair
Drew Willy is being given an opportunity to start at quarterback for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and he intends to make the most of it as the green-and-white finish off the regular season with a home date against the Edmonton Eskimos.
Willy, who gets the start in place of Darian Durant who is sitting out the regular season finale to get ready for the playoffs, is looking forward to taking on what he believes will be the number one defensive unit of the Eskimos.
“From what I’ve seen, it looks like they are playing their usual guys, “Willy told reporters while standing on the Mosaic Stadium turf. “They have some good players on defense and they will give me a challenge so I’m looking forward to getting out and showing what I can do.
This will be Willy’s 2nd start of the season as he guided the team to a victory in Hamilton when Durant was out with a bad foot. He is confident he can show that he is capable of being a CFL quarterback and show the Riders or whoever that he has a future in the league.
“I had a good week of practice, taking the number one reps and throwing the ball around.” Willy said. “It was a fun week and now I hope to finish it off by playing strong. That game in Hamilton made me feel pretty confident and I am confident I can go out again and keep the offense moving.”
Willy’s second start in a Riders uniform could be his last one as there is talk he could be going to Ottawa when the expansion Redblacks starts play. Willy doesn’t know what the future holds, but he realizes if he plays well, he will have teams talking about him and perhaps his current team wanting to keep him.
“I don’t know how everything will play out,” said Willy, who threw for 270 yards and three touchdowns in that July win over Hamilton. “If I go out there and take care of my business, I’ll be fine. If it means I end up having to go elsewhere to pursue my career that’s what happens, but I’m not thinking about that now.
With Willy and many other regulars either watching from the sidelines or not playing much, Head Coach Corey Chamblin is hoping to see a lot from the guys who are getting a chance to show their stuff.
“There’s a few things I want to see from them.” Chamblin said. “One is how they play in a live game. Some of the guys have been with us since pre-season so I want to see how they have progressed from back in training camp to today. I’m hoping the young guys step up and that at the end of the day we walk out of here having won 12 games in the regular season.”
One regular who will play is defensive back Carlos Thomas. He doesn’t want to hear talk about this game meaning nothing in the standings or that it doesn’t matter at the end of the day whether they win or lose.
“Anytime you step on the field, you want to win,” Thomas proclaimed. “Coach has preached to us all season long that our intent is to win. Our mentality hasn’t changed any and our focus is still there. As a defense we are trying to finish as the number one unit in a lot of categories so we have some goals we want to reach.”
Game time is 3 o’clock. TSN will have the television coverage with radio coverage provided by 620 CKRM starting with “Roughrider Gameday” at 1230. That show can also been seen live on www.riderville.com
GAME NOTES
- The Riders go into the final weekend of the season tied with Toronto when it comes to giveaways/takeaways as both teams are plus 19 on the season
- Receiver Taj Smith will try and join teammates Chris Getzlaf and Weston Dressler as players having 1000 receiving yards. Smith goes in needing 99 yards for the magic number.
- Saskatchewan leads the CFL in fewest points allowed and finish up in top for the first time since 2002 when they gave up an average of 21.8 points a game. This year they have given up an average of 21.6 points which is their best 1976
- The game could be the last for former Riders quarterback Kerry Joseph, who is now a quarterback for the Eskimos. Joseph is one of three Rider quarterbacks to lead the team to a Grey Cup doing it in 2007.
