After waiting nearly a full calendar year to get back on the field, Saskatchewan Roughriders offensive lineman Jermarcus Hardrick sounds ready to leave everything else behind, including the Grey Cup.
The veteran right tackle enters his fourth season in green and white, and his 12th CFL campaign with a long list of accomplishments behind him, including a CFL Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman award, another All-CFL selection and helping the Roughriders capture the 2025 Grey Cup. But as training camp turns into game week, Hardrick says none of that carries over.
“Body and mind’s feeling great,” Hardrick told The SportsCage. “I’m ready to get out there with my guys. Excited for another season, excited for another opportunity. Still playing a game I love. Love my teammates, love this city, love this province, love the fans.”
For a player who missed most of 2024 with a season-ending quad injury before returning to become one of the league’s most dominant offensive linemen in 2025, moving on from success has become easier with experience. Hardrick says championship celebrations don’t last long.
“When I was young, it was probably a little harder,” he explained. “Now it’s always next day up, next season. I hate to say it like this, but 2025 died. We have to move on.”
He said that mentality extends into life at home.
“My wife talks about it all the time. We don’t even bring up 2025. She always talks about the past, you’re gonna get hit in the mouth by 2026.”
The message inside the Roughriders locker room has been consistent: appreciate last season, but don’t live in it.
Head coach Corey Mace and the team’s veteran leadership group have stressed staying present and focusing on what happens now.
“2026 is all that matters,” Hardrick said. “Everything that happened in 2025 isn’t going to help us.”
That doesn’t mean expectations change. Hardrick says that, championship or not, every opponent is bringing their best.
“I respect every player I play against. I lose sleep over every player I play against; some guys you lose a little bit more sleep over. Even if we didn’t win last year, I always think there’s a target. I try to play with a target on my back.”
After earning the CFL’s top offensive line honour and helping anchor one of the league’s best units, Hardrick’s motivation this season isn’t proving people wrong. It’s improving.
“Just trying to be better than I was last year,” he said. “Watching all my lowlights from last year. Looking at all the little things. Not trying to put new tools in my toolbox, just trying to sharpen them.”
That mindset extends beyond football.
“I want to be a better leader, better husband, better dad. Just want to be better in everything I do.”
Hardrick says his competitive edge comes from years of fighting to stay in the game after being cut multiple times early in his career.
“Always wanted to be the best,” he said. “My little cousins always talk about when we were younger, everyone hated coming over because we weren’t going to run around outside. We were going to do jumping jacks and push-ups.”
That competitiveness apparently extends off the field, too.
Last week, Hardrick won the Roughriders’ team fishing trip after hauling in a massive 30-pound pike, the biggest catch on the team. His explanation? Nothing special.
“The fish was hungry,” Hardrick laughed. “It’s not called catching, it’s called fishing.”
The moment meant more because his son was there to share it.
“My son was there. He called for fish for a while. That’s something I’ll remember forever. I remember doing those things with my family and my grandma.”
Then came the strike.
“I felt that thing go under the boat, and I said, ‘We got something big here, buddy.’ And there we are, 30 pounds.”
Now the focus shifts back to football. Hardrick says familiarity and chemistry along the offensive line continue to grow and believes the entire organization shares the same approach.
“We’re wired that way. We want to get better,” he said. “You can feel it from the ticket office to the fourth floor to the media. Everyone’s trying to get better.”
For one of the CFL’s most accomplished offensive linemen, the Grey Cup ring is already in the past.
The next season and the next catch are waiting
