Unheralded hog grabs spotlight

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This article was published 01/08/2016 (3360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jermacus Hardrick isn’t used to touching the football. As an offensive lineman in the Canadian Football League, it’s also rare, if ever, he’s the centre of attention.

So when he had the chance to do both just minutes into the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ 30-23 win over the Edmonton Eskimos at Commonwealth Stadium Thursday, he knew exactly what he was going to do.

As part of a planned celebration after his one-yard touchdown run, tailback Andrew Harris handed the ball to Hardrick, who, in one fell swoop spiked the ball to the turf.

“I loved it, I want to do it again,” said Hardrick, his eyes wide, after Monday’s practice at Investors Group Field. “We just do our job every play. Our job isn’t going to make headlines. Touchdowns are what make headlines.”

Following the win over the Eskimos, all the attention from media and fans fell on players such as Harris, who carried the ball 22 times for 127 yards — his most yards on the ground since joining the Bombers prior to this season.

In the dressing room after the game, reporters surrounded quarterback Matt Nichols, who in his first start in place of Drew Willy, had just defeated the reigning Grey Cup champions — not to mention his former team that traded him for next to nothing midway through the 2015 season — in a game in which Nichols completed close to 80 per cent of his passes, throwing for 304 yards and a touchdown.

Indeed, the emergence of Harris and the run game and the fairy tale beginning to Nichols’ season made for the night’s best storylines.

But it can be argued none of it would have been possible had it not been for the steady play of the offensive linemen — a group comprising Stanley Bryant, Travis Bond, Matthias Goossen, Sukh Chungh and Hardrick.

“It starts and finishes with them,” said Harris. “They’re the guys that get it going, whether it’s pass blocking or run blocking. Even the attitude of the offence, it really starts with them. They’re the heartbeat of this offence.”

Not only can the job be thankless, you’d also have to think a person was crazy to want to do it week-in and week-out. On a weekly basis, the O-line is expected to create holes for the run game, while also putting their bodies in front of one — sometimes two — 300-pound defensive lineman looking to take their heads off; all so Nichols can have enough time to find an open receiver.

“Every night we’ve got to come in with an attitude, bring the enthusiasm,” said Bond, who made his first start at left guard against Edmonton. “They got one of the best defensive lines in this league and from going against them and what we were able to do, we’ve set our standards really high.”

Bob Wylie, the Bombers offensive line coach, said Thursday’s win was the best game he’s seen from his group this season. Faced with adversity earlier in the week after losing right tackle Patrick Neufeld to injury, Wylie said he challenged them to be better.

Simply put, if the Bombers were going to have any chance of leaving Edmonton with a win, it would come down to whether they could protect the line from a fierce Eskimos’ front seven.

“They responded to the challenge,” said Wylie. “They decided ‘we’re going to get this done’ and they got it done.”

As for getting accolades for a job well done, Wylie said he wasn’t surprised to see his guys get shafted on the limelight front. In fact, he expects it.

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When asked why he feels the O-line doesn’t get the credit it sometimes deserves, Wylie didn’t have to look far for an answer. He pointed to the crest on the left breast of his shirt: a mushroom with the acronym C.O.O.L just below it.

“Coaches Of Offensive Lineman,” said Wylie. “We’re always left in the dark and they always feed us s–t. That’s our logo.”

As for their reward, it’s more than just headlines in the paper or post-game interviews. In a way, it’s about power, knowing they helped carry — in some cases quite literally — their team to victory.

“When you can move a defender from point A to point B against his will, as an offensive lineman that’s one of the best feelings in the world,” said Wylie. “There’s nothing better.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.catwitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.