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The Snap April 11, 2017

TMI!: with colourful Riders’ o-lineman Derek Dennis

Johany Jutras/CFL.ca

CFL.ca
@kcostabile1

His hair is just as colourful as his personality..

When I met with Dennis at Mark’s CFL Week his hair was a shade of green, not exactly Rider green, he said he’s still working on getting the right colour for when the season starts.

TMI Derek Dennis

His personality reflects his hair too – colourful and fun. He says that’s one thing that the Riders wanted from the o-lineman when they signed him this off season – to stay true to himself. So, his hair will be crazy colours, he’ll continue to chirp other players on Twitter and tell stories about how he once hit someone so hard that the other guy farted (no word of a lie, he told this story during Mark’s CFL Week Live.. Fast forward to the 23 minute mark to hear the story!)

Did you know he used to do ballet as a kid? I asked him if he still had some moves and he said no. (Maybe it’s like riding a bike and he just has to try??)

And who is his favourite person to chirp in the league? I think you can probably guess.. 🍋

I have something in common with Derek Dennis.. seriously, I do.

Both Dennis and I went to school for journalism and if he wasn’t a football player, he’d probably doing something in that field. Maybe he’d be a writer for CFL.ca or TheSnap.ca if he decided that he didn’t feel like playing football and becoming 2016’s Most Outstanding Lineman.

Get to know a bit more about Derek Dennis in this week’s TMI!

Kristina Costabile: Tell me something no one know about you.

Derek Dennis: Something most people don’t know is that as a kid I used to do ballet. That’s kind of part of the reason I’m such a big guy and light on my feet. My mom was a dancer in high school. She had a scholarship to go to Julliard so dancing was her thing. As a kid, she used to take me to dance school and do ballet, do classical do jazz and all that stuff.”

KC: What’s the most embarrassing song on your iPhone?

DD: Gold by Kiiara

KC: If you could have dinner for anyone living or dead, who would it be?

DD: It would probably be my idol growing up, Shaquille O’Neal.

Who do you think would win in a dance battle between the two?

KC: What do you like to do in your free time?

DD: Play video games. Normally that’s all I really do is work out and play video games. I’m actually a big movie head so I watch movies all day, every day. I grew up reading comic books so I’m a big Marvel movie head. I like all the Marvel movies, I actually just watched Logan the other day.

KC: If you weren’t a football player, what would you be doing?

DD: I’d probably be playing basketball. That’s what I grew up playing. I didn’t stay playing football until my senior year of high school. Football is kind of my second sport. I’d probably be playing basketball. If I wasn’t doing that I’d be doing media stuff. I went to college for journalism.

KC: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are three things that you would take with you?

DD: A Philly Cheese Steak, a nice pair of sneakers and a hat.

KC: What’s on your pregame playlist?

DD: Kodak Black. Young Jeezy. Jay Z. I listen to older East Coast rap like Biggie, Jay Z, stuff like that. Just to put me in a certain mind frame. Being a New Yorker it’s just one of those things that gets me gassed up before a game.

KC: Who is your favourite person to chirp in the league?

DD: Shawn Lemon. Hands down. It’s one of those things where Lemon does so much talking. He follows every team’s account, he knows every team’s transactions, he follows all the players. He chirps everybody. He talks to so much, it’s one of those things where I kind of made it my mission to try to bring him down a peg every time he wants to peak his head out.