The Saskatchewan Roughriders will welcome some familiar faces to Mosaic Stadium on Friday evening when they host the Toronto Argonauts.
But perhaps none bigger or more boisterous than Charleston Hughes who comes back to Regina following a contract dispute that saw him leave the Green and White after two seasons.
Micah Johnson played with Hughes with both the Stampeders (2013-17) and Riders (2019) and knows they will be seeing a fired up pass rusher on Friday night.
When asked how amped Hughes will be, Johnson responded, “Too amped. He’s going to be going crazy you know how he is. He’ll be real excited.”
The 37-year-old led the CFL with 16 sacks during the 2019 season, adding 50 tackles, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and one defensive touchdown in 17 games, but has yet to record a sack in 2021. Johnson, however, isn’t going to criticize his former teammate for that.
“Shoot, we tied right now. I’m trying to figure out stuff over here, how to get that quarter back to hold the ball when I’m closing on him. But Charleston is still a good player, he’s still doing good things if you watch the film you still see him moving well, you still see him rushing, the sacks might not be there right now,” Johnson explained.
“It’s especially weird for Charleston because he usually starts off real, real fast and I tease him because I tell him he always slows down but maybe it’ll be the opposite this year and he’ll pick it up on the back end.”
It wasn’t the cleanest of breakups between the Riders and Hughes, but head coach Craig Dickenson enjoyed having Hughes around.
“He was fun, he was fun to coach. He’s a little bit of a free spirit there’s no doubt. But boy once he showed up to the stadium he was all business. Strong, worked hard in the weight room, very smart. So I really enjoyed coaching Chuck. He brought out the best I thought in the group when he was here and I think he worked hard,” said Dickenson.
“He’s got a lot of things going on, he’s a very dynamic person. He’s got a lot of interests and people really gravitate towards him and I think it’s the same way on the football team. He had a lot of friends and I think had a real impact in a positive way when he was here.”
Hughes has played 185 career CFL games, recording 466 tackles, 130 sacks, 30 forced fumbles, three interceptions and three defensive touchdowns. His early season struggles have led some to wonder if all that wear and tear has him breaking down. Johnson doesn’t see a broken down player when he watches the tape.
“The age thing, it’s a real thing, ain’t nobody beat father time. Father time’s undefeated but I don’t necessarily think the sacks equivocate to the age thing. I think it’ll be easy just to throw it like that and assume it’s due to age but when you watch the film he’s had a lot of good rushes, a lot of pressures, quarterback hits and a lot of different things like that,” said the veteran defensive tackle.
“When it comes to sacks you’re talking about milliseconds, you know, half a second being the difference of a guy having a sack and not having a sack. For me more so when I look at it for age I look at how a player is moving and just how they’re rushing and things like that. He still looks pretty good.”
Hughes isn’t the only former Rider with the Double Blue this season. Johnson says it’s always great to see former teammates on the opposite sidelines.
“You go to war with those guys, you talk to these guys in the off-season, you’re constantly in conversations. We know each other’s families, kids, the whole nine so it gets deeper than football. A lot of times you’re just happy to see those guys but then once the game comes you get to chattering out there and it’s fun to compete against the guys. It’s always fun to compete against guys you used to play with.”
Saskatchewan (3-2) will look to halt their two-game slide against Toronto (3-2) Friday night in Regina.
