Meet the Roughriders: The 'Bonecrusher' eyes broadcasting career

Derek Dennis is one of the CFL's biggest personalities on and off the field and he's hoping that will help him find a career in journalism.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders offensive lineman was one of the most prized free agents earlier this year after winning the offensive lineman of the year award in 2016. In the end, he surprised some people by picking Saskatchewan over several other offers.

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For a closer look, Dennis talked to CBC Saskatchewan's Peter Mills about why he ultimately chose Saskatchewan, his journalistic aspirations, and a surprising connection to LL Cool J.

You were the lineman of the year and coming from one of the best teams in history. Why did you choose Saskatchewan?

I was just at a point in my career I felt like I made myself a certain echelon type of player and I was just looking to be compensated as such.

No knock against Calgary, I loved it, they're a great team, Huf (Calgary general manager John Hufnagel) is a great guy, it just felt like it was time for me to move on.

Out of the options I had, I felt like this was probably the best place for me to be.

How did the expectations about Rider Nation compare to what it's been like now?

It's a little different. It's a very passionate fan base.

No knock on any other fan base, but no team's fans are as passionate about what we do. It's understandable. They have high expectations ... it's our job, it's what we get paid for: to come out here and make sure the fans get what they paid for.

Have you found that you've been criticized more since winning lineman of the year?

Yeah, of course. It's always that way ... In my personal opinion, I don't feel like I'm playing any different from last year. Just a different system, different players I'm playing with, just trying to learn everybody.

I could always play a little better.

I felt the same way last year. I felt like I didn't play that good but you saw the end result.

Is that tough when you play a good game but people still say, 'You didn't play as strong as you should have'?

You gotta know the game of football to really understand what's really going on out there.

A lot of people just go off what they hear on TSN or what they hear the media writing about ... I mean, I understand.

I don't get mad. Sometimes I tweet stuff, but I just tweet it just for fun. I'm not emotional. I don't take offense to anything anybody says about me. Even when people say outlandish things to me, I just laugh it off.

You have experience with numerous NFL teams. In some cases you were signed, released, signed again, put on the practice roster. What's that like as a young athlete?

It's rough.

A lot of guys, they see on TV the Cam Newtons, they see the Tom Bradys, the guys who make tons of money who get all the endorsements and they think that's how everybody's life is. But really that's only the top 10 per cent of NFL players, man.

Everybody else is bottom of the roster, vet minimum [salary] and not making millions of dollars. And you gotta prepare yourself for essentially the cruel reality that it's a business... I learned that early on.

My hardest lesson was my first time being cut was on national television [on Hard Knocks].

You have a degree in journalism. What was it like to be a student-athlete?

It's hard. A lot of people don't understand that.

Regular students used to always knock on us because they're like, 'Oh you're going to school for free.'

But you don't understand it's not really for free ... our first and biggest obligation is to perform as an athlete. That's the reason we have the scholarship. If you can't perform as an athlete, a lot of people don't know those scholarships are one-year renewable.

They're not an automatic four years. So you could have a scholarship one year and then the coach decides, man, maybe this isn't the place for you and they don't renew your scholarship and now you gotta pay for school. Your mornings start at 4 or 5 a.m. and you go until 10, 11, 12 at night. And it's year-round.

You don't ever get to go home to see your family, you're in summer school ... it's a full-time job for us.

Do you plan on being a journalist after your football career?

That's the goal, man. I actually wanted to do journalism since I was maybe nine or 10 years old.

Rapid-fire questions

A lot of players complain about the numbers on their roster sheets. Are you 6-3, 345 pounds?

I'm not 6-3. I'm actually 6-4. I am 345 pounds, though.

Is it tough to find a suit?

Very hard. Nowadays the style is the fitted look ... I have broad shoulders but my top is not as big as my bottom. So normally my suit jacket would be like a 56, but my pants would be like a 44.

Normally I gotta mix and match or try to make sure they got a tailor on deck and I'll have to pay extra money to try and slim things down for me so I don't look like a jumpsuit (laughs).

Have you ever updated your own Wikipedia page?

No! I never even knew like that Wikipedia was actually fake until maybe like my junior year of college ... as I got older and I started looking at it more, I'm like 'Damn, why is all the info starting to change like really fast?' People were like, 'Man, you can go on there and update your own info.'

You have the green hair now. How many teams have you dyed your hair for?

Only two. I've actually been dying my hair since 2012.

When I was on Hard Knocks, I bleached my beard and my hair. I only did it because I knew the vets like to do rookie hair cuts so I figured why don't I just do something crazy to my head before they could do it and they would just leave me alone.

So I showed up to training camp with like blonde patches on my head but it stuck. It kind of became my football alter ego look.

Who is the better Queens rapper: Nas, Action Bronson, LL Cool J?

Nas. Hands down. Actually, my mom went to high school with LL Cool J. So I kind of knew him younger, like growing up.

But Nas, hands down.

Better Queens hip-hop group: A Tribe Called Quest, Mobb Deep, or Run DMC?

I'm going to go with Run DMC just because that's Hollis, Queens. I got a lot of family from Hollis so I actually know some of them guys.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

The Roughriders (4-4) take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (7-2) at Mosaic Stadium on Sunday. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. CST.