Lemar Durant (born August 20, 1992) is a former

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 ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

who played seven seasons in 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 attended

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

, where he played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Simon Fraser Clan The SFU Red Leafs or Simon Fraser Red Leafs teams (formerly the Simon Fraser Clan) represent Simon Fraser University (SFU), which is located in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The Red Leafs are members of NCAA Division II and are the only Ca ...

. He was drafted by 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 ...

in the second round of the

2015 CFL Draft The 2015 CFL Draft took place on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, at 8:00 PM ET on TSN2 and RDS2. 62 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadian Universities across the country, as well as Canadian players playing in the NCAA. For the fi ...

. Durant has also been a member of the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

and

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 ...

, and

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 ...

Early career

Durant played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

at Centennial Secondary School. During his senior year, as his team's top receiver, Durant was asked to switch to the

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

position to fill in for the team's quarterback, who had suffered a season ending injury. Over seven games that year, he completed seven

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 ...

passes and ran for 985 yards and an additional 16 touchdowns. For his performance as a senior, Durant was named the Coquitlam Sports Wall of Fame’s male high school athlete of the year in 2009. He was also awarded the Canadian High School football Provincial MVP for his performance on the field that same year. A dual sport athlete, Durant also played basketball at Centennial, averaging 32 points per game. After graduating from high school in 2010, Durant, who is a dual USA/Canadian citizen attended the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and prim ...

where he played for the Wolf Pack as a wide receiver. He transferred to

, where he played from 2012 to 2014. Durant recorded 175 receptions for 2,392 yards and 28 touchdowns during his time with the SFU Clan. In October 2012, Durant tied the

Great Northwest Athletic Conference The Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. It has historically operated in the northwestern United States, but a ...

single-game record for receiving touchdowns after catching 12 passes for 228 yards and four touchdowns against the Dixie State Red Storm. He finished his first year at Simon Fraser with 17 touchdowns and a conference record 93 catches, for which he was named a first-team conference all-star. Durant was again named an all-star in his final year after recording 55 catches for 685 yards and four touchdowns.

Professional career

Calgary Stampeders

Durant attended the

CFL Combine The CFL Combine (formerly known as the Evaluation Camp or E-Camp) is a three-day program in which athletes from Canadian universities and Canadians in the NCAA are scouted by general managers, coaches and scouts of the Canadian Football League ( ...

and posted a 4.55 second 40-yard dash, 36-inch vertical jump, and 26 bench press reps. He declared eligibility for the

2015 NFL draft The 2015 NFL draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football, football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park ...

.. Both the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

and the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

offered him tryouts, but he was eventually signed by the

. The CFL Scouting Bureau ranked Durant eighth among the draft class in their final rankings. Durant was selected in the second round of the

by the Calgary Stampeders with the 18th overall pick. After recording 85 yards on five catches in the final pre-season game, Durant remained on the team into the regular season. Durant made his CFL debut on July 18, 2015 against 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 ...

, catching one pass for 19 yards. He played in 13 games during the 2015 season, catching 12 passes for 170 yards and three touchdowns. He played in 15 games in 2016, catching 35 passes for 402 yards and one touchdown. In 2018, the Stampeders won the

106th Grey Cup The 106th Grey Cup (branded as the 106th Grey Cup presented by Shaw for sponsorship reasons) was the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship game for the 2018 season. It was played on November 25, 2018, between the Ottawa Redblacks and the C ...

over the

27–16 where Durant was awarded the

Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian The Dick Suderman Trophy () for the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian is awarded annually to the Canadian player deemed to have the best performance in the Grey Cup game, the championship of the Canadian Football League. This award is presented bef ...

after recording four receptions for 30 yards and one touchdown and 22 yards rushing. With his contract expiring in the 2019 offseason, Durant finished his Stampeder career having played in 51 games, recording 102 receptions for 1280 yards and eight touchdowns.

BC Lions

On February 12, 2019, Durant signed with his hometown

. His first year in BC proved to be a breakout season as Durant set career highs in receptions (57), yards (810) and touchdowns (5) in only 15 games for the Lions. His season was cut short due to a foot injury he sustained in Week 17 of the season. Nevertheless, Durant was the team selection for Leo's Most Outstanding Canadian award. He signed a contract extension with the Lions through the 2022 season on December 21, 2020. He played in just eight 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 ...

, due to injuries and a shortened season, where he had 24 receptions for 243 yards and no touchdowns. Durant was reportedly set to earn $200,000 in 2022 with the Lions and was released on January 21, 2022.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

On January 31, 2022, it was announced that Durant had signed with the

. Durant was placed on the six-game injured reserve to start the 2022 season. He ended up missing seven games in 2022, playing in 11 matches and catching only 12 passes for 112 yards with one touchdown. Following the season he was not re-signed by the Ti-Cats and became a free agent on February 14, 2023.

Ottawa Redblacks

On February 17, 2023 Durant signed a one-year contract with the

. On May 11, 2023, the Redblacks announced that Durant had retired from professional football. Durant finished his career having played seven seasons for three different teams. He played in 85 regular season games and caught 195 passes for 2,465 yards with 14 touchdowns.

Personal life

Durant was born to Frank and Rebecca Durant and grew up in

Coquitlam Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the List of cities in British Columbia, sixth-largest city in the province, with an estimated population of 174,248 in 2024, and one of th ...

References

External links

Hamilton Tiger-Cats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durant, Lemar 1992 births Living people American football wide receivers Canadian football wide receivers Black Canadian players of American football Canadian players of American football Black Canadian sportsmen Nevada Wolf Pack football players Simon Fraser Red Leafs football players Calgary Stampeders players Players of Canadian football from British Columbia Canadian football people from Vancouver BC Lions players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players