A preview of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ defence and special teams automatically begins with Rolan Milligan Jr.
After all, he was named the CFL team’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player and Most Outstanding Special Teams Player in 2024. He was also honoured as the league’s premier defensive player.
Milligan Jr. is a key component of defensive and special teams units that are deep and strong along the board.
Those components of the team are spotlighted today as we conclude a late-winter overview of the Roughriders’ roster. Part 1, featuring the offence, appeared on Monday.
DEFENSIVE LINEMEN
Returnees: Habakkuk Baldonado (G), Eric Black (N), Malik Carney (A), Charbel Dabire (N), Micah Johnson (A), Lake Korte-Moore (N), Benoit Marion (N), Caleb Sanders (A).
Newcomers: Rondell Bothroyd (A), Alex Gubner (A), Shane Ray (A), Mike Rose (A), Jordan Smith (A).
• The Roughriders are well-stocked at defensive tackle, where Johnson and Rose have combined for seven All-CFL selections and 11 berths on divisional dream teams. At 36, Johnson was an All-CFL pick with Saskatchewan last season. Rose earned divisional honours with the Calgary Stampeders in 2024.
• Sanders, also a tackle, returns after a strong 2024 season. (See also: Special teams.)
• Dabire, a Roughrider since 2019, enjoyed a robust start to the 2024 campaign before suffering a knee injury.
• Carney provides pressure from the edge. The same is expected from Ray, formerly of the Argonauts and Denver Broncos.
• Marion was impressive after joining the Roughriders late in the season, quickly earning a new contract.
• Korte-Moore, Saskatchewan’s first-round draft choice in 2023, is back for a third season. So is Baldonado, an impressive Global player.
• Black had four defensive tackles in four games last year.
• Smith, like Ray, arrives with NFL Draft credentials. Smith was a fourth-round pick (121st overall) of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021. Ray was the Broncos’ first-round selection (23rd overall) in 2015. He capped his rookie season by helping Denver win a Super Bowl.
• Bothroyd had a sack for the Buffalo Bills during the 2024 NFL pre-season.
• Gubner had four interceptions — as a defensive lineman! — at the University of Montana in 2019.
LINEBACKERS
Returnees: A.J. Allen (N), C.J. Avery (A), Antoine Brooks Jr. (A), Jordan Herdman-Reed (N), Justin Herdman-Reed (N), Braxton Hill (A), Aubrey Miller Jr. (A), Zachary Philion (N), C.J. Reavis (A), Melique Straker (N), Jameer Thurman (A), Nick Wiebe (N).
• A veteran-laden, talented corps is led by All-CFL cover linebacker C.J. Reavis and middle linebacker Jameer Thurman, who earned divisional laurels.
• Avery registered three interceptions as a rookie. He had a key fourth-quarter pick in each of the Roughriders’ first two games.
• Allen scored on a 48-yard pick-six on the second defensive play of his first CFL start.
• Brooks Jr. reached the end zone on a 46-yard interception return in the 2024 pre-season finale.
• The Herdman-Reed twins are joined by Straker and Miller Jr. as special teams standouts.
• Wiebe, a second-round draftee in 2024, looks to make an impact after dealing with knee injuries.
• Philion dressed for three games with Saskatchewan last season. His father is former CFL defensive lineman Ed Philion, a one-time Roughriders assistant coach.
• Hill is back after spending time on the practice roster last autumn.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
Returnees: DaMarcus Fields (A), Jayden Dalke (N), Jaxon Ford (N), Robert Javier (A), Nelson Lokombo (N), Rolan Milligan Jr. (A), Kosi Onyeka (N), Marcus Sayles (A).
Newcomers: Richard Aduboffour (N), Tevaughn Campbell (N), Kerfalla Exume (N), Nicario Harper (A), Eddie Heckard (A), Tyrique McGhee (A), Alfahiym Walcott (A).
• Again, we begin with Milligan Jr., who registered a league-high eight interceptions in 2024 en route to earning All-CFL honours for the first time. He and Fields are the incumbent starting defensive halfbacks.
• Sayles re-signed after being an All-CFL cornerback in 2024. Campbell looms as a ratio-changer at the other cornerback spot.
• Lokombo started at safety most of last season. Dalke and Ford also have front-line experience at that position.
• Javier was on the practice roster last year.
• Aduboffour and Harper attended the Roughriders’ 2024 training camp.
• Exume and Onyeka are noted for excellence on special teams.
• McGhee played in three games with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the past two seasons.
• Walcott had a 96-yard pick-six as a junior at Baylor.
• Heckard registered five interceptions, one of which he returned for a TD, at Brigham Young in 2023.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Returnees: RET Mario Alford (A), P Joe Couch (G), P Adam Korsak (G), LS Jorgen Hus (N), K Brett Lauther (N).
Newcomer: K Ben Hadley (N).
• Hus (10), Lauther (six), Alford (three) and Korsak (two) have a combined 21 years of experience as Roughriders.
• Alford is the Roughriders’ all-time leader in return touchdowns (eight).
• Lauther leads the Green and White in career field-goal accuracy (83.1 per cent) after making 33 of his last 34 attempts last season. The lone miss was a desperation 60-yarder into the wind.
• Korsak has averaged 47.4 yards per punt over the past two seasons.
• Couch — who, like Korsak, is from Australia — spent the 2024 campaign on the practice roster.
• Hadley kicked a 55-yard field goal for St. Francis Xavier last season.
• In terms of special teams tackles, Allen was the CFL’s co-leader (with 22) in 2024. Milligan Jr., with 20, was third in the league.
• Newly signed DB Kerfalla Exume has been a tackling machine on the coverage teams since entering the CFL in 2019. He has 71 special teams stops in 57 career regular-season games.
• Sanders blocked a punt and a field goal last year. He became the first Roughrider with multiple blocked kicks in a season since 2005, when Scott Gordon interrupted two punts in the same game (June 25 vs. Winnipeg at Taylor Field).
LEGEND:
A—American
N—National
G—Global
