Former Aggie does well in Grey Cup
Chris Cooley, Jarret Bush and Kevin Curtis are not the only Aggie stars earning their living by playing professional football.
John Chick, a four-year starter at defensive end and linebacker for USU, was a big part of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ recent run to a Grey Cup championship in the Canadian Football League. Chick had three sacks in playoff wins over Calgary and British Columbia. Then in the Grey Cup finals against Winnipeg, he had three tackles, a forced fumble and two passes broken up in a 23-19 win.
“The first game was Calgary at home, it was the first home playoff game we’ve had in Saskatchewan in a long time,” Chick said. “Then we went to British Columbia and we were underdogs. Beat them, then went to the Grey Cup and beat Winnipeg. The whole team played great. Everyone believed. We had a new head coach this year, Kent Austin. He was actually a quarterback for Saskatchewan the last time they won a Grey Cup in 1989.”
The Canadian game is similar to American football, with the main differences being the Canadian field is significantly larger, there are more men on the field, and there are only three downs.
“Instead of 11 players there’s 12,” Chick said. “The field is longer by quite a bit. Each end zone is 20 yards deep. There’s a 55-yard line, so that adds another 10 yards to the field. It’s also a wider field.”
Chick said it suits him just fine that Canadian football is more passing-oriented.
“For my position, I like it because for the most part, they throw more often. I kind of get a chance to tee off a little. A lot of the technical rules are the same, except for the three downs, which I really like. I like both kinds of football. With the Canadian game, it takes some of the advantage of the offense away. It seems easy to me to get 10 yards with four downs now.”
In 11 regular-season games (eight starts) for Saskatchewan this year, Chick racked up five sacks, had one tackle for loss and ran a fumble back 70 yards for a touchdown. Chick’s ratcheted-up play on the post-season run to the Grey Cup was reminiscent of his last season in the Aggie uniform, playing defensive end under new head coach Brent Guy, when he had 12.5 sacks, 19 tackles for loss and was named first-team all-WAC.
“When coach Guy came in, he brought in a real good defensive package, especially for the ends,” Chick said. “Some of the packages I was in I was kind of a sit and wait guy. The last year I was with coach Guy, my job was to let loose and get the quarterback.”
After graduating with 162 career tackles, 39 tackles for loss and 23.5 sacks, Chick went to Houston as an undrafted rookie free agent. He was released during the preseason and signed with Saskatchewan in December of 2006.
Guy said he was extremely proud of what Chick has accomplished in the CFL, mainly because Chick is diabetic and wears a pump during games.
“He wears it on his back,” Guy said. “He has a constant monitoring of the insulin in his body. I don’t think people realize that about him, and that’s amazing.”
Chick said he still follows the Aggies, mainly by looking at news tickers to see how they are doing and keeping in touch with his friends. He said he had some advice for the current Aggies as they work this off-season to improve their record again next season: “The number one thing when I was there, a lot of the guys I knew it seemed like it was hard to stay positive. When there’s negativity in the locker room, it produces bad things.”
Chick said the Saskatchewan Roughriders were underdogs most of this year.
“That was in the media. But inside the locker room everyone believed we could win. That started with the head coach and everyone bought into what he said. It showed in practice, it showed in meetings and it showed in games. You’re going to have bad experiences to learn from. We had a three-game losing streak and some losses that shouldn’t have been losses.”
Several USU players besides Chick have found success in the CFL, such as Jerome Dennis, who plays for the British Columbia team Chick and the Roughriders beat en route to the Grey Cup, or safety Mark Estelle, a Montreal Alouette.
Former Aggie quarterback Anthony Calvillo plays with Estelle for Montreal. Calvillo is the CFL’s career leader in passing yardage. More former WAC players in the CFL include Chick’s Saskatchewan teammate Yo Murphy from the University of Idaho and Boise State’s career passing leader Ryan Dinwiddie of Winnipeg.
Although Guy said he hopes Chick’s fine performance in the Canadian league earns him another look from NFL teams, the easy-going Chick said he and his wife Catherine, a Utah State grad, are content.
“I’m tired of moving my family around, and we’re happy where we are,” Chick said. “It’s a great community for my wife and kids. I’m not really pursuing anything.”
Maybe one reason Chick is so happy to be in Saskatchewan is the great Canadian fans.
“The fans in Saskatchewan are the craziest of all fans,” Chick said. “They bleed green here. They’re throughout all of Canada. Saskatchewan Roughriders is the only team in Saskatchewan, so everyone from Saskatchewan is Roughrider fans. Most of our games we’d go to you’d notice the Saskatchewan fans just as much as the opposing team fans.”
-graham.terry@aggiemail.usu.edu