Drae McCray enjoys solid Roughriders pre-season debut
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Drae McCray was just excited to play. Now he wants to stay.
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Making his CFL pre-season debut on Saturday, the 22-year-old American receiver was one of the bright spots for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in a 15-9 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
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In his first exhibition game, the former Texas Tech Red Raiders standout served as Saskatchewan's primary returner with six punt returns for 47 yards (7.8-yard average) and three kickoff returns for 110 yards (36.7-yard average) including a game-high 51-yard return in the second quarter.
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'It felt good just to be playing football again in general,' McCray said this week as the Roughriders resumed training camp at Mosaic Stadium. 'It just felt good to suit up and go out there and have fun.
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'I think there's some things I can work on obviously and get better and go back to the drawing board and learn from, but I was pretty happy with it.'
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From head coach Corey Mace's perspective, he was also happy with what he saw from the rookie, who was one of the NCAA's top returners in 2023 with Texas Tech.
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'He was an explosive returner in college and he was an excellent receiver,' said Mace. 'I think he showed exactly who he can be in the return game in the pre-season game.
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'He made quick decisions. He's a north-south kind of guy. And he read the blocks really well.
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'He's a kid who's hungry, man. He saw the opportunity for him and I thought he made the best of it.'
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Since being signed by the Roughriders on May 3 after being recruited by Roughriders player personnel coordinator Larry Dean, the 5-foot-9, 185-pound McCray has had to adjust to the new rules of Canadian football which don't include fair catches. However he's also been able to use the wider field to his advantage.
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'I think that was very shocking to me,' said McCray. 'The gaps are a lot bigger. The field is wider. In America, gaps are small. You've got to go really, really fast to get there, or it's going to close very fast.'
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While last year's primary kick returner Mario Alford dressed for the first pre-season game, he didn't get a chance to return as McCray handled all of the punt returns for the Riders and three of the four kickoff returns, with Daniel Wiebe returning the other late in the fourth quarter.
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