Riders’ Ouellette, Johnson cross 1,000-yard offensive marks on season

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have both a receiver and running back with 1000 yards each.

For the first time since 2019, the Saskatchewan Roughriders have a 1000-yard rusher and a 1000-yard receiver in their offense.

Running back A.J. Ouellette reached 1000-yards on the ground for just the second time in his six-year Canadian Football League (CFL) career, doing so on a 31-yard rush against the Edmonton Elks Saturday night – capping off a 115-yard rushing game.

“Every game we’re just stacking the run game with the [offensive] line,” the tailback told reporters after Tuesday’s practice. “[We’re] building confidence for [Mark Mueller] to call it in clutch situations.”

Ouellette previously notched 1,000 yards rushing back in 2023 as a member of the Toronto Argonauts.

After 14 games this year, the Ohio University product has 1,057 yards on 204 carries – both career highs with still four games remaining in the regular season.

It comes after he missed more than half of the 2024 season due to injury.

“I have confidence in my abilities to hit the edge or hit the ‘A’ gap, power through without any pain and try to beat it with speed on the outside,” Ouellette said. “I feel better now than I was even midway through the season. Body’s starting to feel good.”

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

Ouellette was quick to deflect the spotlight for his accomplishments, crediting his offensive line and receivers for their blocking in front of him.

“You can take the best running back and put them behind the worst line, he’s not getting anything,” he explained. “You can take an average running back and put him behind these guys and he’s going to get a thousand yards.”

Riders’ quarterback Trevor Harris feels Ouellette’s contribution to the offense is what has made Saskatchewan a Grey Cup contender late in the season.

“It’s important to be able to run the football because any team that’s going to win a championship has to be able to run the football,” the pivot said. “If you go all the way back through the time I’ve been in this league, the team that ends up winning is either getting hot late and running the ball, or they’ve been able to run the ball well all year.”

“We challenged [Ouellette] this off season to switch up how he takes care of his body and, certainly he did that,” head coach Corey Mace said. “I’m sure he’s happy he’s across the 1000-yard mark, but I know he just wants to keep winning,”

Ouellette’s 1,000-yard season in Saskatchewan’s 27th such season all-time.

William Powell (1,093) was the last Riders’ running back to rush for 1,000 yards in 2019.

All-time great George Reed holds the franchise’s single-season record for rushing yards with 1,768 in 1965.

KJ 1K

Complimenting Ouellette’s career season on the ground, is KeeSean Johnson through the air.

The second-year receiver out of Fresno State University also crossed the 1,000-yard mark Saturday, making eight catches for 119 yards.

“It feels good having success on your own,” Johnson said Tuesday. “But obviously our main goal, and my main goal, is to win the game. We didn’t do that this week.”

In his rookie 2024 campaign, Johnson suited up for 12 contests, making 56 catches for just 746 yards.

This year, the slot back has been in the lineup for every game and has been Harris’ most-targeted receiver, making 78 catches for 1,088 yards already this season.

“I always had confidence in myself,” Johnson said about believing if he could be a 1,000-yard professional receiver. “It’s an accomplishment all receivers want to hit and it’s something I was able to do.”

Harris says he’s well aware of where all his receivers’ stats are and highly celebrated Johnson’s crossing of the 1,000-yard mark.

“I always tell them, ‘Let me worry about your numbers,” the quarterback joked. “I probably know my receivers’ numbers better than they do. Nothing gives me as a quarterback more happiness than to see A.J. get a lot of rushing yards and see KeeSean hit that milestone.”

“We saw [Johnson’s] skill set and the potential [last year],” Mace added. “We’re just not shocked cause we see all the time.”

Johnson’s accomplishment is the 54th time in Saskatchewan Roughrider history a receiver has recorded 1,000 yards.

Teammate Dohnte Meyers (898) is the next-closest Rider to 1,000 yards.

In 2024, only Samuel Emilus achieved 1,000 yards through the air for the Roughriders – the second 1,000-yard season of his career.

The last time Saskatchewan had two 1,000-yard receivers was 2023 when Shawn Bane Jr. (1,104) and Emilus (1,097) combined to do so.

In 2019 – the last time the Riders had both a 1,000-yard rusher and 1,000-yard receiver – Shaq Evans made 72 catches for 1,334 yards.

Joey Walters set the franchise record for receiving yards with 1,715 yards in 1981.