When the Roughriders open their 2021 season Friday night at a sold out Mosaic Stadium, Coach Craig Dickenson expects the B.C. Lions to have Michael Reilly as their starting quarterback.

Questions have surfaced surrounding the veteran pivot’s throwing arm after it was learned Reilly under went an MRI recently, after experiencing elbow tenderness.

Dickenson however knows Reilly’s reputation, and that’s he’s always been “tough as nails”.

“I know Michel Reilly well, Michael Reilly will be playing in this football game, he is tough as nails and there’s no way he will be sitting out, so we’re preparing for Michael Reilly,” Dickenson told reporters on Wednesday.

It would appear as if Dickenson’s gut feeling is accurate, with B.C. coach Rick Campbell also expecting the 36-year-old veteran to be on the Mosaic turf Friday night.

“We’re fully optimistic that he’s going to be able to go,” Campbell said. “It’s just part of a plan we have to have his arm as live as possible for Friday night, so we will go from there, but I’d say that I’m very optimistic that he will be good to go,” Campbell added.

Game day coverage on 620 CKRM begins at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. Derek Taylor and Luc Mullinder will have the call for you.

The first game of the 2021 season will be Thursday night, as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers face the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a rematch of the 2019 Grey Cup.