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Samuel Thomassin and Hugo Richard are accustomed to success on the football field and the Université Laval Rouge et Or standouts are hoping to bring that winning culture to the Alouettes.
They are among 50-odd players attending the team’s rookie camp, which winds up Friday at Molson Stadium and they are both expected to stick around for the main training camp when it gets underway on Sunday.
Rouge et Or stars set sights on transition to CFL with AlouettesBack to video
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When they were at Laval, Thomassin and Richard lost only five games over four seasons. They reached the Vanier Cup game in each of the past three years, winning the national title in 2016 and 2018.
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Thomassin, who was one of three players selected by the Alouettes in the second round of this year’s CFL draft — the Als didn’t have a first-round pick — believes that his time at Laval provided him with an excellent foundation for a pro career.
“At Laval, we have some of the best offensive-line coaches,” said Thomassin. “I feel I have the tools to make the progression with the good coaches I had at Laval. A lot of people compare us to a pro program, but we’ve been lucky to have stability with the coaching staff.”
The 6-foot-6, 330-pound Thomassin impressed Alouettes general manager Kavis Reed with his play at the East-West Shrine game and he signed Thomassin to a three-year contract a few hours before the rookie camp opened on Wednesday.
“It was my first exposure to him and I saw a young man with a big frame, but also with a great technical background. They do a good job (at Laval) and I expect him to come in and compete for a roster spot. We love his size, we love his girth, we love his tenacity. He has the ability to get to the second level and with our run game and the running backs we have, we need someone who can get to that second level.”
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“I’m a guy who works really hard and listens to my coaches,” said Thomassin. “As soon as I get a coaching point, I try to apply it to my game. I think the things I need to work on are technical. I need to improve the speed on my footwork and play with some leverage. There’s always something you can work on to be better.”
Thomassin has his eyes on the starting right guard spot that became vacant when Philippe Gagnon, another Rouge et Or product, signed with Ottawa as a free agent.
While Thomassin has a good shot at a starting spot, Richard faces an uphill battle to earn a spot on the 45-man roster. That’s because he’s a quarterback and it’s a position that is normally filled by an American.
Richard, who passed for more than 10,000 yards at Laval, said a familiarity with Canadian football will be to his advantage, but he knows that he faces an adjustment to the pro level.
“From what I’ve been told, the speed of the game will be the biggest adjustment,” said Richard. “The guys are faster, the guys are better, stronger. It’s going to be faster on my end and I have to keep up with the timing. There’s less allowance for error because there are a lot of quarterbacks at camp and it’s important to get it right the first time.”
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