Riley Pickett (born October 5, 1997) is a Canadian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

fullback and

long snapper In gridiron football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a Center (gridiron football), center on American football positions#Special teams, special teams whose duty is to Snap (gridiron football), snap the football over a longer distance, ty ...

for the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL).

Junior career

Pickett played for the

Saskatoon Hilltops The Saskatoon Hilltops are a junior Canadian football team based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The Hilltops play in the six-team Prairie Football Conference, which is part of the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) and compete annually for the C ...

of the

Canadian Junior Football League The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) is a national Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in five provinces across Canada. The teams compete annually for the Canadian Bowl. Many CJFL players move on to professional footbal ...

from 2015 to 2017. He won a

Canadian Bowl The Canadian Bowl is the championship of the Canadian Junior Football League The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) is a national Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in five provinces across Canada. The teams compete an ...

championship in each of his three seasons with the Hilltops and was named the Defensive Lineman of the Year in 2017. He played in 29 games where he recorded 38 tackles, 24 assisted tackles, 16 special teams tackles, 15 sacks, 1 punt block, and two forced fumbles.

University career

Pickett later joined the

Saskatchewan Huskies The Saskatchewan Huskies are the athletics teams representing the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The university began their athletics program in 1907 and has competed with others since 1911. They currently compete in eli ...

U Sports football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athleti ...

and played for the team from 2018 to 2021. He played in 21 games where he had 58.5 total tackles, 11 sacks, 16 tackles for a loss, two forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries. He won two

Hardy Cup The Hardy Trophy is a Canadian sport trophy, presented annually to the winner of the Canada West Universities Athletic Association Football Conference of U Sports, the country's governing body for university athletics. It is named for Evan Hardy, ...

championships with the Huskies, in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Professional career

Pickett was drafted in the fifth round, 41st overall, by the

in the 2022 CFL Draft and signed with the team on May 11, 2022. He played in ten games in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, where he had one defensive tackle and two special teams tackles. During his 2022 exit interview with the team's co-general manager, Neil McEvoy, it was suggested that Pickett practice long snapping, since there was an opportunity at the position in the following season. Having never played the position, he practiced in the off-season with

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

long snapper, Jorgen Hus, and eventually won the job following training camp. He played in all 18 regular season games in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

as the team's long snapper and also recorded seven special teams tackles. During training camp in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, Pickett was in competition for the long snapper position with Kyle Nelson. Nelson became the long snapper for punts while Pickett retained the job for field goals. Pickett also learned to play fullback and switched to the offense after playing as a defensive lineman. On January 13, 2025, Pickett signed a one-year contract extension to remain with BC for the 2025 season.

References

External links

BC Lions bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pickett, Riley 1997 births Living people BC Lions players Canadian football defensive linemen Canadian football fullbacks Canadian football long snappers Canadian football people from Saskatoon Canadian Junior Football League players Players of Canadian football from Saskatchewan Saskatchewan Huskies football players