‘Wouldn’t be here without him’: Morrow excited to face off against Powell

The running back duel between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Ottawa Redblacks on Friday will feature a student-teacher showdown.

When Jamal Morrow first joined the CFL’s Roughriders as a rookie in 2019, he was able to learn from the team’s starting tailback at the time, William Powell.

In the 2022 off-season, the Riders elected to give the Morrow the reins as the starting running back as Powell went back to Ottawa, where he spent the first four seasons of his career.

“I’m excited. He helped me get to where I’m at today. I have nothing but respect and praise for him,” Morrow said when asked about going against Powell this week.

“I wouldn’t be here without him at all so I’m definitely excited to go against him. I have nothing but love for him so I appreciate everything he’s done for me.”

Kickoff for the game at Mosaic Stadium is set for 7:30 p.m. The Green Zone pre-game show begins at 5 p.m.

“I think (Morrow) is doing fantastic and I knew he would. We talked a lot when I was there and we built a good friendship,” Powell said about his former teammate. “He believes in himself and he’s confident in himself. He has a wide skill set and he has been displaying that so far.”

Powell had 55 yards rushing and a touchdown in his only game of the season.

Morrow is currently leading the way when it comes to rushing yards in the CFL with 257 in four games. He was named one of the CFL’s top performers for the month of June for his efforts.

“If we can get the running game started, that makes everything easier for the receivers and (quarterback Cody Fajardo). If we just keep doing our thing — me being patient and hitting the holes and the O-line and fullbacks doing their jobs — I think that opens up the whole offence,” Morrow said.

“If we can get (the run) established, I think that opens up the whole offence.”

Morrow and the Riders’ ground game were a big part of their 41-20 win over the Montreal Alouettes last week, with Morrow gaining 103 of the team’s 163 rushing yards.

“Once the guys got into a rhythm, it just made my job easy,” Morrow said. “The fullbacks blocking like how they are doing, the O-line opening the hole like they did and the receivers blocking, it was full-on team effort.

“You can look at a team’s eyes and when they are exhausted and gassed and you look to their sidelines and their whole body language is down, that definitely gives us a fire just to keep on going.”

There will be a new piece to the offensive line this week with tackle Andrew Lauderdale coming in at left tackle for the injured Terran Vaughn.

“We felt like (Vaughn’s) shoulder wasn’t progressing like we wanted it to. He’s sore so we’re going to give him the week to hopefully get stronger. We expect to see him back in a week or two,” head coach Craig Dickenson said.

Lauderdale started 11 games and two playoff games for the Riders last year.

“It’s definitely exciting — bring Laudy back into the ‘pahty.’ It’s going to be a fun time, especially playing next to (guard Logan) Ferland again,” Lauderdale said.

“(Last year’s) experience definitely helps. I’m not as nervous as last year. I was not expecting (last year).”

Dickenson has seen improvement from Lauderdale since the 2021 campaign.

“He’s played a lot of football for us and he’s gotten stronger. One of the things he needed to work on last year was his anchor, his strength,” Dickenson said. “He’s gotten bigger and stronger so it’s not too big for Andrew.

“I think Andrew is going to go out and play a very good game.”