SASKATOON \u2014 Thor Griffith, standing on the field at the appropriately named Griffiths Stadium, recalled a red-letter day in his family\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
He told an inquisitive reporter what it was like to receive a letter of acceptance from Harvard University \u2014 one of the world\u2019s most prestigious institutes of learning \u2014 where he ultimately played football for the Crimson.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom has that letter framed,\u201d the 24-year-old defensive tackle said with a smile after Day 2 of the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 rookie camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a really special moment not only for me, but for my family as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-2, 305-pounder spent three seasons (2021 to 2023) at Harvard, where he earned All-Ivy League recognition, before transferring to Louisville for his senior year.<\/p>\n
Having earned an economics degree at Harvard \u2014 where his secondary major was in Celtic languages and literature \u2014 he attended Louisville as a grad transfer.<\/p>\n
Griffith had entered university after sporting a stratospheric grade-point average at Portsmouth High School in New Hampshire. The highest possible GPA is 4.0. Griffith\u2019s 3.8 score is the equivalent of a percentage grade in the 90 to 92 range.<\/p>\n
His SAT score (1,500) put him in the top two per cent of those who took the test.<\/p>\n
In addition to being an exemplary student, Griffith excelled in three sports (football, wrestling, track and field) in high school. An accomplished shot-putter, he was a state champion and All-American in wrestling in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually got an offer from Brown (University, an Ivy League school) to wrestle there, but then I got the offer from Harvard to play football,\u201d he said. \u201cI love football more and I wanted to go to Harvard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Honestly, though, who would want to wrestle somebody named Thor? Considering that the name evokes images of superheroes, wouldn\u2019t the opponent be defeated mentally before the match even commenced?<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Virginia Beach, I actually did wrestle a kid who was also named Thor,\u201d said Griffith, who won the match.<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan is a natural destination, in light of the fact that Roughriders running back A.J. Ouellette has embraced the Thor persona. In fact, Ouellette has been known to carry a Thor hammer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully I get to share it with him,\u201d Griffith said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Despite being a newcomer to the CFL, he is well-acquainted with the Canadian sports scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played hockey for about 10 years,\u201d Griffith said. \u201cI played mostly in New England, but there would be summer tournaments, so I played in Montreal and I played in Toronto. I even played in The Brick tournament up in Edmonton.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the sport, but I guess I was meant more for football.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mere notion of Griffith playing hockey elicits sympathy for anyone he presumably squelched into the boards. The reality of his hockey past does not correlate with the assumption.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was always small and I played a year up,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m an \u201902 and I played against \u201901s.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of grew after I played hockey. I was a centre and more of a skilled guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the Boston Junior Bruins, Griffith had two goals and five assists in six games at the 2010-11 Brick Invitational. He was in a five-way tie for ninth in the tournament\u2019s scoring race.<\/p>\n
The event\u2019s leading scorer: CCM Chicago\u2019s Cole Caufield, now a 51-goal scorer with the Montreal Canadiens.<\/p>\n
In fifth place: Jack Hughes of the Toronto Bulldogs \u2014 a current New Jersey Devils star who scored the gold-medal-winning goal for the United States in the 2026 Winter Olympics men\u2019s hockey final.<\/p>\n
(Six of the top seven scorers from that tournament are now in the NHL.)<\/p>\n
Tied for 15th in scoring: Griffith\u2019s Junior Bruins teammate, Matt Boldy, who scored 42 goals for the Minnesota Wild this past regular season.<\/p>\n
All of that is preamble to Griffith\u2019s focus on football and eventual arrival in Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n
After completing his NCAA eligibility, he received NFL rookie mini-camp invitations from the New York Giants and Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ended up getting signed by the Seahawks for a couple of days and was cut due to some roster issues,\u201d Griffith said. \u201cI started working in Boston, but I still wanted to play football.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still love the sport and I want to play as long as I possibly can, so I quit working and went back to training full-time.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal was to either play in the UFL or the CFL. The UFL didn\u2019t work out, but then I got the call from the Roughriders \u2026 and I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Griffith is just the third Harvard graduate to sign with Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n
Defensive lineman Tim Fleiszer played in 13 games with the Roughriders over the 2006 and 2007 seasons.<\/p>\n
Regina-born running back Ron Kram tried out for the Green and White in 1968.<\/p>\n
Griffith is a part of another select trio. He is one of only three New Hampshire-born Roughriders players.<\/p>\n
Offensive lineman Andrew Lauderdale (Concord, N.H.) played in 19 games while with Saskatchewan in 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n
Quarterback\/defensive back Dave Sarette (Manchester, N.H.) dressed for 13 games with the Roughriders in 1962. He made one start at quarterback.<\/p>\n
Sarette was the final Roughrider to wear 23 before Ron Lancaster immortalized the now-retired number.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SASKATOON \u2014 Thor Griffith, standing on the field at the appropriately named Griffiths Stadium, recalled a red-letter day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-656264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}