Editor’s Note: With this story, Chris O’Leary, formerly of the Toronto Star and Edmonton Journal, debuts as a Senior Writer on CFL.ca and associated platforms, delivering exclusive content for CFL fans.

O’Leary met up with now-Montreal Alouettes quarterback Darian Durant in Regina as he readies to bid farewell to Saskatchewan.

“I still feel the same way. I’ve done a lot for this community, a lot for this league, a lot for this organization and I guess my take on it is for it to get personal and shots taken, ability shots and things like that, (things) could have been handled (better).” – Darian Durant

REGINA — He touched down in Regina on Thursday, his Harbour Landing home full of 11 years’ worth of memories. By Monday it was full of boxes.

What Darian Durant wanted to be a quick pack job gave way at points to timeouts for nostalgia. His Saskatchewan Roughriders jerseys, the green t-shirts and sweats, the mementos, they all brought him back for a few seconds, a piece-by-piece flashback of what’s almost been a third of his life in a place that when he was a kid, he’d never heard of. A place that he never knew could bring him so much joy and eventually, so much pain.

Nothing about this trip — the days spent packing, his role in Mark’s CFL Week — will be easy for him.

“You’re talking about 11 years that I spent here. Some the full off-season, being here year-round in the community. It’s definitely tough to leave,” Durant says. He’s sitting at a table in the lounge at the Double Tree hotel on Monday afternoon, dressed in all black with a matching throwback Vancouver Grizzlies hat atop his head.

The lounge is quiet, but the few people having their lunch in there double take as they pass him on their way in, or stretch their necks tall from their seats to get a look at him.

“You envision spending your whole career in one place,” he says. “To go home and pack up and know that you’re probably never going to come back is tough.”

Monday marked two months and a week from the day the quarterback was traded to the Montreal Alouettes for a pair of draft picks. With a new three-year deal in Montreal, Durant says he’s excited about the future. All of that green gear that’s been sealed away in boxes is quickly being replaced by the Alouettes’ red, blue, silver and white.

“I have my jersey. I have hats. I’m an Alouette now. I’m excited about finally being able to put on some pads and take a picture in that jersey,” he says.

But first, he’s got to get through this week. He and Saskatchewan have to say their goodbyes.

“I look at it like that a little bit,” he says. “I guess the fans, it’ll be their last time seeing me here in a public setting. It’ll be good to say goodbye. I think it’ll be fun, just hanging out with the guys from around the league. It’s such a small league, everyone’s pretty close.”

Durant’s 11 years mark some of the most successful for a Riders’ player in team history. He’s played in four Grey Cups and been a part of two of Saskatchewan’s four championship teams, first as a third-stringer in 2007 and then as the starter in that picture-perfect 2013 win at Mosaic Stadium. Few fan bases in all of sports have suffered longer and harder than the Riders’. So when you quarterback that team to the top of the Canadian football mountain, it matters.

“That’s the thing. Be a part of something that people will never forget,” Durant says. “You can look back and smile and not have any regrets. Of course we wish that we would have had more success and that this and that didn’t happen, but at the end of the day…” He lists off some teammates from his era: Weston Dressler, John Chick, Andy Fantuz, Rob Bagg. “We did so much for this place.”

There’s a corny old joke about Saskatchewan, that you can watch your dog run away for three days. The highs of winning are still there for Durant, but they’re fused now with the lows and that punchline, his end with the Riders so clearly on the horizon for much of last year’s five-win season. There might be time for fun, but none of this will be easy.

On Sunday, the Riders gave local media a tour of the brand-new Mosaic Stadium. The pictures surpass the 1,000-word rate and they paint a jaw-droppingly beautiful portrait of what a $278 million facility looks like.

“Have I been in it? No,” Durant says.

Did he see the pictures?

“Uh, no,” he answers with a nervous laugh.

“Not interested, to be honest with you. It’s…at the end of the day, I’ve played Division I college football, been in some amazing stadiums. I’m sure it is nice. It’s state of the art, it’s brand new. There’s … I’m OK.”

He thinks about how the franchise’s Grey Cup total doubled on his watch. He mentions the gaps between championships. From 1966 to 1989, then to 2007. Then the Riders’ stretch between 2007 and 2013.

“To be a part of a run like that, to help, if you ask myself and ‘Dress and Chick and Andy and all the guys, Robbie, who made that run with us, we feel like that’s the stadium that we built. It wouldn’t be possible without the success that we had here in that time.

“When I look back I can just smile and say I’ve been a part of history. I’ve had my banner on the side of the stadium, which is just unheard of and to be up there with the greatest of all time, Ron Lancaster, it’s amazing in itself. It goes to show how the people around here feel about me and they understand I dedicated my life to making the Riders a successful organization and I was successful at that.”

And now he feels like a part of that is gone.

“When you’ve put so much into helping it become what it is and you can’t even enjoy it…I’m not interested in it,” he says. “My only goal is to come back here in October and get that W.”

Durant’s motivation against his former team is obvious and his stance on his former head coach and GM remains unchanged. When Jones told the Regina Leader-Post in November that Durant was “moderately successful” last season, Durant fired back after he’d signed his new deal with the Als.

“I still feel the same way,” Durant says. “I’ve done a lot for this community, a lot for this league, a lot for this organization and I guess my take on it is for it to get personal and shots taken, ability shots and things like that, (things) could have been handled (better).

“We’re deciding to go a different way. Thank you for everything you’ve done for the organization and let’s part ways. He started taking shots and started saying things about me and I just didn’t think that was professional. My view on it hasn’t changed at all.”

Jones spoke in more detail on Durant’s career and value in Saskatchewan on CFL.ca’s The Waggle podcast last week.

“Darian was a stalwart to this organization for years and years. He did some very good things for the organization and certainly he’s going to be revered for years and he’s going to be a hall of famer as a Saskatchewan Roughrider,” Jones said. “Not trying to take anything away, but at this point and time it was time to do something different.”

While adjusting to the trade, he’s leaned on his younger brother, Justin, a linebacker in the NFL who played for three other teams before getting a second stint with the Dallas Cowboys. When Durant looks around the CFL, he only sees one other player that he might be able to relate to.

“The only guy that can understand what I’m going through is maybe Ricky Ray. He’d been somewhere for so long and had to leave,” Durant says of Ray’s 2011 trade from Edmonton to Toronto.

Maybe this week Durant and Ray will talk. In the meantime, Durant’s been giving and receiving goodbyes. He said he was approached at a gas station by a fan in the last few days and he’s been making his rounds to some of his favourite restaurants. He’s a regular at an Opa, and always stopped in at Thai Garden Family Restaurant. His local, a Canadian Brewhouse in walking distance from his home, was on that list too.

“That’s definitely tough,” he says, “saying goodbyes.”