“It’s all about the green”: Jermarcus Hardrick on Monday’s matchup with Blue Bombers

SASKATOON — Jermarcus Hardrick’s first game with his new team will be against his old team.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, with whom he spent the previous eight CFL seasons, are to oppose the Saskatchewan Roughriders in pre-season action on Monday (2 p.m., Taylor Field).

Although Hardrick had been a mainstay at right tackle for the Blue Bombers, his focus is entirely on current colleagues such as right guard Logan Ferland, centre Peter Godber, running back A.J. Ouellette and, well, everyone else at Coors Light Roughriders Training Camp.

“I’m excited to play next to Logan,” Hardrick said after Wednesday’s workout at Griffiths Stadium. “I’m excited to play next to (Godber). I’m excited to see A.J. run.

“Faceless opponent. No numbers on ’em. Let’s get it, man. It’s all about the green.”

Hardrick, who played in eight games with Saskatchewan in 2015, also faced Winnipeg in his first regular-season game as a Roughrider. He helped the home side bounce the Blue Bombers 37-19 in the Labour Day Classic of Sept. 6, 2015.

He returns to the Roughriders as a two-time CFL All-Star (2021, 2023) and Grey Cup champion (2019, 2021) and the reigning West Division offensive lineman of the year.

But he isn’t big on accolades, preferring instead to concentrate on the basics.

“There’s just one way to do things — just work hard,” said Hardrick, who signed with the Roughriders as a free agent on Feb. 13.

“You run to the ball all game. There’s going to be that one play in the game where you’re going to hit the pile and get that first down. You never know what play it is, so you just try to practise it every play.

“It’s about conditioning, about working hard, and about selling out for your brothers. I’m really doing it for the guy next to me. It’s not even about me.”

That philosophy also has a subscriber in Corey Mace.

“Love him,” Hardrick said of the Roughriders’ first-year head coach. “He’s holding us accountable and telling us how it is. There’s no grey area. It’s all black and white.

“Let’s build it. We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got to build it brick by brick. Hopefully Rider Nation is proud of us. We’re going to try to make them proud. We won’t be perfect, but we’re going to try.”

CLAPPING FOR COREY

The crowd applauded Mace not once, but twice, after he stopped Wednesday’s practice to deliver a stern message about team discipline.

“We’re killing ourselves, fellas!” he said, for all to hear, after a skirmish that would have resulted in a penalty under game conditions.

All the players were then instructed to repeatedly run from the hash marks to the sideline.

Before practice resumed, Mace made it clear that “stupid penalties” were unacceptable, thereby earning a second round of applause.

Asked afterwards if he had previously been applauded by the fans as a coach, Mace responded: “I don’t think so. Technically, I didn’t hear it today, so if it happened it was a first.”

And, ideally, the last time he will have to stop practice in midstream.

“We had a big meeting last night about the importance of penalties,” Mace said. “To have them come out here and have something like that (scuffle) was difficult to see, but I think we handled it. We just talked about it again here.

“It’s something that we won’t tolerate and something that certainly hurts the team. Moving forward, I don’t anticipate seeing it again.”

FINE LINES

Aside from the issue that prompted Wednesday’s unscheduled intermission (cue applause), the Roughriders’ field boss is pleased with the offensive and defensive fronts.

“I thought the offensive line got the best of them yesterday and I thought the defensive line stepped it up today,” said Mace, a former defensive tackle and defensive line coach. “I’d lean to that as a group.

“Naturally, for me, my eyes always look at the trenches, but there were plays being made all over the freakin’ field today, which is really encouraging to see.”

For example …

• Samuel Emilus treated the gallery to one of his regularly scheduled spectacular catches — a lunging, fingertip grab of an Antonio Pipkin pass in first-down territory.
• On a deep route, Kian Schaffer-Baker snared a 50-50 ball near the goal line. Also of note: Schaffer-Baker’s collaboration with Trevor Harris for a 30-yard gain down the right sideline.
• Bombs away: Pipkin to Geronimo Allison for an over-the-top completion.
• Harris, Wednesday’s busiest quarterback, completed 18 of 23 passes. The other four quarterbacks (Pipkin, Mason Fine, Shea Patterson and Jack Coan) combined for 31 throws. Coan, who went 7-for-8, sported the day’s top completion percentage (87.5).
• Shawn Bane Jr., who made five catches, was the quarterbacks’ favourite target. Schaffer-Baker and Mitch Picton each caught four passes. Everyone got a long look, though, as 16 different players (running backs included) caught at least one pass.
• Defensive halfback Rolan Milligan Jr. supplemented a leaping interception with a pass knockdown.
• Wednesday’s other interceptors: Deontai Williams and DaMarcus Fields. Jakoby McClain had a near-pick after jumping an intermediate route.
• Australian punter Joe Couch launched a moon shot that registered a hang time of 4.82 seconds.
• Consistently impressive: Rookie defensive back C.J. Coldon.
• Pressuring the passer: Defensive linemen Caleb Sanders, Tre’ Crawford, Habakkuk Baldonado and Charbel Dabire all provided a push that forced the quarterback out of the pocket.

 SPEAKING OF SANDERS …

Sanders, who was signed by the Roughriders on Sept. 12, played in one game last season. He is now at his first CFL training camp, hoping to earn a full-time spot.

“It’s a huge opportunity, being an undersized guy, to be able to come in here and compete and show what I can do,” the 6-foot-1, 287-pound defensive tackle said.

With that in mind, he enjoyed Wednesday’s trench warfare.

“I thought it was really fun,” Sanders said with a smile. “It was intense and high-tempo. That’s the kind of football I love to play, so I had a really good time with that today.”

Sanders was once a two-sport athlete — and an accomplished one at that.

At Glenwood High School in Iowa, he earned All-State honours three times as a football player in addition to excelling as a wrestler. As a senior, he won the state’s 3A title in the heavyweight division, posting a 45-3 record.

“Having a wrestling background, I think that has really benefited me in football,” Sanders noted.

“One of the most important things I do is have good leverage and being able to get out of some awkward situations and being able to keep my feet when I’m low to the ground.”

He could have wrestled at the post-secondary level but opted for the gridiron and an offer from South Dakota State University — where he made the honour roll each year while starring for the Jackrabbits.

“My wrestling coach asked me if I wanted to wrestle in college and I said, ‘No way,’ ” Sanders said.

“Any coach that approached them (about wrestling), they just steered them away. I was all football.”