It was a suitably overcast, foggy day when my favourite Micah Johnson quote came to mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere ain\u2019t no sunlight down there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those words were uttered in late June of 2024, when I asked the veteran Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive tackle to describe life in the trenches.<\/p>\n
Johnson capped that season by being named an All-CFL selection for the fourth time. He cracked the select squad once more in 2025 \u2014\u00a0a championship season for the Green and White.<\/p>\n
Then, still at the top of his game at 37, he retired as a player to become the Roughriders\u2019 Defensive Line Coach<\/a>. The announcement was made over the noon-hour on Monday, not long before it began to snow in the greater Regina area \u2014 not a sunkissed region at the time of this writing.<\/p>\n This scribbler dealt with a flurry of emotions while capsulizing the career of one of the finest defensive linemen I have seen in 50-plus years as a devotee of Canadian professional football.<\/p>\n Yet, some of my favourite memories were created in non-game situations.<\/p>\n Interviewing him \u2014\u00a0or simply chatting with him on an informal basis \u2014\u00a0was always a joy.<\/p>\n We take you back to the aforementioned story<\/a>, pertaining to the jousts between offensive and defensive linemen.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the darkest trenches,\u201d said Johnson, instantly warming to the subject. \u201cYou\u2019re down there in Mariana\u2019s Trench.<\/p>\n \u201cThere ain\u2019t no sunlight down there. You\u2019ve got to fight for your damn life, bro.\u201d<\/p>\n In hindsight, Johnson should have received a writing credit for the story, which quickly became a stenographic exercise on my part.<\/p>\n I could at least take credit for the story idea, except for the fact that it was suggested by Arielle Zerr.<\/p>\n Arielle (Director of Communications) and Micah both joined the Roughriders organization in 2019. From the outset, Arielle spoke highly of Micah as a person and a personality.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until being hired by the Roughriders in 2023 that I really got to know and appreciate Micah.<\/p>\n His talents on the field are well documented. Five All-CFL selections. Seven divisional nods. Three Grey Cup championships. Et cetera.<\/p>\n But he is every bit as remarkable off the field.<\/p>\n As a player ambassador for the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation, he instantly connected with youngsters while visiting schools to promote mental health (via the Win With Wellness initiative) and literacy (Rider Reading).<\/p>\n He also did his part for literacy by providing instant gold every time an interview was requested.<\/p>\n Again, we refer to a line of work that entails scrapping and clawing along the line of scrimmage.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s fun,\u201d Johnson said with a smile. \u201cI like it. I think you survive longer if you like it. If you don\u2019t like it, it almost gets worse, so you\u2019ve got to embrace it and enjoy it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to hit the guy in front of me harder than he\u2019s going to hit me. I think it boils down to not just doing it once. It comes down to who can do it over and over and repeatedly do it.<\/p>\n \u201cThankfully, I\u2019ve been one of the guys who can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Or there\u2019s this \u2014 extracted from an interview conducted during my first month as the team\u2019s resident Senior Journalist (translation: old) and Roughrider Historian (really old).<\/p>\n \u201cWeek in and week out, you have to game-plan for me,\u201d Johnson said in March of 2023<\/a>. \u201cIf you don\u2019t, I\u2019m going to wreck the game. If you leave me one-on-one more than you double-team me, I\u2019ll wreck the game, and that still goes.\u201d<\/p>\n