Riders 1st-round pick makes debut at training camp

By the end of his first practice Monday at Saskatchewan Roughriders training camp, Ali Saad's jersey was torn down the middle.

"That shows I competed today," said the defensive lineman, who was the Riders' first-round pick (fourth overall) in this year's CFL draft. "It shows the guys competed today. "

It's been a hectic few weeks for Saad, who just this week signed a contract with the Riders.

He opted to attend the NFL's San Francisco 49ers' rookie camp before coming to Saskatoon late Sunday night.

"[Defensive line coach Phillip Daniels] took me in, got me in the playbook a little bit, trying to catch me up," Saad said. "They threw me out here today to test the water and I guess everything went well."

Saad said the NFL camp experience was invaluable.

"There's a lot of great talent down there, great coaches and everything," he said. "I thought I learned a lot … especially that I can use on the field here."

Saad was born in Windsor, Ont., but spent his college career at Bowling Green University in Toledo, Ohio, and hasn't played the Canadian game for quite a while.

He said getting used to standing one yard off the ball at the line of scrimmage is going to take some getting used to.

"I like to move around a little. I like to hesitate," he said. "I'm not a bull rush type of guy, but today I had to bull rush a little bit more than doing some [hesitation] move because of that one yard."

Daniels said Saad will be able to use his strength and explosiveness to get the upper hand on anyone trying to block him.

"If you don't block him and get your hands on him initially, then he is going to have a good chance of winning," Daniels said.

"Those are things I saw him do on film and the same thing I saw today out on the field."

Daniels said he was happy to see Saad wanting to get into practice Monday morning, despite only arriving in Saskatoon around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday.

"I asked him how much do you want to do tomorrow and right away he said, 'Coach, I'm all in. I'm ready to go,'" Daniels said.

"He's only going to get better down the road as he gets rest."

Head coach Corey Mace said it was great to have Saad in camp.

"There's of course going to be a few mistakes, but you give a little bit of grace. He's only been here less than 24 hours," Mace said.

"He showed really well in the one-on-one pass rush as well and he's certainly the guy that we expected to see."

Saad said he's ready to soak up as much information as possible in a short period of time.

"I love watching film. I love learning new things," he said.

"I think my aggressiveness and physicality is something that I can bring to the table for sure."

Training camp continues all week at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon.