The Saskatchewan Roughriders are getting recognition off the field after their championship season.
The Green and White have been named one of three finalists for the inaugural Ted Goveia Football Operations Award, presented by the C-F-L to honour excellence in scouting, roster building and overall football operations. The other finalists are the Calgary Stampeders and Goveia’s former team, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The award is named after longtime football executive Ted Goveia and, in keeping with his philosophy, recognizes an entire football operations department rather than an individual. The Riders’ football ops group played a key role in building a championship roster, culminating in the team’s capture of the 2025 Grey Cup in Winnipeg last November. The C-F-L football operations departments select the award winner, which will be announced March 25 during the league’s Coach of the Year Celebration in Edmonton.
In addition, the Riders will have American defensive back Juwuane “JuJu” Hughes at training camp in May in Saskatoon. The 5’11”, 190-pound safety played 26 games over three seasons in the N-F-L, signing with the L-A Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He later spent time with Detroit, before a training camp stint with Arizona in 2023. The 27-year-old earned over three-point-nine million dollars in his N-F-L career. He last played for the Birmingham Stallions in the United Football League in 2024. Following are the news releases from the Roughriders…..
DATE: March 19, 2026
RELEASE TIME: IMMEDIATELY
RELEASE: SR26-53
ROUGHRIDERS NAMED A FINALIST FOR TED GOVEIA FOOTBALL OPERATIONS AWARD
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are honoured to be named one of three finalists for the inaugural Ted Goveia Football Operations Award.
Named in honour of Ted Goveia, a career executive and steadfast leader in the Canadian football community, the award recognizes a CFL club’s football operations department for outstanding achievement in scouting, player identification, roster building and leadership. In keeping with Goveia’s philosophy that teams are built collectively, the award is presented to a group rather than an individual.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders Football Operations department worked tirelessly throughout the offseason to assemble a roster fit for a championship and was rewarded when the Club hoisted the 2025 Grey Cup trophy in Winnipeg this past November.
The 2025 Roughrider squad led the league with nine All-CFL honourees: Jacob Brammer, Tevaughn Campbell, Logan Ferland, Jermarcus Hardrick, KeeSean Johnson, Micah Johnson, Rolan Milligan Jr., C.J. Reavis and Jameer Thurman.
Led by Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Jeremy O’Day, the Roughriders football operations department also includes Assistant General Manager and Director of Player Personnel Kyle Carson, Assistant General Manager Paul Jones, Director of Football Operations Jordan Greenly and Assistant Director of Player Personnel Larry Dean. Player personnel is strongly supported by the hard work of the coaching staff, as well as the equipment, video analytics and health and medical staff.
The award is voted on by the football operations departments of the nine CFL clubs. The winner will be announced as part of the Canadian Football League’s Coach of the Year Celebration at The Westin Edmonton on March 25.
DATE: March 19, 2026
RELEASE TIME: IMMEDIATELY
RELEASE: SR26-54
RIDERS SIGN FORMER NFL DB JUJU HUGHES
The Saskatchewan Roughriders have signed American defensive back JuJu Hughes.
Hughes (5’11-190) signed with the Los Angeles Rams as an undrafted free agent following the 2020 NFL Draft. He went on to play 26 regular season games including 12 as a rookie with the Rams (2020-21), and seven with the Detroit Lions (2022). Over three NFL seasons he registered 26 tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack. He attended training camp with the Cardinals in 2023 before going on to spend time with the United Football League’s Birmingham Stallions.
Collegiately, Hughes spent four seasons (2016-19) with the Fresno State Bulldogs, registering 247 tackles, including 10 for a loss, seven interceptions, 30 pass deflections, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery over 52 games. He had four interceptions — tying him for the Mountain West Conference lead — and 12 pass deflections over 14 games in 2018 and followed up with two picks and 10 deflections in 12 games as a senior.
The California-born Hughes was an All-Mountain West Second-Team selection in 2018 and a conference Honourable Mention choice in 2016 and 2018. As a sophomore in 2016, he started all 14 games, registering seven tackles for a loss to go with one sack, one interception and eight pass deflections.
Hughes (whose legal name is Juwuane) and current Roughriders receiver KeeSean Johnson were college teammates in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
