Brent Just/Electric Umbrella
Jorgen Hus is once again ready to see the world upside down.
The 27-year-old long-snapper is recovering from a torn ligament in his right wrist, an injury that ended his 2016 CFL season after just nine games.
With surgery done and his rehabilitation underway, the Saskatoon-born Hus has re-signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders — and he’s eager to resume his career.
“I’m on the road back,” Hus said from Phoenix, where he has spent the past month and a half working out and rehabbing. “I’ll be snapping full speed in no time.
“I’m taking big strides. I’m keeping in contact with the surgeon (Dr. Charles Melone of New York City) and he can’t believe the range of motion that I have already.
“Things are definitely ahead of schedule. I’ve just got to keep it there.”
Hus joined the Roughriders in 2015 after trying his luck in the NFL with the St. Louis Rams, Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs.
The University of Regina Rams product played 18 games for Saskatchewan during the 2015 season and was set for his second campaign in ’16.
Then he tore a ligament in his wrist at the start of the season.
“We just thought it was a sprain, so I kept playing,” Hus recalled. “Then, before the Labour Day game, the pain was 10 out of 10. I couldn’t handle it anymore and had to come out.
“We tried some different methods and techniques that we thought would heal the ligament, but it never healed. We had an MRI done and it showed that it was fully torn, so we had to get it surgically repaired.”
Hus’ departure from the Roughriders’ special teams started a revolving door spinning.
Dan MacDonald, a Toronto Argonauts draft pick who had been working in a furniture store, arrived in Regina on the Friday before the Labour Day Classic and handled the long-snapping duties that Sunday.
But MacDonald lasted only six games before a concussion ended his season — and his career.
With Hus and MacDonald on the shelf, veteran CFLer Randy Chevrier was signed and did the long-snapping in the Roughriders’ final three games.
“You don’t want to see whoever’s in there struggling or getting hurt,” Hus said of the position changing hands three times. “Chevy did a great job at the end, but you want to see the guys doing well and helping the team out.
“You don’t get a lot of attention (as a long-snapper), but it’s one of those things where you can only hurt the team by messing up. That’s usually the only way people know you.”
Hus had the surgery done in New York City and then headed straight for Arizona to begin his therapy.
He became a free agent Feb. 14, but noted he and the Roughriders were in touch throughout the off-season. As a result, Hus knew he would be re-signing at some point.
“There’s some trust there both ways,” said the 6-foot-1, 230-pounder. “They know where I’m at and believe in me. It was a good, healthy thing the whole way.
“There was never any question either way that I wasn’t going to be ready. If I said I was going to be ready to go, I think we all knew that would be the case.”
That said, Hus admitted questions about his future entered his mind “every once in a while.” But he quickly tossed them aside — even though a wrist injury could hamper the career of a long-snapper.
“It’s really not what you want to injure,” Hus admitted with a chuckle. “But I was fortunate enough and thankful that the Riders put me in the hands of the best surgeon in the country.
“I have no doubts about things. I’ve been optimistic and excited this off-season in the rehab and training process. It has just been a different kind of off-season for me; that’s the way I’m looking at it.
“I know I’m going to get back to where I was before. Knowing that, I’m just having fun, working hard and staying positive. It’s going to be fine.”
