Marc-Antoine Dequoy (born September 15, 1994) 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 ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

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 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

Montreal Carabins The Montréal Carabins () are the men's and women's athletic teams that represent the Université de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Teams play at the CEPSUM Stadium and at Winter Stadium (Montreal), l'aréna du CEPSUM, located at the Uni ...

Early life

Dequoy grew up in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

on Île-Bizard and began playing organized football at the age of five. He played many positions in youth clubs but mainly safety. He attended

Cégep André-Laurendeau The Cégep André-Laurendeau is a public French-language college in the LaSalle borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It primarily serves the southwestern areas of the city of Montreal It is recognized for its high-quality programs. It is the o ...

in 2012 but did not play football, citing a lack of passion. The following year, he transferred to

Montmorency College Montmorency may refer to: Literature * Montmorency (character), the protagonist of the Montmorency series * Montmorency (novel), 2003, the first novel in the Montmorency series * Montmorency, a fictional dog in Jerome K. Jerome's novel ''Three ...

and played five games after trying out for the team. He did not play in 2014 due to a broken left collarbone. In 2015, Dequoy also did not play due to being ruled ineligibile.

University career

Dequoy enrolled at the

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

and moved up the depth chart on the Carabins football team in 2016. He mainly played on special teams and had 9.5 tackles while appearing in five games. In 2017, Dequoy was a Quebec conference (RSEQ) all-star and a second-team all-star in

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 ...

after contributing 29.5 tackles and three interceptions in addition to one tackle for loss and four pass breakups in seven games. He was named RSEQ defensive player of the year in 2018. Dequoy was a USports first-team all-Canadian in 2019, after leading the team with 37.5 tackles and three interceptions in eight games. He returned an interception 85 yards for a touchdown versus Laval in the

Dunsmore Cup The Dunsmore Cup () is a Canadian sports trophy, presented annually to the winner of the university-level football competition conducted by Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ), the governing body for all student sports in the province of ...

. During the 55th Vanier Cup championship loss against

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

in November 2019, he suffered a broken right forearm during a tackle. Dequoy was invited to the

East–West Shrine Bowl The East–West Shrine Bowl is a postseason college football all-star game that has been played annually since 1925; through January 2019, it was known as the East–West Shrine Game. The game is sponsored by the fraternal group Shriners Inter ...

but could not participate due to the injury. During his pro day, Dequoy ran a 4.35-second time in the 40-yard dash, the second-fastest for cornerbacks behind

Javelin Guidry Javelin Kajireh Guidry (born August 6, 1998) is an American professional football cornerback. He played college football at Utah. Early life At Cedar Park High School in Texas, Guidry won the Texas State 100 Meter Track Championship with a time ...

, despite suffering from the flu.

Professional career

Green Bay Packers

After going undrafted in the

2020 NFL draft The 2020 NFL draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The ...

, Dequoy was signed by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

on April 26, 2020. He became the first Montreal player to sign with an NFL team on draft weekend and second overall, after

David Foucault David Foucault (born February 7, 1989) is a Canadian professional football offensive lineman for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) football for the Montreal Carabins. He has also ...

in 2014. Dequoy was waived by the Packers on August 15, 2020.

Montreal Alouettes

Dequoy was selected 14th overall by the

in the 2020 CFL draft. He signed with the Alouettes on January 4, 2021. He played in his first professional game on August 14, 2021 against the

Edmonton Elks The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division (CFL), West Division and plays their home games at Commonw ...

. He played in eight regular games during the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

where he had one defensive tackle and eight special teams tackles. On June 23, 2022, Dequoy scored his first career professional touchdown on a 21-yard interception return on an errant

Cody Fajardo Cody Michael Fajardo (born March 29, 1992) is an American professional football quarterback for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Early life Fajardo was born in Brea, California. He played high school football for Servit ...

pass in a game against the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

. He played and started in 17 regular season games, sitting out one due to injury, where he had 38 defensive tackles, four special teams tackles, four interceptions, one forced fumble, and one touchdown.

Personal life

Language and identity

His

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profile is mainly in French and he declares that he is proud of his Quebec identity: After the Alouettes' victory at the

110th Grey Cup The 110th Grey Cup was played to determine the Canadian Football League (CFL) champion for the 2023 CFL season, 2023 season. The game was played on November 19, 2023, at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, between the West ...

, Dequoy, in an interview with a journalist from the French-speaking television channel

Réseau des sports Réseau des sports (RDS) is a Television in Canada, Canadian French language Discretionary service, discretionary specialty channel oriented towards sports and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by CTV Special ...

(RDS) expressed himself with great feeling, denouncing the lack of French in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

and also the lack of respect of the English-speaking community of Canada and the television channel

The Sports Network The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language discretionary sports specialty channel owned by the Sports Network Inc., a subsidiary of CTV Specialty Television, which is also a joint venture of Bell Media (70%), also owned by BCE ...

(TSN) towards his Montreal team. His remarks were amplified by PQ leader

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (; often identified by his initials: PSPP; born February 17, 1977) is a Canadian lawyer, media personality, and politician. He has been the leader of the Parti Québécois since October 9, 2020. He represents Camille ...

on X, who also denounced “a unilingual English Grey Cup”. In his subsequent English interview on TSN, he thanked head coach

Jason Maas Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek mythology, mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece is featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was m ...

for emphasizing that the players learn French and embrace Quebec culture..

References

External links

Montreal Alouettes bioMontreal Carabins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dequoy, Marc-Antoine 1994 births Living people Canadian football people from Montreal American football cornerbacks Montreal Carabins football players Green Bay Packers players Montreal Alouettes players Big Brother Canada contestants Players of American football from Quebec Canadian football defensive backs Players of Canadian football from Quebec