Saskatchewan Roughriders' long snapper Jorgen Hus is 36 years old and pondering his football future, whether to continue playing in the CFL.
"I'm on the fence. I got two kids now, and all this. The mortgage business is busy, I'm enjoying that, so we'll see," Hus said on the SportsCage.
"I was training with the guys earlier this morning, I'm always staying in shape and working out. I told the team I'd give them another month and try to make a decision."
Even if Hus is on the fence, he explained the recipe for how long snappers can have long professional careers.
"As long as you keep yourself in shape, I feel I've done that. I've played, I've trained like anybody else, with the guys all winter long," Hus said. "There are guys in the NFL who are 40 years old snapping, so you can do it."
Hus grew up in Saskatoon and didn't decide to pick up a sport until he got to high school.
“I didn't play anything growing up. I got to high school, and my dad was like, 'Son, you got to do something.' I can't even argue this. Okay, what am I gonna do? Is it hockey? I'm a little bit late because all my buddies were playing, they're all really good at it. I felt that was going to be tough to join at that point, so I started football. It was a good start, and it was free. It was at the school, and they said, 'Sure, come on out.' It's halfway through the grade nine season, they put me at cornerback on defence. I got a jersey in the 90s that doesn't even fit, it looks like a dress on me." Hus recalled.
"I go out there, I don't know anything about football. I'm the smallest one on the team, I got run over, and I'm like, 'What's going on? This sucks.' But then quickly, I caught on and started talking to more people, that kept me coming back. Then by grades 10 and 11, I was like, 'There's something here.' By grade 12, I was playing middle linebacker and crushing people, I was having so much fun."
After high school, Hus' football career took him to the Saskatoon Hilltops from 2007 to 2009, then to the Regina Rams from 2010 to 2012. Eventually, he made the jump to the NFL where he spent some time with the St. Louis Rams, Seattle Seahawks, and Kansas City Chiefs from 2013-2015.
Hus detailed the reasons he chose to focus on long snapping for his career.
"It happened in high school, the coach just said, 'If you want to have a long career, then you should learn how to snap.' I really wasn't doing anything at that point. Then once I got to the Hilltops, I actually tore my ACL after my first year, and I focused on snapping because I could snap before I could do anything else,” Hus said.
"I started snapping 100-200 balls a day. I went nuts on it, and I started seeing this coach down in Arizona every winter, sometimes twice a winter. I got invited to his college senior combine after my last year with the Rams. There were 72 NCAA specialists there, and the top six got NFL offers. I had a great weekend and was part of that six."
After his NFL experience, Hus has played in the CFL for the Saskatchewan Roughriders from 2015 to the present.
Initially, the Edmonton Elks selected him in the fourth round, 31st overall during the 2013 CFL Draft. Hus never played for Edmonton and his rights were sent to Saskatchewan on May 11, 2015. In the deal, the Elks received Cory Watson and a second-round pick in the 2016 CFL Draft, while Saskatchewan acquired Hus and a third-round pick in the same draft.
During his time in the CFL, Hus earned the Jake Gaudaur Veterans' Trophy in 2024 and won his first Grey Cup in 2025 when Saskatchewan defeated the Montreal Alouettes 25-17. He played 18 regular season games for the Green and White last year and recorded three special team tackles. When it was his turn to spend time with the Grey Cup, he decided to do so over Christmas.
"It worked out there was a little pocket of time, and it was up in Saskatoon, so I was like, 'Yeah, I'll take it for Christmas,'" Hus explained. "Wake up Christmas morning, come downstairs, it's sitting right beside the tree — pretty good ornament."
