Charleston Hughes returns to the Roughriders highly motivated
SASKATOON - - Saskatchewan Roughriders fan favourite Charleston Hughes is back in Saskatchewan after spending last season with the Toronto Argonauts.
“Just knowing that I can go somewhere where I was comfortable, going somewhere where I know they can use my ability to the best possible and I know I can give them my all,” said Hughes on the decision to come back to Saskatchewan.
“They know what they're going to get from me every single play.”
Hughes returns to the Riders highly motivated, recording just two sacks in nine games with Toronto, after back-to-back seasons of leading the league in that category with Saskatchewan (15 in 2018, 16 in 2019).
The 38-year-old says he and the Argonauts weren’t a “perfect match."
“I know it might come off to other people as if I'm starting to decline or my game is starting to fall off, but I'm exactly where I want to be,” he said.
“I didn't fall off. I wasn't up to me, the reason why I had a bad season, so it's one of those things where I come out here, show what I do, show the team what I do best, and let them decide.”
Head coach Craig Dickenson expects Hughes to earn a starting spot on the defensive line, playing 30 to 40 plays a game.
“He's a leader, he's got a lot of street cred, and even though he hasn't played with some of these guys on the [defensive] line, they all know who he is,” said Dickenson.
“Charleston has always been one of the hardest workers on the team and he worked really hard this offseason to get in shape and to get his body where it needed to be, and he I thought he looked good for his first day out.”
Defensive line coach Ben Olson says the addition of Hughes is almost like adding another coach onto the field.
“Charleston's got more experience than any [defensive] lineman in this league,” he said.
“We have a bunch of guys with their second year or rookie year, so Charleston brings all sorts of experience to this group that we can really build off of.”
Hughes enters this season with 132 career sacks, just 25 behind the CFL’s all-time leader Grover Covington, and he feels he can still play at a high level.
“When I was training this offseason and I didn't tell anybody my age, verybody thought I was 28,” he said.
“When I tell them I'm 38 they asked “How in the hell are you still playing football?””
And his signature “surfing” sack dance will also be returning to the green and white.
“I can't wait to whip it up,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Centre Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs hasn't been ruled out of tonight's Game 7 against the Boston Bruins.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.