Ticats head coach Kent Austin calls his injury situation “clear as mud.”
While all-star linebacker Simoni Lawrence and receiver Terrence Toliver both returned to practice on Wednesday, one day after sitting out Tuesday’s session, the list of players hobbled by injury is still mind-boggling long.
Austin said running back Ross Schuerman, Canadian safety Courtney Stephen and guard Peter Dyakowski are definitely out for Saturday’s game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, joining receiver Chad Owens (who was ruled out on Tuesday.) Running back C.J. Gable is “iffy” while receiver Luke Tasker still has a shot at playing.
“Luke is not out of the question yet. The good news is he doesn’t need to practice,” Austin said. “He’s smart enough and knows the offence well enough that we just need to get him to the game.”
Receiver Junior Collins, who went down with an injury late in Tuesday’s practice, also missed Wednesday practice. The team also placed Canadian receiver Matt Coates on the six-game injured list. To fill his spot, they moved national receiver Mike Jones from the practice roster to the active roster.
In other news, the Ticats have signed American defensive back V’Angelo Bentley to the practice roster agreement.
Bentley, 22, was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New England Patriots on May 6, attended training camp, and was released on Aug. 22.
The 5-foot-10, 190-pound native of Cleveland,, played in 46 career games (32 starts) at the University of Illinois from 2012 to 2015, registering 132 tackles, one sack and two interceptions. He also served as the primary kick and punt returner and finished as the school’s kick return yardage record holder. Bentley is the only player in Illinois history with at least one kick return, punt return, interception return and fumble return for a touchdown.
“He’s dynamic player with some quickness,” Austin said. “We’ll see how quickly he picks things up.”
