Latest news with #LoganFerland
National Post
03-06-2025
- General
- National Post
Roughriders offensive line calls audible due to injuries
Article content Logan Ferland never let his guard down. Article content Article content Despite expecting to play the season at right guard for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2025, the 28-year-old has already been forced to change positions along the offensive line. Article content With centre Sean McEwen suffering a torn ACL and his potential replacement Philippe Gagnon suffering a torn bicep in training camp, Ferland has made the move from right guard to centre for Week 1 of the CFL season. Article content 'You don't go into training camp expecting the play centre,' Ferland said ahead of Saskatchewan's season opener against the Ottawa Redblacks on Thursday (7 p.m., TSN) at Mosaic Stadium. 'You might be a backup. Article content 'In this case, I wasn't expecting it at all with the depth we had but you know, one thing leads to another.' Article content After starting last year at right guard, the 6-foot-4, 300-pound Melfort product was forced to play some right tackle and left tackle last year due to injuries before starting six games at centre after Peter Godber was injured. Article content This year, when the team signed McEwen in free agency, Ferland was expecting to move back to guard where he would play alongside McEwen. Now he'll be trying to learn as much as he can in the meeting room from the three-time all-CFLer. Article content 'I always train in the off-season to be ready for anything,' said Ferland, who was the only offensive lineman to start all 18 regular season and two playoff games last year. 'But (it's) very unfortunate. I was really looking forward to playing alongside McEwen and learning a lot from him. Article content Article content 'Just having that voice from a standard centre standpoint, always continuing to learn as much as I can just to continue to elevate my game, especially as a centre.' Article content Article content After what happened last year with the team — where 13 players started along the offensive line due to injuries — Ferland, a fourth-year starter, knew to be ready for anything this year. Article content That's why much of his off-season was dedicated to snapping the football, which makes the position change somewhat of a smooth transition. Article content 'You kind of have to expect something is going to go wrong at some point,' said Ferland, who signed a two-year extension with the Riders this off-season to stay with the club through 2027. 'It's a matter of who's going to fill in and if the right guys mesh well with the other guys.
Globe and Mail
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Globe and Mail
Saskatchewan's Ferland a perfect fit anywhere on Roughriders' offensive line
Logan Ferland has built a reputation for versatility over his CFL career. The 28-year-old can play – and excel – at any position on the offensive line. His adaptability was apparent during the 2024 season, when injuries forced the Roughriders to use 13 different starters and 16 players total on the line. Ferland made 11 starts at right guard, two, including the West final, at right tackle and six, including the West semi-final, at centre. He performed so admirably he was named the outstanding offensive lineman for the West Division and a CFL all-star at guard. For Ferland, from Melfort, Sask., it hasn't been a problem shifting to multiple spots on the offensive line, because it has been something he has been doing since his junior days in the CJFL. He was often lined up against the best defensive lineman the opponents had. 'Where it started was really with the Regina Thunder,' said Ferland, who starred for the team from 2015 to 2019. 'My last couple of years they would move me around in different spots. 'I really got used to it there. I was playing in multiple positions. When I moved on to the 'Riders, I knew that would be a way I could make the team was showing my versatility even though I was undersized at the time.' It appears the Roughriders are going to have to lean on Ferland's versatility once again. The team has already lost a pair of big free agency pickups to long term injury at its training camp at Griffiths Stadium on the University of Saskatchewan campus. Centre Sean McEwen, who played last season with the Calgary Stampeders, is out with an unspecified leg injury. Roughriders head coach Corey Mace confirmed Saturday that McEwen, who earned a Grey Cup ring with the Toronto Argonauts in 2017, would be out for a lengthy stretch. Guard Philippe Gagnon tore his biceps at practice on Monday. On Wednesday, Mace said Gagnon's injury might not be season ending, but he won't be available for a while. Gagnon played with the Montreal Alouettes last season and helped them win the Grey Cup in 2023. Those injuries caused the Roughriders to re-sign Saskatchewan Huskies grad Noah Zerr on Tuesday after releasing him on May 14. The Roughriders play the first of their two pre-season games on Saturday, when they travel to Winnipeg to take on the Blue Bombers at Princess Auto Stadium. Saskatchewan has a bit of time before cementing a starting offensive line. The Roughriders open their regular season June 5, hosting the Ottawa Redblacks at Mosaic Stadium. Mace said Ferland's versatility is a huge asset for the team. 