Daniel Johnson’s road led from a refugee camp to the Riders in Saskatchewan

Daniel Johnson isn’t originally from Canada, though he’s spent most of his life here.

The offensive lineman was born in Kenya, where he spent some time in a refugee camp. His family moved to Canada when he was just a year old, but he said he heard stories about life in Kenya from his two older brothers.

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“My brother told me he remembered helping my dad build a house,” Johnson said. “He was young and passing out the straw to build a house, and I was like ‘Man, these guys really lived a different life than I did.’ Having the best big brothers in the world, it’s amazing.”

Growing up in London, Ont., football wasn’t his first love when it came to sports. He grew up playing basketball, and one of his brothers plays basketball professionally in Germany.

“I think my whole family started off as big basketball guys, but we went to a football-heavy school. I wanted to play basketball growing up, but my coach said ‘You could really go down south playing football,’ and I thought I could go down south playing basketball as well,” Johnson said.

“The more I played (football), the more the school poured into me, the more I fell in love with the game.”

Johnson eventually moved south to play football and started at Kent State. After a few seasons there, he decided to make the move to Purdue to play with the Boilermakers.

“I wanted to get up and play against better competition and bigger schools. Purdue believed in me right away and that’s why I chose them,” Johnson said.

At Purdue, his offensive line coach was Marcus Johnson, the younger brother of former Saskatchewan Roughrider and Green Zone gameday analyst Belton Johnson.

“During the season he was telling me he drives to Regina, and now I’m here. Hopefully I’ll get to see him if he comes visit his brother. It’s a small world,” Johnson said.

One of the major hurdles Johnson has had to overcome has been injuries. In his draft year in 2024, he was dealing with a torn ACL.

“There were a lot of things with my knee. It started off with an ACL, and with ACLs there’s a lot of things that come with it. It was tough taking a lot of steps back, because you just want to go out and play,” Johnson said.

Despite being plagued by injuries in his career, the Riders elected to take him in round five (41st overall) in the 2024 CFL Draft.

“If people believe in you, you have to prove them right and prove yourself right,” Johnson said.

“For this team to believe in me, I owe them something for believing in me and confirming my belief I am still that player.”

Now, in his second season, Johnson will start his second straight game this week for the Riders as the left tackle. Saskatchewan will be in Toronto to take on the Argonauts on Friday. Kickoff for the game is set for 5:30 p.m., and the Green Zone pregame show begins at 3:30 p.m.

“It’s awesome to have my team support, and my coaches as well. We are a bunch of brothers out here, so wherever they need me is where I want to be,” Johnson said.

While a lot of the Riders’ roster remains the same as last week, there are a couple of changes.

Wide receiver Sam Emilus has been added to the one-game injured list due to a foot injury, while running back Thomas Betrand-Hudon returns to the lineup after missing last week’s win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats due to a groin injury.

Joe Robustelli will start this week in place of Emilus. In order to bring Robustelli onto the roster, running back Ka’Deem Carey was moved back to the practice roster. Carey was cut by the Argos after training camp before signing with the Riders.