By Joel Gasson

Tearrius George inks deal to stay in Green and White

Dec 13, 2014 | 7:39 AM

The man in the middle of the Roughriders defensive line is sticking around for at least one more season.

The team announced on Friday that veteran Tearrius George has signed a contract extension. As usual, the terms of the deal were not released.

“For me it was a pretty easy decision. I already pretty much knew I wanted to be here and continue to play here,” said George.

At 32 years old, George is starting to run out of time in professional football. No one would have blamed him if he decided to test the open market on Feb. 10 and see just how much money he could have made as a free-agent, especially after he had a career year in 2014 with 37 tackles and 12 sacks, and a second straight West Division All-Star nomination.

Instead, George felt there was nowhere else he wanted to be.

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“It’s a lot of community support. I got people like my landlord Randy, he’s a pretty cool guy. Dwight, Betty, a lot of people in the community that make sure you’re okay. I don’t think you can find that in too many other places,” he said.

Next season will be George’s fifth in Green and White after joining the team as a free agent before the 2011 season. George already sits 11th all-time in Rider history for quarterback sacks with 31 in his career.

The amazing part is that George seems to be getting better with age. Often in football, turning 30 years old is viewed as hitting the down years of a player’s career. For George, that hasn’t been the case.

“I wish I knew the answer to exactly why (George) continues to improve,” said assistant general manager Jeremy O’Day.

O’Day thinks that George could be getting better late in his career because he’s becoming more comfortable with Canadian game and his opponents.

Early on in his time in Saskatchewan, George was often bouncing back-and-forth between playing defensive tackle and defensive end. The last couple of season, that hasn’t been the case. He’s pretty much played exclusively on the inside.

Also helping George’s case right now is a starting defensive line that should all return next season.

“It’s a great thing. We started to mesh well, real good this season, work well with each other and what not. Hopefully we can pick up where we left off coming into this next season,” said George.

As the old saying goes, if it’s not broken, why fix it? That’s appears to be the Riders plan with the defensive line. Only time will tell if it pays off or not.

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