If you haven’t seen them already, here are links to Edmonton’s and Ottawa’s depth charts ahead of Friday’s game.
Some notables from the Esks chart:
- Mike Miller’s leg injury in Gatineau on Tuesday was serious enough to take him out of this week’s game. He joins Matheue Boulay, Noel Devine, Eric Samuels and John White as subtractions from last week’s roster. Devine’s leg injury landed him on the six-game injured list. Last Friday’s game in Montreal was his debut with the Eskimos.
- Joash Gesse, Alonzo Lawrence, Elie Ngoyi, Tyler Thomas and Patrick Trahan draw in for the Esks this week.
- Kendial Lawrence is the team’s starting slotback, in place of the injured Fred Stamps, who as TSN’s Matthew Scianitti reported today, has a lower body injury. The injury is not tied to the huge hit that Stamps took in Winnipeg on July 17 that landed him in the hospital overnight. Stamps practiced a full week after that a and took part in the Eskimos’ loss against Calgary the following week.
- Otha Foster will play at SAM linebacker in place of Samuels, who was sent back to Edmonton from Ottawa after the weekend. Samuels was wearing a neck brace in the days after leaving the Montreal game on a stretcher. Alonzo Lawrence will get his first start with the Eskimos at cornerback, where Marcell Young played last week. Young slides over into the defensive halfback spot where he began this season.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge made its rounds in Ottawa today, on both sides of the the Esks/Redblacks game. At the end of their walkthrough this morning in Gatineau, Esks’ OL coach Jonathan Himebauch stepped up (though it looked like a surprise nomination).
In Ottawa, Henry Burris took the challenge. Soaking wet and cold, he made two bold selections in passing the challenge on.
Check back on the Journal’s site later this afternoon/early this evening for my stories on the Esks and Redblacks.
