Riders’ receiver Shaq Evans returns to the lineup for Labour Day Classic

Photo courtesy: Saskatchewan Roughriders

All-star receiver Shaq Evans will be back in the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ starting lineup for the most important game of the season.

Evans has missed the past eight games with a fractured ankle suffered in the first quarter of the team’s Week 3 loss to the Montreal Alouettes. He has recorded 10 receptions for 185 yards in three games this season.

The Inglewood, California native was a CFL all-star in 2019 after catching 72 passes for 1,334 yards and five touchdowns. He finished fourth in the league in receiving that year.

Evans suffered a broken leg last year in a Week 2 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and did not return until the Riders’ Week 12 game against the Calgary Stampeders. The receiver struggled following his return from injury in 2021, going over the 50-yard mark just once in seven games and was almost non-existent in the playoffs, catching one pass for negative-four yards total in Saskatchewan’s two playoff games.

The six-foot-one, 210-pounder looked to be having a bounce-back season, going for over 80 yards in both of Saskatchewan’s first two games of 2022. He rejoins a Saskatchewan receiving corps in need of healthy bodies, with starters Duke Williams and Justin McInnis both out with injury.

Evans won’t be the only familiar face returning to the field for the Labour Day Classic, as Canadian receiver Brayden Lenius will also draw his first start since returning from the NFL.