'We think so highly of Logan as an offensive lineman, period, and that is at multiple positions,' said Mace. 'If something does happen, having him as somebody who can move into multiple spots allows us to keep him on the field always and affords us an opportunity to put the best linemen out there that we feel gives us the best shot to win. 'I am extremely happy with him. He takes reps at all spots still, so I can't say enough good things about Logan Ferland.' Once the injuries started to happen at training camp, it was business as usual for Ferland. He will play wherever the team needs him to play. 'I approach it like any other year, nothing changes,' said Ferland, who stands six-foot-four and weighs 300 pounds. '[The coaches] do reports for me every year, so I approach it like being ready for any spot. 'If they throw me in at centre, I will play centre. If they want to move me up to tackle, I will be ready for that. If they want to keep me at guard, I'll stay a guard.' Ferland, who says his favourite position is right guard, said a number of coaches with the Thunder and the Roughriders played a huge role in helping develop his versatility. He said he also learned a lot from now retired centre Dan Clark, who is also a Thunder alumnus, and retired guard Brandon LaBatte, a Regina Rams grad. Ferland still says it is special for him to play for the Roughriders after growing in small Saskatchewan towns. He lived in Kindersley until age 11 before moving to Melfort and later playing for the Melfort and Unit Comprehensive Collegiate Comets nine-man team in high school. He said the veterans he played with when he first joined the Roughriders reinforced that. 'It really is an honour to be able to play for this province being from here,' Ferland said. 'Growing up watching these guys and now being here, I have to pinch myself sometimes and just really realize where I am at. 'I have full-circle moments when I think back to where I initially started watching those guys and really looking up to those guys on TV.' He says he is now setting a goal for young players who want to play professionally. 'Especially the ones from Saskatchewan – from the small-town schools – that might not think they have the opportunity. 'They can make an opportunity for themselves.'
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Roughriders extend West Division's top lineman Logan Ferland
The Saskatchewan Roughriders have retained the club's top offensive lineman for two more seasons. The Green and White announced a two-year contract extension for 2024 CFL all-star guard Logan Ferland through the 2027 CFL season. The 6-foot-4, 310-pound Ferland was already under contract with the Roughriders for the 2025 season but now adds two more years to his deal, which is a reward for being named the West Division's Most Outstanding Lineman last season for the first time in his career. Last year, the 27-year-old Melfort product was the only offensive lineman to suit up for all 18 regular season games and both playoff games. While he started the season at right guard (11 starts), he was pressed into action at right tackle (two starts) and centre (six starts) due to injuries. After joining the Roughriders as a territorial junior from the Regina Thunder in 2019, Ferland, who was named the Prairie Football Conference's top offensive lineman that year, in spent the season on Saskatchewan's practice roster while playing for the Thunder before earning a starting CFL role in 2021 following the 2020 cancelled season. He started 13 games at left guard and one game at centre in his rookie season, which featured a shortened 14-game schedule. In 2022, he continued to man the left guard position during a season in which he was named the team's top offensive lineman. In 2023, Ferland played right guard and right tackle before being named the team's top lineman for a second straight season before receiving the honour for a third straight season last year. tshire@ Roughriders returning to Saskatoon for training camp Roughriders offensive line wants to run it back in 2025 The Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe. With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.
Globe and Mail
01-04-2025
- Sport
- Globe and Mail
Roughriders sign star offensive lineman Ferland to two-year extension
The Saskatchewan Roughriders have signed Canadian offensive lineman Logan Ferland to a two-year contract extension, the CFL team announced Monday. The extension keeps Ferland in Regina through the 2027 season. The 6-foot-4, 310-pound Ferland was named a league all-star and the West Division's outstanding offensive lineman last season. He dressed for all 18 regular-season games and two playoff contests. The versatile lineman saw action at right guard, right tackle and centre. Ferland, from Melfort, Sask., led an offensive line that allowed the fewest sacks (35) of any team that qualified for the playoffs despite starting 12 different players due to injuries. Saskatchewan also led all playoff-bound West Division teams in points scored (453), offensive touchdowns (45), touchdown passes (27) and passer efficiency (98.1).
