Jack Cassar (born January 19, 1997) is a Canadian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

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). He is a two-time

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

champion after winning with the Argonauts in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

University career

Cassar 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, Canada's governing body for university sports. Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athleti ...

for the Carleton Ravens from 2016 to 2019. He played in 31 regular season games where he had 153.5 tackles, eight sacks, and one interception. He was named a

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body for universities in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country and four regional conferences: Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Résea ...

First Team All-Canadian and the OUA Stand-up Defensive Player of the Year in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

as he played in seven games where he had 44 tackles, four sacks, seven tackles for a loss, and one fumble recovery.

Professional career

Cassar was drafted in the second round, 11th overall, in the 2020 CFL Draft by the

, but did not play in 2020 due to the cancellation of the 2020 CFL season. He then signed with the team on March 25, 2021. Cassar made the team following training camp and played in his first career professional game on August 7, 2021, against the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...

. However, he suffered a hip injury in that game and was placed on the team's six-game injured list. He returned to play on October 6, 2021, against the

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

, where he earned his first professional start at middle linebacker, in just his second professional game. Cassar played in eight regular season games in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

where he had two defensive tackles and nine special teams tackles. He also made his post-season debut that year in the team's East Final loss to the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

. In

, Cassar played in 12 regular season games, starting in one, where he had 11 defensive tackles, a team-leading 19 special teams tackles, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. He played in both of the team's post-season games, including his first

appearance, where he recorded three special teams tackles in the 109th Grey Cup victory over the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

. In the 2023 season, Cassar played in all 18 regular season games where he had two defensive tackles, 14 special teams tackles, and three fumble recoveries. In

, Cassar tied for the league lead in special teams tackles with 22, where he played in 18 regular season games and also recorded six defensive tackles. He played in all three post-season games, including the

111th Grey Cup The 111th Grey Cup was played to decide the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the 2024 CFL season, 2024 season. The game was played on November 17, 2024, at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Toronto Argonauts defea ...

where he had one fumble recovery in the Argonauts' 41–24 victory over the

Personal life

Cassar first played

gridiron football Gridiron football ( ),"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

where he attended school from grade 5 to grade 8.

References

External links

Toronto Argonauts bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassar, Jack 1997 births Living people Canadian football linebackers Carleton Ravens football players Players of Canadian football from Ontario Canadian football people from Mississauga Toronto Argonauts players