Every Monday afternoon on the SportsCage, join Barney Shynkaruk and members from the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ coaching staff with a breakdown of game match-ups and the very latest from inside the Riders’ locker room.
The guest for the October 20 edition was defensive assistant Jordan Linnen, he shared an interesting tidbit about working in the off-season as an EA Sports Madden motion capture athlete.
“For me, I basically say I'm a washed-up guy that they throw in a suit to do the football movement for the real guys that actually do it. “To the regular peeople, I'm a MoCap athlete, which means you basically get into a really, really tight-fitting suit, it’s not great in my old age, but you get out there and you do all the contact movements and all of the celebrations and all of the presentations for the video games,” Linnen joked on the Sportscage.
"Sometimes it's full-blown contact, we really tackle, we really hit, we really have to drop back, and you get sacked or whatever it is. It's basically doing all the same football movements you do in real football, but in a smaller studio setting that you know usually requires a million takes, unlike football, where you get a little bit of time in between.”
Linnen has been doing this side job with EA Sports since 2016 and always tries to find time when he can for them.
“I do it when I can; schedules are a little hectic,” Linnen explained. “ When I can, it's always good to get back in the suit or I've been able to be on the producing side as well.”
Since Linnen does the motion capture for Madden, the next question that came his way was if he was good at playing the video game.
“Ironically, I'm not at all. I'm more of a Call of Duty guy rather than the football guy,” Linnen explained. “Better at College Football than I'm at Madden, so we'll say that.”
Before Linnen was a coach, he was a defensive back and played for Acadia University from 2008 to 2009. After this time with Acadia, he spent time with the BCFL’s Langley Rams from 2009 to 2012, then finished his collegiate career with the University of Manitoba Bisons from 2013-2014. He spent some time in the CFL with the B.C. Lions on their practice roster from 2011 to 2012. The next CFL team Linnen spent some time with was the Montreal Alouettes in 2015.
When Linnen went into coaching, it was in 2016 for the BCFL’s Langley Rams, then later with Simon Fraser University from 2018 to 2021 as their defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator. Linnen had a guest coach position at the B.C. Lions training camp in 2019, working on both defence and special teams. Following his time with Simon Fraser, the Edmonton Elks hired Linnen to be their running backs coach from 2022 to 2023. The next stop on Linnen's coaching journey was Saskatchewan, where he was hired as a defensive assistant from 2024 to date.
From the current Roughriders players Linnen helps coach, he did not hesitate in pointing out two he thinks can trade cleats for whistles when their careers are done.
“The first name that comes to mind is Jayden Dalke. The way he prepares, the way he brings intel to the group: the linebackers and the DBs. He was a former DB, and even the room as a whole as a defence, he always brings good information. He's always watching film. He sees the game at a higher level than most guys that are in it, and I think he's a guy that will embrace the opportunity to coach when it's all said and done because he loves the game of football,” Linnen said.
“I think another guy that would be a good coach or a great coach, albeit he's a quieter guy, is Rolan Milligan Jr. He sees the game at a high level, but also the way he articulates himself is quite a little bit more reserved. He definitely is a film junkie, and he definitely loves to talk with anyone that's willing to talk ball.”
The Riders host the B.C Lions on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium in the team's final regular season game. Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk, and Wes Cates bring you the pre-game show at 2 p.m. Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 5 p.m. Listen to or watch our comprehensive coverage on the 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
