Jorgen Hus is blessed with an advanced understanding of the Saskatchewan football landscape.
He played high school and junior football in Saskatoon before becoming a part of the university pigskin program in Regina.
Since 2015, he has been the long snapper for a community-owned CFL team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, that is synonymous with the province — one we are celebrating on Saskatchewan Day.
“I’m just so fortunate to play here,” Hus says. “There’s no other team in this league I’d rather play for. Growing up here, it’s Riders, and that’s the only place you want to play someday.
“Sometimes I still have to pinch myself. I often stop and look around the stadium and see all the names and all the alumni who came before us. It’s pretty cool to be a part of that history.”
Saskatchewan was established as a province on Sept. 1, 1905.
Five years later, also in early September, the first meeting was held to organize what soon became the Regina Rugby Club, which debuted on the field on Oct. 1, 1910.
Since then, 4,495 players have either suited up for or tried out with the Regina Rugby Club, Regina Roughriders or Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Thirteen per cent of those players — 583 — have verifiably hailed from Saskatchewan.
There is documentation of 281 Saskatchewan-born players suiting up for at least one regular-season or playoff game.
The actual total — an elusive one due to the limited reference material from the early years — is almost certainly a fair bit higher.
That said, the information that does exist is eye-popping, when you consider the immense impact that has been made by players emanating from a small province.
Hus, for example, is one of 28 Saskatoon Hilltops products to advance from the junior program to the CFL. Collectively, those players have seen 1,488 games of regular-season duty with the Green and White.
After spending three seasons with the Hilltops, Hus joined the University of Regina Rams and spent three years as a linebacker and long-snapper in the Canada West conference.
Since moving from junior to university football in 1999, the Rams have produced 16 players who went on to play in 812 CFL games with Saskatchewan.
The junior Rams, formed in 1954, developed 38 future Roughriders who combined for 2,367 games.
The Rams were succeeded in the Prairie Football Conference by the Regina Thunder, which has produced seven Roughriders players — including the current starting right guard, Logan Ferland. That septet has combined for 504 games … and counting.
The Roughriders’ 2024 roster also includes starting safety Nelson Lokombo, who is among 34 University of Saskatchewan Huskies graduates to end up playing pro football in this province. Lokombo increased the Huskies’ all-time games count to 1,275 on Saturday, when the Roughriders played host to the Edmonton Elks.
Offensive lineman Noah Zerr and linebacker Nick Wiebe, both of whom are on the six-game injured list and have yet to appear in a regular-season game for the Roughriders, are among 100 documented U of S players whose rights have been held by Saskatchewan.
That list, as lengthy as it is, doesn’t even include Huskies and CFL legend Gene Makowsky, who is the Roughriders’ all-time games-played leader (284).
Makowsky, who was born in New Westminster, B.C., was two years old when his family moved to Saskatoon. He is, by virtually every description, a product of this province’s fertile football feeder system, but he does not fall under the category of “Saskatchewan-born player.”
Neither does fellow Canadian Football Hall of Famer Bill Baker, who was born in Sherridon, Man., but honed his football skills in Saskatchewan with the Scott Blues, Notre Dame Hounds and Regina Rams.
Baker is among 124 documented junior Rams who would play with or try out for the Roughriders.
Before the Rams were established, players proceeded to the Roughriders’ training camp from the programs such as the Regina Bombers, Dales, Pats and Tigers. Once upon a time, the Regina Boat Club was an incubator for future Roughriders.
Most recently, the Thunder has produced 29 players who have spent some time with the Roughriders. Included on that list is junior-eligible linebacker Stephen Smith, who attended the Roughriders’ 2024 training camp and is now on the practice roster.
The Hilltops, who have a long-standing rivalry with the Thunder, have sent 93 players to a Roughriders training camp — again, according to roster information that can be confirmed.
The same qualifier applies when listing all the communities from which Roughriders players or prospects have emanated.
When Smith arrived at training camp, Abernethy was added to a long list of players’ birthplaces that also includes Assiniboia, Balcarres, Beechy, Big River, Biggar, Bladworth, Borden, Buchanan, Cabri, Canora, Caronport, Central Butte, Dysart, Earl Grey, Elfros, Estevan, Foam Lake, Fort Qu’Appelle, Gainsborough, Galilee, Glaslyn, Govan, Gull Lake, Hazenmore, Herbert, Holdfast, Hudson Bay, Humboldt, Inchkeith, Indian Head, Ituna, Kamsack, Kerrobert, Lafleche, Langenburg, Lumsden, Maple Creek, Markinch, Melfort, Melville, Meskanew, Milestone, Moose Jaw, Mortlach, Naicam, Norquay, North Battleford, Ogema, Prince Albert, Qu’Appelle, Regina, Rosthern, Rouleau, Saskatoon, Shaunavon, Swift Current, Unity, Val Marie, Vibank, Viscount, Weyburn, Willowbrook, Yorkton and Zenon Park.
In those communities and so many others, the minor football and high school programs play an integral role in Saskatchewan often punching above its weight on a national stage.
“I think it has a lot to do with the grassroots level and the coaching we get, starting at the youngest ages and going up,” says Hus, a proud graduate of the Saskatoon St. Joseph Guardians high school program.
“Some of the best coaches I’ve had were my high school coaches. I think back to the things that Scott Hundseth and Darin Wist taught me at St. Joe’s.
“I still hear those voices and some of the things that they taught me in my head today — little tricks and things like that — and I still use them.
“Then, with the Hilltops, there was Tom Sargeant, and Warren Muzika was our special teams co-ordinator.
“We’ve got such high-level coaching, right from the get-go, and that really helps.”
So does the long-standing, deep-seeded love of the game.
“Football is a growing sport.” Hus says. “People care about it. There’s passion for it everywhere.
“It’s what we’ve got so, once you get into it, you’ve got that dream (of playing for the Roughriders) right from the start.
“There’s a lot of work ethic and hard workers out there from the jump. Then you pair that with the good coaching.
“We don’t have the numbers the other provinces have, but we’ve got just as much talent, if not more, that comes out at the end of the day.”
