Jermarcus Hardrick


Jermarcus "Yoshi" Hardrick is an offensive lineman for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. He won the 107th Grey Cup with the Bombers, defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-12 in 2019. Hardrick was named a CFL West All-star during the 2017 season, and played college football for Nebraska. Hardrick started a trend for home games at IG Field when the lineman, weighing,jumped into the stands following a touchdown during the 2016 season, the crowd celebration would become known as the "Hardrick Hop" or "Hardrick Leap". Following the Grey Cup victory with Winnipeg, Hardrick signed a one-year extension to play with the team in the 2020 season.

Personal

Hardrick was born and grew up in the small town of Courtland, Mississippi, population 350. The town was very small and did not have a lot of opportunity for its residents, the town had no paved roads, aside from the highway, and most residents lived in trailers. His birth father went to prison when Hardrick was three, he had fathered 17 children in Courtland with different women, and was rarely seen in his life. Hardrick's best friend growing up was a boy name Mario Lewis, because the two were always together, people began calling Hardrick "Yoshi", a reference to characters from the Super Mario World game, the two would later find out they were half-brothers. He met his wife Samantha at the University of Nebraska where she was competing as a track athlete, together they have three children.