Saskatchewan Roughriders running back William Powell during a practice drill at Mosaic Stadium on June 18, 2019. (Britton Gray/980 CJME)

By Britton Gray/CJME News Staff

Roughriders’ William Powell returns to Ottawa in green and white

Jun 18, 2019 | 4:41 PM

When William Powell takes the field at TD Place in Ottawa on Thursday, he’s going to be wearing different colours than in his previous games there.

Powell spent four CFL seasons with the Ottawa Redblacks, amassing 2,835 rushing yards during his time there. He missed the 2016 season due to an Achilles injury.

Powell enjoyed his best season with Ottawa in 2018, scoring a career-high six rushing touchdowns and rushing for 1,362 yards — just 28 yards behind league leader Andrew Harris of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Powell signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the off-season.

“It’s always a little more exciting going to your old stomping grounds,” Powell said after practice Tuesday. “I’m going to approach it just like any other game and I’m going to prepare just like any other game.”

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The running back will be taking handoffs from Cody Fajardo to start the game. Head coach Craig Dickenson named Fajardo the starting quarterback Tuesday.

Powell will be looking to build on his strong start to the season after getting 20 carries for 104 yards in the team’s 23-17 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Thursday.

“It felt good,” Powell said. “I came out of (Week 1) healthy and I felt comfortable with the carries that I got.”

While Powell had a good start to the season, his former backup, Mossis Madu Jr., bested him slightly in Week 1. Madu rushed for 112 yards against the Calgary Stampeders in Ottawa’s 32-28 win on Saturday.

“We’re always rooting for each other so I congratulated him and he did the same for me,” Powell said. “We like to see each other do well, but this week hopefully he doesn’t (do well) playing against my team.”

Powell is also excited about going against the Redblacks’ defence and seeing some familiar faces on that side of the ball.

“I know all about them and they know all about me so it will be exciting and I’m sure they will have some game plans for me knowing me so well,” Powell said. “But I’m excited for the challenge.”

While Powell doesn’t expect to do much trash-talking on the field, he has been working on a dance if he scores a touchdown.

“I’m still cooking it up,” Powell said. “I’m still working that out.”

Another player making a return to the nation’s capital city is defensive lineman A.C. Leonard. He spent two seasons in Saskatchewan before signing with the Redblacks in 2018. After one season, he returned to the Roughriders this off-season.

Leonard said this game doesn’t have any extra meaning just because he’s going up against his former team.

“It’s just the next team on the schedule,” Leonard said. “We’re going to go get a W and bring it back here.”

Leonard started his career as a receiver but then-Roughriders head coach Chris Jones moved him onto the defensive line in 2016. During his 2018 season in Ottawa, Leonard reached a career-high six sacks.

“It’s my third year on defence. I kind of came up over here (in Saskatchewan) and then I went over (to Ottawa) and just polished some stuff up and had a good year but now I’m back here so I’m ready to get some wins,” Leonard said.

Dickenson said players can definitely find extra motivation when playing against their former teams.

“When you go back to a place where you were and maybe had some success, I think there’s some motivation to go back and show them what they are missing out on,” Dickenson said.

Kickoff for Thursday’s game is set for 5:30 p.m. The Green Zone pre-game show is to begin at 3 p.m.