Notebook: Kevin Glenn will be listening for Odell Willis

EDMONTON — Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Kevin Glenn knows what to expect from Edmonton Eskimos defensive ends John Chick and Odell Willis.

Both will spend Friday night trying to get to Glenn in a CFL game at Commonwealth Stadium, but one of them will do so at a higher volume than the other.

“I try to put earplugs in my ears for Odell because I know he’s going to talk and I don’t want to hear him talking,” Glenn said with a chuckle Thursday. “And it doesn’t matter what type of game it is, he’s just going to talk all the time.

“We go way back. We’ve played against each other on numerous occasions and I love playing against that guy. Typically, you don’t like defensive guys or playing against them, but he’s one of those guys that I enjoy playing against because I love to hear him talking.”

Willis, 32, is in his ninth CFL season. He enters Friday’s game with a team-leading six sacks (which tied him for second in the league going into Week 10) and a team-best 18 quarterback pressures (which tied him for the CFL lead entering the week).

The self-proclaimed Mayor of Swaggerville when he was a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Willis is a renowned trash-talker. He sometimes can be hard to understand, but Glenn admitted with a laugh that he can “speak Willis.”

“You’ve just got to make sure you’re paying attention to it,” Glenn continued. “You may miss the second or third word, but by that fourth or fifth word, you’re understanding what he’s saying.

“It’s entertaining. He keeps the fun and the competition within the game when you’re playing.”

Chick, on the other hand, goes about his business in a different way.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard Chick trash-talk,” Glenn said. “He trash-talks with his celebrations after a sack. He gets very enthusiastic whenever he gets a sack or a big tackle. As far as talking, I don’t think I’ve ever heard him ever say anything out of the way.”

Chick, whom the Eskimos acquired Sunday from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, goes into Friday’s game with two sacks this season. But the 34-year-old has been known throughout his eight-year CFL career as a tireless worker who can get after the passer.

“We’ve played on teams together and I’ve played against him, too,” said Glenn, who was Chick’s teammate in Saskatchewan during the 2015 season. “We’ve got to make sure that we know where he’s at — both of those guys — so we make sure we block them.”

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The Eskimos acquired Chick to help shore up a defensive line that lost Marcus Howard to a season-ending ruptured Achilles tendon during Edmonton’s game Aug. 10 against the Ottawa Redblacks.

Edmonton now has 20 players on its six-game injured list and one on its one-game list.

The Eskimos have made 10 changes to their roster for Friday’s game, including the insertion of seven defenders who weren’t in the lineup for Edmonton’s previous game.

That doesn’t matter to Glenn.

“To us, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a vet or a younger guy,” he said. “Their defensive coaching staff is pretty good to where whoever’s going to play, they’re going to have them ready.

“We can’t worry about that. We can’t worry about, ‘What year in the league is this guy? How many games has this guy played?’ We have to know that, with their defensive staff, they’re going to have those guys ready on that side of the ball.”

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Offensively, the Eskimos have made three changes to their lineup, including the return of receiver Brandon Zylstra.

But no matter who gets added to the Edmonton offence, Roughriders head coach-defensive co-ordinator Chris Jones knows the key cog is quarterback Mike Reilly.

On Thursday, Jones called Reilly “a fearless leader who knows how to play, especially down the stretch.” Jones also knows the Eskimos’ pivot is as dangerous outside the pocket as he is in it — and the Roughriders have to remember that.

“Regardless of what game or what blitz or what front that we run, we have to know where Mike Reilly is at all times,” Jones said. “You can’t give him second and third opportunities. You’ve got to get to him.

“He’s going to use his legs to try to extend plays, so we’ve got to know where he is and get him on the ground.”

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While the Eskimos are making lots of changes for Friday’s game, the Roughriders are making just one among their starters.

Erick Dargan is to replace Derrick Moncrief at strong-side linebacker after Moncrief suffered an undisclosed injury during Tuesday’s closed practice.

“It certainly is a little bit easier as far as getting continuity when you don’t have as much shuffling going on,” Jones said. “That was one of our issues last year. We were snakebitten across the board. We had injury after injury last year.

“But it is pro football and it’s my job to make sure that whoever we put on the field plays at a high level.”

The other three changes Saskatchewan made involved backup quarterbacks (Vernon Adams Jr. on, Marquise Williams off), backup national linebackers (Aaron Milton on, Dillon Grondin off) and backup international defensive lineman (Antonio Longino on, Will Ratelle off).