For six seasons, Mike Reilly was the face of the Edmonton Eskimos as the team’s starting quarterback.
Reilly is now a member of the B.C. Lions after moving back to the West Coast in the off-season and he makes his return to The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium on Friday night to face his old team.
Reilly finished his time with the Eskimos as the second highest passer in team history, recording 21,367 passing yards. Reilly also won a Grey Cup title with the Eskimos in 2015, was named a Western Division All-Star twice, a CFL All-Star during the 2017 season where he also earned the CFL Most Outstanding Player Award.
For Reilly, dealing with the emotions will be difficult only up until game time.
“No matter how I feel before a game, once the ball is kicked off it’s the same football game I’ve known, and loved, and played since I was six,” Reilly said.
Reilly is one of 13 former Eskimos players on the Lions roster. The organization also includes former Eskimos scouts Rob Ralph and Torey Hunter, general manager Ed Hervey and team president and CEO Rick Lelacheur.
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Eskimos head coach Jason Maas says the focus remains solely on his team.
“It’s one of those things where we have good familiarity with their guys and their personnel,” Maas said. “That’s from the scouting department, the general manager and players. There’s a lot of familiar faces, but for us they are all faceless. We’ve talked about, this week, we are facing the B.C. Lions and we are going to go out and play our brand of football here at home and I would like to get a win.”
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A win would give the Eskimos a 2-0 start and they will be hard-pressed to match last week’s offensive performance in 32-25 win over the Montreal Alouettes.
The Eskimos recorded 607 yards of offence, marking the first time in 22 years that the Eskimos recorded over 600 yards and just the seventh time in their history.
Quarterback Trevor Harris passed for 447 yards and three touchdowns plus one rushing touchdown. Running back C.J. Gable recorded 154 rushing yards and 29 yards receiving and a touchdown.
Receiver Kenny Stafford had two touchdowns while Ricky Collins Junior caught nine passes for 175 yards.
This week the Eskimos placed two more players on their six-game injured list.
Linebacker Don Unamba left last week’s game against the Alouettes with an upper-body injury on the last play of the first half, he will be replaced by Brian Walker.
Defensive back Anthony Orange missed the last two days of practice this week after playing last week against the Alouettes, Josh Johnson will start at short-side corner.
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Defensive back Nick Taylor was signed back by the team this week has been added to the 46-man roster. Running backs Martese Jackson and Alex Taylor, along with receiver Davaris Daniels have also been added to the 46.
Moving to the practice roster are running back Jordan Robinson and receivers Harry McMaster and Kevin Elliott.
The following is the projected offensive and defensive starters for the Eskimos:
Offence
Quarterback: Trevor Harris
Running Back: C.J. Gable (Fullback: Calvin McCarty)
Offensive Line: Tommie Draheim, Jacob Ruby, David Beard, Matt O’Donnell, Colin Kelly
Receivers: Kenny Stafford, Ricky Collins Jr., Natey Adjei, Greg Ellingson, Tevaun Smith
Defence
Defensive Line: Kwaku Boateng, Almondo Sewell, Mike Moore, Nick Usher
Linebackers: Vontae Diggs, Larry Dean, Brian Walker
Defensive Backs: Josh Johnson, Tyquwan Glass, Money Hunter, Forrest Highttower, Godfrey Onyeka
The Lions began their season last Saturday at home with a 33-23 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Mike Reilly passed for 324 yards, throwing one touchdown pass and two interceptions. Receiver Bryan Burnham recorded 153 receiving yards and running back Brandon Rutley recorded 226 kick-off return yards, including a 73-yard return for a touchdown.
You can catch Friday’s game between the Eskimos and Lions on 630 CHED at 7 p.m., following live coverage of the NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver.
Morley Scott and Dave Campbell will be calling all of the live action. Plus hear analysis from former Eskimos offensive lineman and two-time Grey Cup champion Blake Dermott. Brenden Escott will be reporting from the Eskimos sidelines.
Because of the draft coverage, there will be no on-air pre-game show this week. Listen to a special pre-game show in the story above.
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