A tough 24 hours ended with Kitwana Jones putting his name on a contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Wednesday night. What Jones didn't expect after his release from Edmonton was a phone call from the Roughriders, who traded him three months earlier, to be interested, "I didn't think so, I didn't at all."

Jones hit the practice field Thursday in #26 and was happy he was wearing green and white once again despite interest from other teams in the league, "Some teams recognized what type of athlete I am and try to utilize that to the best of their abilities but home is where the heart is. I wanted to come home and play with my boys. I miss my boys. God gave me the blessing to just be here and (Riders General Manager Eric Tillman) gave me the chance to re-sign so I'm happy."

Jones was notified Tuesday night he was no longer needed as an Edmonton Eskimo in a meeting with his longtime coordinator in Saskatchewan and current head coach of the Eskimos Richie Hall had to tell the veteran he was a free agent, "That was emotional. I love Richie because my whole time playing football Richie's been one of my favourite coaches and just for us to separate like that and he having to be the barer of bad news it was rough, that was a rough day for me."

Jones spent most of practice getting filled in on the defensive system by defensive line coach Mike Scheper and coordinator Gary Etcheverry and Head Coach Ken Miller confirmed it may be a stretch for Jones to be ready to play on Sunday against Winnipeg, "Our defense has some nuances that he hasn't been associated with for a long period of time right now and it will depend on how well he picks that up."

What may help Jones crack the roster against the Blue Bombers is his tenacity on special teams and teams attempts at trying to improve the special teams may outweigh whether or not Jones knows the defensive playbook inside out.

RIDERS ABSENSES NOTICABLE

The following players were not on the field for Thursday's practice;

Jason Clermont (personal), Leron Mitchell (personal), Jamie Boreham (head), Chris McKenzie (health)

FINALLY FANTUZ

After missing the last five games due to a hamstring injury, receiver Andy Fantuz looks ready to go against this week. Fantuz has practiced with the first team offense the last two days and Head Coach Ken Miller is optimistic Fantuz will return, "Andy is likely going to be on (the roster) this week. I don't know which spot he'll take right now, but he will be on."

The reason Miller is questioning who Fantuz will replace on the roster is due to the fact he may have three non-imports (Fantuz, Neal Hughes, Leron Mitchell) all being added to the roster.