SASKATOON — Glenn Love knows the old football adage that suggests you can’t make the club in the tub.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ linebacker was back on the field at Griffiths Stadium on Thursday, four days after limping off with a sore right hip flexor.
For Love — whom the CFL’s Roughriders signed as a free agent in February — suffering an injury on the first day of training camp was difficult to handle. He was expected to compete for a starting job, but the coaching staff couldn’t evaluate him when he wasn’t on the field.
“It was tough to take,” Love, 27, said after Thursday’s session at the University of Saskatchewan. “You train all off-season and you think you’re going to camp at 100 per cent, but all of a sudden, on the first day, something happens. It was a step back, but now I just have to work hard, watch film and get back into it.”
Love couldn’t rush to return for fear he would aggravate the injury and thus put himself further behind. But he tried to keep himself in tune with what was going on in order to keep himself in the mix.
“If you can’t be on the field, you’ve got to do something else,” said the sixth-year CFLer. “You’ve got to help your teammates more or watch film more. You’ve got to do something productive instead of sitting around moping because sitting around moping isn’t going to help anything.”
Love was considered a candidate for a starting job in the Roughriders’ linebacking corps. He still could win the weak-side job, but Canadian Kevin Francis has been working with the starters since Sam Eguavoen left practice on Day 1.
Love also was a backup with the Calgary Stampeders, but he ended up starting last season after Deron Mayo went down with an injury. In other words, Love knows anything can happen.
“I’m just trying to get on the field and play,” he said. “I’m happy to be on the team and happy to be playing another year. If I play one down or 100 downs, it doesn’t matter to me. I just want to help the team out the best way I can, whether that’s on special teams or defence.
“If there’s a spot open, let the best man win. We’re going to help each other to get there anyways.”
•••
Mike Dubuisson is back with the old gang.
The Roughriders announced Thursday that they had signed the 25-year-old product of Montreal, reuniting him with some of the coaches and players with whom he won a Grey Cup in 2015 as a member of the Edmonton Eskimos.
“It was a no-brainer when I got released by Edmonton; I didn’t call any team but Saskatchewan,” said Dubuisson, who was cut by the Eskimos on May 9. “I said, ‘Hey, can you get me in?’ and Coach (Chris) Jones said, ‘I’m going to pick you up when I can.’
“I’m very happy to work with him and the rest of the staff again. He demands a lot from his players. It’s all about being a baller, competing each and every day and bringing that championship mentality.”
The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Dubuisson can play cornerback, safety or linebacker. In 53 career games over three seasons with the Eskimos, he had four defensive tackles and 14 special-teams stops.
To make room for Dubuisson on the roster, the Roughriders released former NFL running back Daniel Thomas.
Thomas, who left Tuesday’s practice with a suspected concussion, was battling for the starting tailback position with fellow internationals Cameron Marshall and Quincy Walden and Canadians Kienan LaFrance, Greg Morris and Jonathan Thebaud.
Jones said Thomas could return to the Roughriders at some point, noting he had a solid grasp of the offence.
•••
While Love returned from injury, others remained sidelined Thursday.
Eguavoen, LaFrance, defensive ends Jonathan Newsome, Tobi Antigha and Ivan Brown, receiver Ricky Collins Jr., fullback Spencer Moore, offensive lineman Marc Glaude, linebacker Gary Wilkins, long-snapper Jorgen Hus and punter Josh Bartel didn’t practise.
Guard Brendon LaBatte and defensive back Ed Gainey, who both left Wednesday’s practice early with injuries, were back on the field Thursday. But both left the workout before it ended, as did defensive end Willie Jefferson. The status of those players wasn’t immediately known.
•••
EXTRAS: Jones said quarterback Vince Young was much better Thursday than he had been Wednesday. “He just seemed a little bit more comfortable,” Jones said. “(Maybe he) woke up on the right side of the bed, I don’t know.” … Slotback Bakari Grant may have been the star of the show Thursday. He caught several touchdown passes — including a 100-yard pass-and-run TD from Kevin Glenn — and also flattened Jeff Hecht when he blitzed from his safety position … According to Jones, the Roughriders had run some 640 snaps entering Thursday’s action, putting them ahead of their pace from training camp in 2016. “We didn’t mean to quite get as many today, but they didn’t really want to be out here today, so I just said, ‘Hey, we’re going to keep on grinding them and make them have to fight through it,’ ’’ Jones said. “It was a little bit hot, but I thought they responded well to it.”
