Taylor Shire
Regina Leader-Post
Jaxon Ford is built tough.
In his rookie CFL season last year, the 24-year-old defensive back for the Saskatchewan Roughriders suited up for 17 regular season games — four of which were played with a broken wrist.
It wasn’t until after the season — upon further examination — that it was determined he had broken his scaphoid bone; a carpal bone on the thumb side, above the radius.
“Battled through it, wore a brace and was good to go,” Ford said of playing through the injury. “I knew something was wrong but obviously I didn’t really know, so just kind of played it off.
“I eventually knew something was definitely wrong with it after a couple more months of pain.”
After the injury didn’t show up on initial X-rays, the Regina product went for further examination during the off-season.
“It showed that it was broken so right after that, got the surgery,” said Ford.
What followed was months of recovery, which he says was physically and mentally taxing.
When training camp rolled around, Ford was forced to watch from the sidelines. And as the season went along, as his Roughrider teammates were practising on the field, Ford would regularly be on the sideline during practice doing agility work with the team’s strength and conditioning coach Dan Farthing and other injured players, including linebacker Nick Wiebe, who was recovering from an ACL injury.
That hard work by both Ford and Wiebe on the sidelines for two months was noticed by Riders’ head coach Corey Mace.
“I’m big in getting out what you put in and those guys have put in so much (work) to be able to put the helmet on and strap up for us,” said Mace. “Proud of those guys for how they handled their situations.”
After 12 weeks of being sidelined, the 6-foot-0, 199-pound Ford was cleared to practice prior to the Labour Day Classic against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers before finally being inserted back into the lineup for the rematch on the weekend in Winnipeg.
“Working for 12 weeks on the sidelines was definitely tough,” Ford said prior to his season debut on Saturday, an eventual 26-21 loss. “To be finally able to strap it up feels good for sure.”
Drafted in the second round, 11th overall by the Riders in the 2023 CFL Draft, the University of Regina Rams product was a key special teams contributor while also seeing action at safety in his first professional season as he logged 12 defensive tackles and six special teams tackles.
After being forced to miss the first half of his second professional season, Ford admitted the mental part of the recovery was as tough as the physical part.
“Definitely a mental toll for sure,” said Ford. “Physically I was able to do stuff on the sideline.
“But the mental part was definitely a little harder than I thought it was going to be.”
Ford said talking to coaches and teammates helped him through the process, along with remaining active in meetings despite not being in the lineup.
“Just talking to everybody and making sure I’m still engaged,” he said. “Not checking out. Paying attention to the teaching points the coaches are giving and the play calls and stuff.
“New system this year so definitely had to make sure I’m still locked in.”
Currently on a bye week, the Riders are set to return to action in Week 16 of the CFL season on Sept. 20 when they will look to snap a seven-game winless skid in Calgary against the Stampeders.
With a 5-7-1 record, Saskatchewan still occupies the third and final playoff spot in the West Division standings but hot on their heels are the 5-8 Edmonton Elks, winners of their last two, who trail the Riders by just one point. The 4-8 Stampeders, who have lost four straight games, are three points back of Saskatchewan.
After sweeping the Riders in the home-and-home series, the 7-6 Blue Bombers sit atop the West Division with 14 points, followed by the 7-6 B.C. Lions, as Winnipeg holds the tiebreaker due to the season series.
To end the season, Saskatchewan will face Calgary twice (Week 16 and 21), the Ottawa Redblacks (Week 17), Edmonton (Week 18) and B.C. (Week 19).
tshire@postmedia.com
