By Stampeders.com staff

Upon further review, Bo Levi Mitchell will sit out another game and Drew Tate will get a chance to go for a second straight victory when the Stampeders travel to Regina on Friday to take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The preliminary indications earlier in the week were that Mitchell would reclaim the starter’s job after sitting out the past two weeks with knee and ankle injuries, but head coach and general manager John Hufnagel indicated otherwise after Wednesday’s practice at McMahon Stadium.

“After having one more conversation with Bo and after evaluating yesterday’s practice,” Hufnagel told the media, “I made the decision that Drew will start the game.

“There’s two reasons. One reason is that Drew has had an excellent week of practice. The other reason,” he added with a grin, “I will tell you when I’m done with my coaching career.”

Kidding aside, Hufnagel said the Stamps have the luxury of being able to turn to a capable veteran while Mitchell sits.

“We have all the confidence in the world in Drew,” he said. “I do, the coaches do, his teammates do. And he has a lot of confidence in himself.”

Tate is looking forward to another start.

“Yeah, super excited. Uber-excited, really,” he exclaimed. “(Coach Huff) told me this morning when I came in and we had a really good day of practice. The best day of practice I’ve probably had. We’re excited and ready to go.”

Tate protected the ball well in last week’s win over BC as he didn’t throw any interceptions but he had several near-misses on potential long pass plays. He’s happy for another chance to fine-tune his control and make the connections with a receiving corps that will be bolstered this week by the return of Jeff Fuller.

“Absolutely,” nodded Tate. “I expect to take another step forward this week.”

The Roughriders present a challenge to an opposing quarterback.

“They’re really good,” said Tate. “I was watching film last night and they really have smart football players and then they’re coached really well. The combination of that makes them extremely good. They have a lot of guys who are real athletic and just, like I said, football savvy. We have to be on top of our game.”