Image

Riders Coach Ken Miller

(Written by Marc Smith)

After a week away from the game and some major changes, it was back to work for the Saskatchewan Roughriders players and coaches on Sunday morning at Mosaic Stadium.

The Riders return from the bye week down two coaches after head coach Greg Marshall and offensive coordinator Doug Berry were let go following the Riders dropping to 1-7 on the year against Toronto.

Ken Miller made his return to the sidelines on Sunday and there was an added bounce in the step of the Green & White as a result.

“You could see the excitement in him and it's just a great feeling to have in the locker room and around,” said defensive back Lance Frazier.

“You could just tell he’s excited, I guess. He’s more hands-on with the quarterbacks, and that’s a place he hasn’t been in a while. You can just feel the excitement on his part.”

Maybe the happiest to have “Coach” back at the helm of the CFL squad was none other then quaterback Darian Durant, “I’m glad, and it’s good, to see Coach back out there. You can tell that he has been itching to get back out there.”

Miller felt the same excitement from his position as well, “It was a good day. It was a good day of practice. It was a good day in the locker room. To be perfectly honest with you, I enjoyed the interaction today.”

He adds that he believes the Green & White can still be Grey Cup bound to Vancouver this season, “I told the men in the locker room that (before practice), and we have a bulletin board that has decals from this Grey Cup for this year as a reminder of what our goal is,” said Miller.

Durant says the players know it’s on them know to get the job done, “There have been changes made, but the game doesn’t change. We still have to go out and execute and make plays and try to get wins by any means necessary. That’s our goal. Guys are excited to be back. We’re just ready to go back to work.”

Frazier felt the same way, “It's always on the players.  We're the guys that are out there between the lines, we make the plays happen, coaches can only do so much and the difference is right now is the way that we're going to be motivated versus the way that we were with coach Marshall.  It's two totally different styles and coach Miller just brings one that we're familiar with.”

“He’s having fun. The team’s having fun. We look forward to a new beginning, so to speak,” said Durant during his post-practice media scrum.

Those new beginnings start this weekend when the 7-1 Winnipeg Blue Bombers bring their show into Mosaic Stadium for the Labour Day Classic on Sunday.