WINNIPEG \u2014 Long snappers conventionally revel in being inconspicuous.<\/p>\n
Virtual anonymity often signals a job well done for players such as the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 Jorgen Hus, who hopes to punctuate his 10th CFL season with a long-awaited Grey Cup victory.<\/p>\n
In advance of Sunday\u2019s clash with the Montreal Alouettes, Hus received far more media attention than usual. In fact, he even addressed a couple of dozen reporters from an elevated platform at Princess Auto Stadium on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was my first podium ever, for sure,\u201d the Saskatoon-born Hus noted after the Green and White practised on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was cool. You see guys do it and it\u2019s cool to be a part of that, especially this week. It\u2019ll be just another memory down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
The experience prompted Hus to recall interactions with a long-snapping expert.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy coach in Wisconsin, he\u2019s got a whole brand that says \u2018Unnoticed,\u2019 \u201d Hus said. \u201cYou want to remain unnoticed all the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always said that the biggest compliment you can get from a coach is if they look at you and then they look right past you. That means they\u2019re not worried about you. They know you\u2019re going to do your job. That\u2019s the best kind of compliment we can get. Really, that holds true for any specialist.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a snapper, I don\u2019t want to be talked about. I just want to go out and do my job, stay in the shadows. Generally, if you are talked about, it\u2019s because something wrong happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the philosophy of Cory Huclack, who handled the long snapping in 55 regular-season games with the Roughriders over a four-year span that began in 2010.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m doing my job, nobody should notice me, except downfield making tackles,\u201d Huclack told the Regina Leader-Post in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like the media requests, because it\u2019s usually not a good thing if I\u2019m talking to media.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he was happy to oblige when requested, as is the personable Hus.<\/p>\n
A CFLer since 2015, he is the only member of the team who enters Sunday\u2019s game with a double-digit tenure \u2014\u00a010 years \u2014\u00a0in green and white.<\/p>\n
When the Roughriders have won championships, there has always been at least one player who becomes a sentimental favourite because of how much he has yearned for such a moment.<\/p>\n
In 1966, for example, the Roughriders\u2019 first Grey Cup title was celebrated by two 15-year veterans \u2014 venerable linemen Ron Atchison and Reg Whitehouse.<\/p>\n
Roger Aldag and Bob Poley carried the Grey Cup into Taylor Field after the Green and White won it all in 1989.<\/p>\n