DeVonte Dedmon carried off field during Redblacks practice

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A lot happened at once about 45 minutes from the end of the Ottawa Redblacks’ practice Wednesday.

And the commotion involved players who are either injury concerns or stepping in as a starter’s replacement for this week’s home game against the Edmonton Elks.

As a trenches battle between defensive end Lorenzo Mauldin and right tackle Jacob Ruby turned into a heated wrestling match, with Mauldin slamming his helmet on the ground in frustration, return specialist DeVonte Dedmon became entangled in a group of tacklers/blockers and needed to be carried off the field by teammates.

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No update on his status was forthcoming after the session.

Mauldin, who suffered a thorax injury during Sunday’s win in Edmonton, is trying to make sure he’s ready for Friday’s rematch at TD Place, while Ruby is preparing to replace starter Zack Pelehos, who’s dealing with a shoulder injury.

With Mauldin unavailable to speak because his status is currently listed as “limited,” Ruby described the incident as two guys just “practising hard.”

“That’s all it is,” said Ruby. “It’s guys going hard. We want to win. We want to prep hard. That’s all it was.”

Of more concern is Dedmon, who has been plagued by injuries throughout his five-year CFL career.

He left Sunday’s game with a “lower-body” issue, but on Tuesday head coach Bob Dyce said it wasn’t as serious as the team had anticipated, which is why he practised Wednesday.

Now it seems highly improbable that Dedmon, whose 29.8-yard average on kick returns is second in the league and whose 11.9-yard average on punt returns is third, suits up in the second of the home-and-home series with the green and gold.

“We’ll see how things are going forward,” said Dyce, who mentioned quality options such as Kalil (The Thrill) Pimpleton, Tobias Harris, Adarius Pickett, Justin Hardy and Bralon Addison to use as a returner if Dedmon is out. “I think you guys know how I think. … I think DeVonte is the best returner in this league. And so any time you get the best in the league, it’s not an easy thing to replace.

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“But we are blessed with a lot of talented guys back there.”

Most likely getting the bulk of the work would be Pimpleton, who was named the MAC Special Teams Player of the Year in 2021 for his kick-returning numbers.

While Pimpleton made a splashy CFL debut as a receiver in Edmonton — to the point where there’s really no way he can come out of lineup — he was replacing the banged-up Addison (Achilles strain), who was taking first-team reps on Wednesday.

“You don’t want to waste reps,” said Dyce, “especially on a short week.”

That would suggest Addison plays, with no need for any real creative roster juggling to keep Pimpleton in if Dedmon needs some recovery time.

Ruby, meanwhile, did a solid job of stepping in for Pelehos when the latter was injured in the second quarter.

Ottawa’s ground game was relatively quiet, with Ryqell Armstead carrying the ball 14 times for just 40 yards, but it also wasn’t a point of focus as the Redblacks were having so much success through the air with Dru Brown passing for 480 yards.

Brown was brought to the ground just once on 38 pass attempts, bringing the number of sacks allowed this season by Ottawa to nine — fourth-lowest in the league.

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“I was happy with the play of those guys,” said Dyce. “Obviously a bit of a challenge with how early Zack got hurt, but Jacob stepped in and did yeoman’s work in there at right tackle, a spot he hadn’t had tons and tons of work at.

“I’m not surprised because when a similar type thing happened in pre-game in Saskatchewan last year, he had to go out there and did a great job. That’s why when you have an opportunity to have a guy like Jacob, you keep them around because his value is not only just being able to play guard, play tackle, play the sixth offensive lineman … he’s played centre. No situation is too big for him. You know he’s going to rise to the occasion.”

Ruby, who’s from London, Ont., spent five seasons with Edmonton before the Redblacks signed him as a free agent in January 2022.

The 6-foot-7, 325-pounder didn’t exactly have an “old home week” feeling when he played against his former team.

“It’s cool to go back there … but I think there’s two guys, (fullback) Tanner Green and (DB) Scott Hutter, that were there when I was,” he said. “I know the equipment guy. And they have their D-line coach, (Almondo Sewell) who I played with, and (retired defensive end Odell Willis) was helping out on the sideline there. Other than that, there’s just been so much turnover.”

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At 31, Ruby really is a Jacob of all trades.

As a rookie with the Montreal Alouettes in 2016, he made 17 starts at tackle and “basically a couple of games every other year” at the position.

The rest of the time he’s been a guard, with some pre-season snaps and mostly meaningless games with the Elks sprinkled in at centre.

“If you’re staying on the same side, it’s definitely easier than if you’re switching sides,” Ruby explained of the transition.

As far as entering a game in progress, like he did on Sunday, he said: “It’s not good that someone goes down, but luckily it was early enough. Sometimes going in cold is another challenge, another hurdle. We were able to do some extra alignment stuff, some packages like that, and it was early enough where there wasn’t a ton of time between me being on and off the field. So that aspect of it was good, but I’ve played every position on the line in my career so there’s not a ton that is going to shock me or shake me when I go in there.

“You just go in there and play football.”

dbrennan@postmedia.com

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