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Improbable but not impossible could be the best way to describe receiver Joe Robustelli’s road to becoming a professional football player.
The six-foot-three receiver born in Connecticut grew up loving football and wanted to make the pros so he can help carry the legacy of his grandfather Andy Robustelli.
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Andy was an all-time New York Giants great. The former defensive lineman was named to the NFL’s Pro-Bowl team seven times and won two NFL championships over the course of his decade plus career.
“It was my dream to play football and (I) played Pop Warner until I was 14. Played freshman year of high school but I was really short so I quit on football pretty early because I wasn’t really playing and played baseball,” he said.
Robustelli’s career in baseball was shortlived. Injuries caught up to him and he continued mostly just living his life after he graduated high school.
“I went to college, ended up partying a little too much, didn’t really do too well, so I ended up moving home during COVID,” Robustelli said.
Robustelli was eventually able to re-evaluate his future and get back into school. He also realized that because of his grandfather’s genetics, he still had a chance to live out his childhood dream.
“I just decided … I’m a good athlete. I got the blood, my older brother played, all my family members were all really good athletes. I just want to start working out, training and just kind of see what happens,” he added.
During that time, Robustelli played flag football, intramurals and eventually got into shape and discovered a Saskatchewan Roughriders workout and decided to give it a shot.
“Worked out for Saskatchewan once, they said that they were interested, but I didn’t have any film, so they wanted me to go back to college and try and get some film or play somewhere else,” Robustelli said.
After hearing those comments, Robustelli reached out to his brother. His brother got him in contact with his former football coach and the two sent him some film and transcripts.
Shortly after, Robustelli learned he had half a semester of eligibility to play football at only a Division 2 school in the United States.
Eventually, the head coach at Tusculum University in Tennessee reached out to Robustelli and offered him a workout and eventually a spot on a team. Robustelli was then able to collect some film and build his resume.
“Had a decent season, had some injuries, but got some decent film,” he said.
After spending time at Tusculum, Robustelli decided to attend an open Roughriders workout again. There Robustelli met with general manager Jeremy O’Day and assistant general manager Kyle Carson.
“I performed pretty well and they seemed like they were really interested but didn’t really hear from them for a while, so I thought it wasn’t going to work out,” Robustelli said.
In 2024 at training camp, some rider injuries opened up an opportunity for Robustelli to get his football career started in Saskatchewan.
“I was able to come learn a little bit of the playbook … and then got to play in one drive in the preseason game, had a nice catch and ultimately made the practice squad,” he explained.
Robustelli might not have gotten many looks last year but at training camp in 2025 he’s been getting looks and making plays almost every day. His work has seen him getting first-team reps with quarterback Trevor Harris.
Harris has nothing but praise for Robustelli.
“He’s been awesome. When he first came I was like, ‘this guy runs like Greg Ellingson and he looks a little bit like him.’ He’s built like him, so I started calling him jelly man, because that’s what (I called) Greg Ellingson, so I just been calling him jelly man because he reminds me of Greg,” Harris said.
“He’s pretty explosive, he’s a fun guy and he’s kind of taken another step this year in terms of not only his explosiveness but knowing what he’s doing in every route,” Harris added.
“Finding the details, asking the detailed questions and asking certain questions after his rep. He’s kind of in the right framework.”
News and notes from Day 6 of Riders camp
After three consecutive days with the pads on at Riders practice, head coach Corey Mace decided to give his players a break and hold a quick 90-minute walkthrough practice.
Mace admitted the dog days of camp have arrived.
“It’s Groundhog’s Day, man, I couldn’t tell you how long we’ve been here,” Mace joked.
Mace admitted he’s happy with what he’s seen from everyone at camp since it started nine days ago.
There have been two notable names for the Riders who haven’t been on the field participating for the last number of days — centre Sean McEwen and receiver Mitch Picton.
“Mitchie, I think he’s still just dealing with a little bit of an issue, but I don’t see that being long term. I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s going to be out there here pretty soon,” Mace said.
“Sean, we’ll probably hear in the next couple hours that we get a definite, so yeah, we’ll see,” Mace added.
Over the last two days of practice, Mace has said they wanted to get a better look at what it is McEwen has been dealing with. McEwen left practice on Tuesday during one of the one-on-one drills.
Besides the injuries, Mace was getting everyone rested ahead of the Green and White game on Saturday at SMF Field in Saskatoon.
“For us tomorrow is kind of our first run at what it looks like for our pregame routine and rituals. We’ll get a good practice at that getting ready for our preseason game and then we’ll put ourselves in different situations throughout tomorrow that allows us to be prepared for what teams are trying to accomplish,” Mace said.
“It’s us polishing up some things that we want to look at before we head into to preseason work.”
Gates for the Green and White game will open at 1 p.m. and that will be followed by a performance by the pep band at 1:30 p.m.
At 1:45 p.m., the Riders will hold its “State of the Nation,” where fans will be able to hear from Mace, O’Day and president Craig Reynolds.
The team will hold a scrimmage from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and then hold an autograph session right after.
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