Eric Starczala (born August 6, 1996) is a Canadian professional football

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...

for the

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Starting ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

(CFL). He played

U Sports football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports (formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport). Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athletic conf ...

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Well ...

. He has also been a member of the

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

of the CFL.

Biography

Starczala attended Jacob Hespeler Secondary School in

Cambridge, Ontario Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand and Speed rivers. The city had a population of 138,479 as of the 2021 census. Along with Kitchener and Waterloo, Cambridge ...

. He was first a member of the

Guelph Gryphons football The Guelph Gryphons football team represents the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario in the sport of Canadian football in the Ontario University Athletics conference of U Sports. The Guelph Gryphons football team has been in continuous operati ...

team from 2014 to 2018. However, he did not play in 2014. He was selected by the

of the

(CFL) in the seventh round, with the 62nd overall pick, of the

2019 CFL draft The 2019 CFL Draft took place on May 2, 2019 at 8:00 pm ET and was broadcast on TSN and RDS. 73 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadian universities, as well as Canadian players playing in the United States on NCAA or ...

. He officially signed with the team on May 16, 2019. Starczala was cut before the start of the

2019 CFL season The 2019 CFL season was the 66th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 62nd Canadian Football League season. The regular season began on June 13 and concluded with the playing of the 107th Grey Cup in Calgary on November ...

, and returned to Guelph for his sixth season of U Sports football. After the

2019 U Sports football season The 2019 U Sports football season began on August 23, 2019 with the Concordia Stingers hosting the Montreal Carabins in Montreal, Quebec. The Atlantic University Sport conference started play the following day and the Ontario University Athletics ...

, Starczala signed with the Argonauts again on November 25, 2019. The

2020 CFL season The 2020 CFL season would have been the 67th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it would have been the 63rd season of the Canadian Football League. It was originally scheduled to begin on June 11; on April 7, the start of the s ...

was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. He was later released by the Argonauts on July 28, 2021 before the start of the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

. Starczala was signed by the

of the CFL on January 3, 2022. He was moved to the practice roster on June 5, and was released on October 30. He later re-signed with the Redblacks on November 21, 2022. Starczala was moved between the practice roster and active roster many times during the 2023 season. Overall, he dressed in three games for the Redblacks that year.

References

External links

Ottawa Redblacks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starczala, Eric Living people 1996 births Canadian football offensive linemen Guelph Gryphons football players Toronto Argonauts players Ottawa Redblacks players Players of Canadian football from Ontario People from Cambridge, Ontario