An interviewer approached Saskatchewan Roughriders long-snapper Jorgen Hus on Wednesday and jokingly referred to the topic du jour as The Fumble Recovery Heard Around the World.
“Oh, was it ever,” Hus replied with a sarcastic snicker. “The tectonic plates were just shifting.”
Well, the Earth may have moved just a little when Roughriders guard Evan Johnson — moonlighting on special-teams duty — rocked the B.C. Lions’ Marcus Sayles with a hit that dislodged the football early in Saturday’s second quarter at BC Place Stadium.
The first forced fumble in 90 career CFL games for Johnson was the catalyst for the landmark recovery by Hus, who was appearing in his 119th regular-season contest.
A Roughrider since 2015, Hus was a linebacker and long-snapper with the University of Regina Rams from 2010 to 2012.
Over those three seasons, spanning 27 games, Hus recorded 30 solo tackles and 23 assisted tackles in addition to sharing in a sack and a tackle for a loss.
He also forced a fumble, back in 2011, but did not recover a loose ball in Canada West competition.
Until Saturday, then, his most-recent fumble recovery would have occurred in the Saskatoon high school ranks with the St. Joseph Guardians.
After such a lengthy wait, what went through his mind when he saw the football sitting on the turf?
“Just jump on it — get to it first,” Hus said. “It doesn’t happen too often so, when it does, you want to be around the ball.”
The play began when Adam Korsak lofted an intentionally short punt into Lions territory — the hope being that the Roughriders would recover the football.
Sayles foiled Plan A by retrieving the punt, only to run into a 6-foot-4, 290-pound wall named Evan Johnson.
“It was obviously not the intention of the play,” Johnson said. “We were hoping for that onside kick, but I was lucky to be in the right spot at the right time and be able to knock that ball out.”
The forced fumble was the first in more than a decade for Johnson, who was a member of the Campbell Tartans and University of Saskatchewan Huskies before being selected by the Ottawa REDBLACKS in the first round (ninth overall) of the 2017 CFL Draft.
Two years later, Johnson hit the stats sheet by registering a fumble recovery for Ottawa.
On Saturday, he had the pleasure of watching Hus pounce on the football at the Lions’ 32-yard line to set up Brett Lauther’s first of three field goals in a 19-9 B.C. victory.
The oft-mentioned fumble recovery had a unique Regina-Saskatoon flavour.
The ball was jarred loose by a Regina-born Roughrider who attended university in Saskatoon and recovered by a Saskatoon-born teammate who played college football in the Queen City.
So it all balanced out just perfectly.
“To be honest with you, I’d never even thought about that aspect of it,” Johnson said. “It’s awesome for two Saskatchewan boys to be able to go out and make some big plays like that.”
INJURY UPDATE
Roughriders receivers Tevin Jones and Kendall Watson returned to the practice field on Wednesday after sitting out Tuesday’s workout.
Jones (illness) and Watson (ribs) were listed as full participants on Wednesday’s injury report.
Other full participants were receivers Jake Wieneke (knee) and Brayden Lenius (lower back) and centre Peter Godber (hand).
On Wednesday, the DNP (Did Not Practice) designation was applied to offensive tackle Colin Kelly (foot), receiver Mitch Picton (head), defensive lineman Bryan Cox Jr. (knee), offensive lineman Zack Fry (lower back) and defensive backs Rodney Clemons (ankle) and Jaxon Ford (ankle).
Defensive linemen Micah Johnson (wrist) and Anthony Lanier II (foot), linebacker Matt Dean (foot) and receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker (hip) were limited participants.
The Roughriders are to practise at Mosaic Stadium on Thursday before flying to Halifax. The Green and White is to oppose the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday (2 p.m., TSN, CKRM) in Touchdown Atlantic, to be played at Saint Mary’s University’s Huskies Stadium.
FISHING FOR QUOTES
Saskatchewan and Toronto also travelled to Nova Scotia for the 2022 version of Touchdown Atlantic.
“I remember last year,” Roughriders quarterback Mason Fine said. “I loved the food there.
“I spent the whole per diem in two days. It was delicious food, so I’m probably going to do the exact same thing.”
Hus finds such a plan to be highly palatable.
“It’s one of my favourite parts of the country,” he said. “The first time I had ever been out there was last year for Touchdown Atlantic and I’m super-lucky to be able to go back.
“My family’s coming out, so I’m excited to kind of get around and do some sightseeing and try some fresh seafood.
“I’m just really looking forward to the trip. It’s the one we had circled on the calendar from the start. We’re looking forward to a good game against Toronto and the environment will just be electric, as it was last year.
“It’s going to be fun.”
