On Monday, Saskatchewan Roughriders Head Coach Craig Dickenson made his weekly appearance on the SportsCage with Michael Ball.
With teams across the Canadian Football League now past the halfway mark of the off-season, teams will begin to formalize their plans for 2023.
Dickenson is looking forward to a trip to Texas next month with the rest of the coaching staff to prepare for the upcoming season.
“We’ll all be staying together, sharing rooms, having dinner, breaking bread, talking about the team, talking about how off-season free agency went, what our ideas are moving forward and we’ll start talking about the draft and needs.”
The coaches won’t be the only members of the Roughriders on the trip, General Manager Jeremy O’Day will also accompany the staff down south for the mini retreat.
Dickenson says that he is excited to head to a warmer location to discuss football.
The CFL Draft is May 2, and you can hear the entire Draft on 620 CKRM.
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One person who Dickenson is looking forward to working this season is his new quarterback, Trevor Harris.
The Riders head coach says that the former Alouette is someone who he has admired for a long time, and believes that Harris gets “it.”
“The thing I like about him is that he’s very committed being the best player he can be. ”
Dickenson also said that he likes the fact Harris is a very outgoing personality.
“He wants to get his guys together and talk with them and work with them. ”
Even with the tough path that is facing the Roughriders this season, the head coach has full faith in his new quarterback.
“I think he’s got the right attitude, he’s got the right work ethic, I think he’s the right guy for the job.”
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There will be plenty of changes to the green and white offence this season along with Harris replacing Cody Fajardo at QB. Kelly Jeffrey replaces Jason Maas as the team’s offensive coordinator. When Maas was relieved of the Riders from his duties, there was speculation he and Dickenson did not get along, which was dismissed by the Riders head coach on Monday, as he said the move was performance based.
“Just felt like we needed a reboot on offence and when you do that, usually the coordinator and an assistant or two ends up being replaced.”
Despite being let go by the Riders this off-season, Dickenson appreciated the efforts of Maas and former offensive line Stephen Sorrells and former receivers coach Travis Moore, but said the offence required some new blood in 2023.
Maas has since moved on to become the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes, Sorrells is the new offensive line coach for Edmonton and Moore will be Ottawa’s receiver coach and passing game coordinator this year.
