The Saskatchewan Roughriders have officially named Shea Patterson as their starter for Thursday’s game against the Toronto Argonauts.
The 27-year-old took over from Trevor Harris in a relief role against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Week 3 and completed four-of-ten pass attempts for 41 yards. He also scored a rushing touchdown on a one-yard plunge. Saskatchewan was on a bye this past week.
The six-foot-two, 202-pound passer was a three-year collegiate starter at the University of Mississippi and the University of Michigan, throwing for 8,800 yards, 68 touchdowns, and 27 interceptions. He was twice named All-Big Ten as a member of the Wolverines and had stints with the Kansas City Chiefs, B.C. Lions, Montreal Alouettes, Michigan Panthers, and New Orleans Breakers prior to signing in Riderville.
Rookie quarterback Jack Coan will be Patterson’s primary backup with newcomer Eric Barriere as the third-stringer.
KeeSean Johnson will make his first career CFL start at boundary wide receiver in place of Shawn Bane Jr., who has been moved to the one-game injured list. The six-foot-one, 201-pound target was selected in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft and played 18 games for the Arizona Cardinals, making 36 catches for 360 yards with one touchdown. The Mountain View, Calif. native also had stints with the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons, and Buffalo Bills.
Toronto has made several changes to their defence ahead of Thursday’s game, moving strong-side linebacker Quincy Mauger to the six-game injured list and promoting Jonathan Edouard to the starting lineup at field-side cornerback. Benjie Franklin will replace Leonard Johnson at boundary cornerback while Fraser Sopik has also been listed as a starter at weak-side linebacker over Jonathan Jones.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (3-0) will host the Toronto Argonauts (2-1) on Thursday, July 4 with kickoff slated for 9:00 p.m. EDT.
