WINNIPEG — Long snappers conventionally revel in being inconspicuous.
Virtual anonymity often signals a job well done for players such as the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Jorgen Hus, who hopes to punctuate his 10th CFL season with a long-awaited Grey Cup victory.
In advance of Sunday’s clash with the Montreal Alouettes, Hus received far more media attention than usual. In fact, he even addressed a couple of dozen reporters from an elevated platform at Princess Auto Stadium on Thursday.
“That was my first podium ever, for sure,” the Saskatoon-born Hus noted after the Green and White practised on Friday.
“It was cool. You see guys do it and it’s cool to be a part of that, especially this week. It’ll be just another memory down the road.”
The experience prompted Hus to recall interactions with a long-snapping expert.
“My coach in Wisconsin, he’s got a whole brand that says ‘Unnoticed,’ ” Hus said. “You want to remain unnoticed all the time.
“I’ve always said that the biggest compliment you can get from a coach is if they look at you and then they look right past you. That means they’re not worried about you. They know you’re going to do your job. That’s the best kind of compliment we can get. Really, that holds true for any specialist.
“As a snapper, I don’t want to be talked about. I just want to go out and do my job, stay in the shadows. Generally, if you are talked about, it’s because something wrong happened.”
That was the philosophy of Cory Huclack, who handled the long snapping in 55 regular-season games with the Roughriders over a four-year span that began in 2010.
“If I’m doing my job, nobody should notice me, except downfield making tackles,” Huclack told the Regina Leader-Post in 2012.
“I don’t like the media requests, because it’s usually not a good thing if I’m talking to media.”
But he was happy to oblige when requested, as is the personable Hus.
A CFLer since 2015, he is the only member of the team who enters Sunday’s game with a double-digit tenure — 10 years — in green and white.
When the Roughriders have won championships, there has always been at least one player who becomes a sentimental favourite because of how much he has yearned for such a moment.
In 1966, for example, the Roughriders’ first Grey Cup title was celebrated by two 15-year veterans — venerable linemen Ron Atchison and Reg Whitehouse.
Roger Aldag and Bob Poley carried the Grey Cup into Taylor Field after the Green and White won it all in 1989.
Two other seasoned offensive line cohorts, Gene Makowsky and Jeremy O’Day, were the first Roughriders players to touch the trophy in 2007.
In 2013, linebacker Mike McCullough (who joined the Riders in 2003) and running back Neal Hughes (2004) savoured elusive titles. So did Darian Durant, who joined the team in 2006 and quarterbacked the team in three subsequent Grey Cup Games.
This time around, the Roughriders have an assortment of players with 10 or more years of CFL experience, including time spent (and Cups won, in many cases) elsewhere.
Hus aside, that fraternity includes quarterback Trevor Harris (who made his Canadian professional football debut in 2012), defensive tackle Micah Johnson (2013) and offensive tackle Jermarcus Hardrick (2014).
Also of note is kicker Brett Lauther, who was on the sideline as a practice-roster player with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats when the Roughriders defeated the visiting Tabbies 45-23 to win the Cup in 2013.
After appearing in four games with Hamilton that year, Lauther’s next regular-season duty was with Saskatchewan in 2018. There were two earlier practice-roster stints with the Roughriders.
“If not for Jorgen, I’m probably not playing football today,” Lauther said. “When I first came out here in 2015, right away we kind of became buddies for life. He helped me get back here on the PR in 2017.
“He has always been in my corner. He has always had my back through anything I’ve done here.”
Hence the celebration after the Roughriders qualified for the 112th Grey Cup Game by defeating the visiting B.C. Lions 24-21.
“He’s family and he’s the Number 1 guy I’m most excited for,” Lauther said after the Western Final. “He deserves it, but we still have one more to go.”
Hus joined the Roughriders after attempting to land a long snapping position in the NFL. When the CFL became the best option, Saskatchewan was the only choice, even though he had been drafted by a rival franchise in 2013.
“This is the only team I wanted to play for, so they made a trade happen from Edmonton over to here,” Hus recalled. “It’s where I’ve always wanted to be. It’s where I’m only going to be. It means a lot to play for this team.”
And now, to have an opportunity to win a Cup on behalf of his home-province team … just imagine.
How high would he jump if the best-case scenario materialized?
“I have a credit card vertical, I like to call it,” the 36-years-young Hus replied. “When I get off the ground, you can get a credit card under it.”
Credit, after all these years, is certainly warranted — even if the resulting attention constitutes a flagrant contravention of the unofficial long snappers’ code.
