Charleston Hughes is ready for his return to the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ lineup.
Whether that will happen Saturday against the visiting B.C. Lions is unclear — “That’s out of my power,” the Roughriders’ veteran defensive end said Tuesday — but all Hughes can do is be primed in case he’s called.
“I’m preparing like I’m ready to play on the weekend,” Hughes said following the Roughriders’ practice at Mosaic Stadium. “You never know what’s going to happen, so I’m just going to keep practising and keep doing what I have to do to get ready for the game.”
On Friday, Hughes was taken off Saskatchewan’s active roster for Saturday’s CFL game against the Calgary Stampeders in response to an off-field legal issue. He initially was slated to play in Calgary, but the Roughriders changed course the day before the game and deactivated the 34-year-old product of Saginaw, Mich.
All Hughes could do was watch the game on TV in Regina as the Roughriders played his former team. On Tuesday, he admitted it was “pretty difficult” to be just another TSN viewer.
“I had a lot of my friends, family and fans prepared for me to come back to Calgary and display my talent, but unfortunately it didn’t happen,” said Hughes, who spent the first 10 seasons of his CFL career with the Stampeders before being traded twice on Feb. 2 — first to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and then to the Roughriders. “I did apologize to everybody on social media.”
As Hughes watched the game, he texted comments and suggestions to Roughriders players for their use in the second half. One of those players was rookie defensive end Chad Geter, who was tasked with the chore of starting in place of a future Canadian Football Hall of Famer.
“I think he played an excellent game for a rookie …,” Hughes said of Geter, who had two tackles for losses in the Roughriders’ 29-24 victory. “(I told Geter) ‘Just keep rushing after the quarterback. Even though you’re not getting pressure and not getting to him, you’re close,’ and to keep getting after it.”
Hughes is hopeful he’ll get a chance to get after B.C. quarterback Travis Lulay on Saturday, when the Roughriders complete their regular-season schedule against the visiting Lions (5 p.m., CKRM, TSN).
Hughes worked with Saskatchewan’s starting defence during Tuesday’s practice, but it’s unknown if his team-imposed ban from the roster will extend beyond the one game he already missed.
Based on what Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones said, it sounds like Hughes will be back in the lineup this weekend.
“He should play,” said Jones, who noted on Friday that he made the decision to sit Hughes after discussions with the league and with Roughriders president-CEO Craig Reynolds.
“We’re moving forward. (The incident that led to the charges against Hughes) was an unfortunate event, but we can’t continue to pound away at it. Anytime something negative happens, we have to move forward at some point … We’ve done what we did and that’s our plan: Address this week as a new week and to do things the right way.”
Hughes noted that he’s trying to focus on football despite the distraction of the case against him. The key, he said, is to keep his mind “in the right place” — which means on the football field.
He’s planning to watch extra film and to keep working in practice to stay on task, perhaps inspired by last week’s turn of events. He admitted that having to miss a game stoked his competitive fire to some degree.
“I was pretty eager to play,” Hughes said. “Even watching from home, it makes you kind of eager to get back on the field.”
Hughes has been a consistent pass-rushing threat for the Roughriders all season. He leads the CFL with 15 sacks — the third-highest single-season total of his career (behind the 18 he had in 2013 and the 16 he recorded in 2016) — and takes a three-sack lead on his nearest pursuer into this weekend’s action.
But Hughes has admitted his arrest on Oct. 11 was embarrassing and he repeated that word when discussing his situation on Tuesday.
“I hold myself to a high standard,” he said. “You’re supposed to be a role model for people out there and people who are watching you. When I really look back at it, it is pretty embarrassing. It’s an embarrassing moment.”
Hughes vowed to learn from his mistake and to correct the reasons for it. It remains to be seen if the punishment meted out by the Roughriders last weekend will play a role in helping him in that pursuit.
On Tuesday, however, Hughes said he was just happy to be back on the practice field with his teammates, preparing for another opportunity to play in a game.
“We’re going into our last game of the (regular) season, so right now the focus is on football for the rest of the team and myself,” Hughes said. “We’re really just trying to concentrate on developing what we’ve got going on.”
