• The Rams open up their 25th season at the U SPORTS level on Friday night with a road game against the Calgary Dinos.

• Led by fourth-year head coach Mark McConkey, the Rams return 18 starters including last year's Canada West Rookie of the Year (QB Owen Sieben) and two players selected in last spring's CFL Draft (SB D'Sean Mimbs and DB Jackson Sombach).

• A new era for Calgary football begins Friday as first-year head coach Ryan Sheahan takes the reins of the Dinos program. Sheahan was Calgary's assistant head coach and offensive coordinator from 2015 to 2018, and returns to the Dinos following a five-year stint as Guelph's head coach.

SERIES NOTES: The Rams go into Friday's game with four consecutive wins over the Dinos, having won all four matchups between the two teams since COVID. The teams met only once last year in a game which saw Calgary jump out to a 15-1 lead before QB Owen Sieben helped engineer a come-from-behind 23-15 win for the Rams. Overall, Calgary holds a 22-11 advantage in Canada West games and a 5-2 record against the Rams in 7 postseason games.

EXHIBITION UPDATE: The Rams hosted Manitoba last Thursday in a non-conference game at Mosaic Stadium. The Bisons ended up with a 29-25 victory in a classic preseason game which saw both teams' starting quarterbacks play just one series. DB Max Polischuk and DB Jacob Tkachuk both had interceptions for the Rams, while DL Toryn Swystun-Bernes had one of the U of R's two fumble recoveries. Offensively, the five Rams quarterbacks combined to go 26-for-43 and throw for 385 yards and 3 touchdowns with receptions by 16 different players.

SEASON OPENERS: The Rams are 10-14 in season openers and 2-6 when opening the Canada West schedule on the road. Friday's game will mark the fourth time that the Rams and Calgary have opened up Canada West play against each other. The other season-opening meetings happened in 2000 (31-25 win in Regina), 2012 (37-21 loss in Calgary), and 2018 (49-35 loss in Regina).

DEBUTS: The Rams expect to have at least eight players making their Canada West debut in Week 1 including OL Nick Makowsky, OL Nnadozie Marendiukobianwa, OL Riley Schick, WR Nicholas Sirleaf, LB Demar Hohnstein, DB Cedric McCallum, DL Praise Odogun, and DL Tarick Polius. All eight come to the Rams from junior football, with five of those players - Hohnstein, Marendiukobianwa, McCallum, Schick, and Sirleaf - earning CJFL All-Canadian status last season.

TEAM CAPTAINS: The Rams have seven captains this season including LB Cameron Mah, LB Chopper Hippe, QB Noah Pelletier, DB Jackson Sombach, RB Christian Katende, OL Connor Klassen, OL Parker Hodel, and SB Rylan Sokul.

STREAKING: DB Jackson Sombach comes into the year with an impressive streak of 23 consecutive games started for the Rams. Sombach, now in his fifth and final season of U SPORTS eligibility, has started all 23 of those games at halfback.

2024 DRAFT REPORT: The Rams had two players selected in the 2024 CFL Draft. SB D'Sean Mimbs went in the sixth round to the Saskatchewan Roughriders with the 50th overall selection, while DB Jackson Sombach was taken in the seventh round (60th overall) by the Calgary Stampeders. Both players are back with the Rams this season.

2025 DRAFT REPORT: LB Chopper Hippe, OL Connor Klassen, and DB Dolani Robinson all participated in the U SPORTS East-West Bowl earlier this year. The East-West Bowl is a showcase which features (for the most part) players available for selection in the following year's CFL Draft.

RAMS TERRITORY: This year's roster features a total of 99 players, 66 of whom call Saskatchewan home. The Rams also have 16 Albertans, 9 from British Columbia, 4 from Ontario, 1 from Manitoba (DL Praise Odogun), 1 from Quebec (RB Olivier Savard), 1 from Arizona (DB Cedric McCallum), and 1 from Washington (DL Maliq Washington).