{"id":836396,"date":"2026-07-30T18:00:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/836396\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T18:00:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:00:31","slug":"im-just-dad-to-them-hardrick-treasures-post-practice-time-with-his-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/836396\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m just Dad to them\u201d: Hardrick treasures post-practice time with his kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

When members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders ran wind sprints to conclude Tuesday\u2019s practice, the list of runners included Hardrick, Hardrick, Hardrick and Hardrick.<\/p>\n

The three children of offensive tackle Jermarcus Hardrick joined Dad on the field for a few precious minutes before the players and coaches immersed themselves in post-workout meetings leading up to Saturday\u2019s CFL road game against the Edmonton Elks.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoshi\u2019s kids belong to the team,\u201d Head Coach Corey Mace said<\/a> after Jermarcus Jr. (age 13), Santana (who turns 11 next week) and Lyla (who turns 10 in August) embraced their proud father following Wednesday\u2019s practice \u2014 one day after the aforementioned wind sprints.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to see them out here. They come to pretty much every practice when they\u2019re in town. They\u2019re always welcome on the field and in the facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just his family. There are multiple others as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The engagement level peaks when the Hardricks, whose full-time home is in Lincoln, Neb., are in Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love bringing my kids to work,\u201d said Samantha Hardrick\u2019s husband, a University of Nebraska Cornhuskers alumnus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the family atmosphere we have here. There\u2019s an open-door policy for families. The coaches have made it that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes it a lot easier for me. I\u2019m not looking over my shoulder. I know my kids are probably loud and doing their own thing, but I love it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad we can let them have fun and be a part of it. They call the guys uncles, so it\u2019s a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The timing of the on-field interactions is also something to cherish.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou forget about the plays you messed up (in practice),\u201d Hardrick said with a smile. \u201cYou\u2019re like, \u2018I\u2019ve still got to take care of home.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can be mad about the plays you mess up, but then you see your daughters and your son run up to you and you think, \u2018I want to be better for football, but they\u2019re still happy.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do care if we lose, but they don\u2019t care what my grade is or what happened or what people say. I\u2019m just Dad to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardrick\u2019s kids were also on stage in Winnipeg on Nov. 13, when he was named the CFL\u2019s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman \u2014 three days before helping Saskatchewan win the Grey Cup.<\/a><\/p>\n

ROSTER NOTES<\/p>\n

Daniel Johnson is a candidate to start at left guard in place of Zack Fry, who suffered a knee injury in Thursday\u2019s 36-34 home-field loss to Edmonton.<\/p>\n

Johnson made one start at left guard and four starts at left tackle in 2025.<\/p>\n

He has been the Roughriders\u2019 sixth offensive lineman in each of the past five games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to be a part of the offence and be trusted by our team and our coaches,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s awesome to just be out there and play for your boys \u2014 play for your brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Change is in the works for the front five for the first time this season. Saskatchewan has started Fry, Hardrick, Payton Collins (left tackle), Logan Ferland (centre) and Jacob Brammer (right tackle) for each of the first six games, compiling a 4-2 record.<\/p>\n

A final decision has yet to be made on who will play left guard in the anticipated absence of Fry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve rolled out a few things during the week,\u201d Mace said on Wednesday. \u201cYesterday we looked a little bit different. We\u2019ll review the tape today and make a decision moving forward for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

There will also be discussions about the status of two-time 1,000-yard receiver Samuel Emilus, who has yet to practise this week due to a foot injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re pretty hopeful,\u201d Mace said. \u201cWe should see him out here tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders ran wind sprints to conclude Tuesday\u2019s practice, the list of runners included…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":836397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-836396","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\/836396","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=836396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}