Andre Durie (born July 27, 1981) is a former professional

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

slotback Slotback (SB), also called slot receiver, is an offensive position in gridiron football responsible for covering a ''slot,'' the playing area between the⁣⁣ offensive tackle and the wide receiver. A player who lines up between those two pl ...

who played for the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL) from 2007 to 2016. He signed with the Argonauts on May 10, 2007, as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

after he went undrafted in the 2007 CFL Draft. He played

CIS football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athlet ...

for the

York Lions The York Lions is the official name for the athletic varsity teams that represent York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's varsity teams compete in the Ontario University Athletics conference of U Sports and, where applicable ...

College career

Durie played

for

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. He started playing for the

in 2003 after he set a junior Ontario Varsity Football League record with 22

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s in a season. In 2004, Durie had a record-breaking season starting eight games at running back and set an

Ontario University Athletics Ontario University Athletics (OUA; ) is a regional membership association for Canadian universities which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providing contact information, schedules, results, ...

record for single game rushing yards with 349 and single-season York records for rushing yards (1,367), scoring (96 points), and rushing touchdowns (15), and a career York record for rushing touchdowns (23). Durie also tied a CIS single-game record with six touchdowns to lead York to a 55–33 win over Waterloo. In the second game of the 2005 season he suffered nerve damage in his knee after a botched juke on third down and sat out the remainder of 2005 and 2006 seasons.

Professional career

After overcoming injuries that hurt his CIS career, Durie impressed the Argonauts management at the league evaluation camp and he appeared in 5 games for the Argos in 2007. After suffering another injury setback which has cost Durie more than half of the 2008 season he returned to action on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their position. Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

and as back-up

. In

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, Durie dressed for all 18 games including weeks 1-5 as backup running back. In week 6 he made the switch to

and has remained in that role since, although still a backup. In this same season, he attained a 1000-yard kickoff return season, becoming the fourth Argonaut to do so, with 43 returns for 1033 yards. In the 2010 season, Durie won a job in the starting lineup as a RB/SB, but sees most of his touches as a receiver. In 2012, Durie won his first Grey Cup, defeating the Calgary Stampeders, scoring a touchdown in the 35–22 win. Durie had his best receiving season of his career during the 2013 CFL season, setting career highs in receptions with 92 and yards with 986. Following the 2013 season, Durie re-signed with the Argos through the 2016 CFL season, a deal that was reportedly worth around $140,000 annually.

Career statistics

References

External links

Toronto Argonauts profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Durie, Andre Living people 1981 births Black Canadian players of Canadian football Black Canadian sportsmen Canadian football running backs Players of Canadian football from Ontario Canadian football people from Mississauga Toronto Argonauts players York Lions football players