Micah Johnson could have written several more compelling chapters as a player, but he opted for a storybook ending.<\/p>\n
At 37, he is retiring as a third-time Grey Cup champion and a fifth-time All-CFL selection, while remaining integrally involved in the game of football as the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 newly appointed Defensive Line Coach.<\/a><\/p>\n The coaching opportunity arose in the weeks that followed the Roughriders\u2019 25-17 Grey Cup victory over the Montreal Alouettes.<\/p>\n His final tackle, fittingly enough, was for a loss.<\/p>\n \u201cThe crazy thing about it is that when I left the field, I didn\u2019t have the intention that it would be my last time playing,\u201d Johnson said on Monday \u2014\u00a050 days after the fifth Grey Cup win in Roughriders history.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it was just the opportunity. I came to this decision quickly. You keep playing and you see guys your age starting to move on. I was starting to get that feeling that I was getting behind with the next phase of my life while still hanging on to (playing) football. That was a heavy factor me.\u201d<\/p>\n So was the opportunity to remain in Saskatchewan \u2014\u00a0which has become his family\u2019s year-round home \u2014\u00a0as a colleague of Head Coach Corey Mace.<\/p>\n Mace was well-established as a defensive tackle in Calgary when Johnson joined the Stampeders in 2013. The neighbouring defensive linemen became fast friends.<\/p>\n After the 2015 season, Mace made a seamless transition into the role of his team\u2019s Defensive Line Coach. A decade later, it is Johnson\u2019s turn.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of knowledge in there, man, and he\u2019s excellent with his teammates,\u201d said Mace, whose son Micah is named in Johnson\u2019s honour.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he garners a lot of respect in that locker room. Certainly, in the defensive line room, he was an ear for guys to always fall back on.\u201d<\/p>\n There is an accompanying parallel to Jeremy O\u2019Day, who remained with the Roughriders in a football operations capacity after wrapping up a successful playing career.<\/p>\n Like Johnson, O\u2019Day \u2014\u00a0now the Roughriders\u2019 Vice-President of Football Operations and General Manager \u2014\u00a0was a divisional All-CFL selection in his final season as a player.<\/p>\n \u201cHe retires as one of the most respected interior defensive linemen of his era and, in my mind, he\u2019s a future Hall of Famer,\u201d O\u2019Day said of someone who has earned divisional All-CFL honours seven times.<\/p>\n O\u2019Day signed Johnson as a free agent after he was an All-CFL choice in 2016, 2017 and 2018. He has spent five of the past six seasons \u2014\u00a0including the last three \u2014\u00a0in Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n Following the 2023 campaign, the entire Johnson family spent the winter in Saskatchewan for the first time. Micah and Saqouya Johnson are the proud parents of three sons (JaCorian, Micah Jr. and Jaxson) and a daughter (Kaleia), all of whom were present at Mosaic Stadium for Monday\u2019s media conference.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving to leave my family for six months at a time, I felt like I was missing too much time with my family,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cMy kids are getting older and they\u2019re not babies anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I talked to my wife and talked to my family a couple of years ago about whether I was going to continue playing, I wanted them to move up here.<\/p>\n \u201cI salute them for moving up. They were in Florida when they left, so it\u2019s a little different.\u201d<\/p>\n Especially on Monday, when the snow started falling shortly after the announcement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s huge to be a part of the province,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cFootball means something to the people.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always been one of the people where football meant everything to me, in and out \u2014\u00a0live, sleep and eat football. So to come to Saskatchewan and see how much football means to the fans, it meant something to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson leaves the field after playing football for well over half his life.<\/p>\n