I don’t know but I’ve been told… First-round pick Dumoulin Duguay leans on military experience on the gridiron

The Ticats surprised some analysts when they used their first-round pick in Tuesday night’s CFL National Draft to pick left tackle Nathaniel Dumoulin-Duguay from Laval.

But GM Ed Hervey explained Dumoulin-Duguay was the player still on the board at the No. 7 pick who was most ready to step into a CFL lineup this season. Dumoulin-Duguay played only 20- games at Laval because of the cancelled COVID season and a high-ankle sprain he incurred in 2021 but he won a Vanier Cup ring in 2022, and dominated the CFL Combine last month as the most versatile offensive lineman there. He led all O-linemen in the 40-yard dash, broad jump, cone drill and shuttle drill. And was top three in the vertical jump and bench press.

Dumoulin-Duguay spoke with Ticats Today on the Ticats Audio Network and our YouTube channel, about his brief military career,  his early struggles with school, his football versatility, what he can bring to the Ticats and the fact that he has ADHD. From that discussion we have culled out the Big Four questions and answers. For the full interview go to Ticats.ca or our YouTube channel.

Before you went on to your very successful career at Laval you played football in Rimouski at a CEGEP, Quebec’s equivalent of a junior college. But you left there to go into the military in 2018. That’s not a common pathway for a pro athlete. Would you mind detailing that journey?

“I didn’t pass all of my classes at CEGEP so the next year the coaches said they were going to give me a last chance at school…and it didn’t work, again. So I had a chat with my family and we decided I that should try to go into the army. Yes, it was a family decision but at that time I didn’t really have a choice.

“I did my basic training and it went pretty well. I really liked it. And after my basic training which was three months I had to do six months of English classes in the military because my English wasn’t very good. During that time, I found a team in the town where the classes were and started playing for them.  The coach there told me that he was looking at himself in me and I was a very good player and he convinced me to go back to CEGEP and play my last year.

“I signed up for the military for four years. But there’s paper called a VR that you sign if you want to be released from the army, and you have to explain what you’re going to do in the future. You give this to your Major and he decides if you can quit the army or they don’t accept it and you just stay in. So he told me that I had good reason (a return to school) and he accepted that I could quit.”

You said during the CFL combine that basic training was just like we see in the movies…only worse.

“Oh yeah, it’s a hard day. You start off at 4 a .m.  You get inspection every morning at 7 a .m. And during the day you do a lot of things. So you learn about the military way. You’re doing gym, you’re learning some history of the army, you’re learning how to handle a gun, you’re learning how to shoot. So there’s a lot of classes, and the day  that started at 4 a.m. doesn’t end until 11 p.m.”

Wow. It sounds like you won’t have any trouble with the Ticat training camp grind, then. There’s a lot of discipline involved in what you encountered in the army. Do you think that helps with football? And did it help you when you eventually got to Laval?

“Yeah, for sure. I think that during that time with the army, I learned to have a strong mindset, a strong mental outlook, and I got stronger in my physical abilities too. I think it helped me a lot when I was at Laval.  My family and I made the right decision.

‘Like I said, I think the military and (Strength and Conditioning coach) Guillaume Rioux at Laval does a great job in the physical part of the game and everything like that. I think that all of those years of training and running helped me a lot during the combine. tI hink that I’ll be a physical player and an aggressive player in the CFL. And I can be versatile.”

You’ll be coming into a team which prides itself on excellent strength and depth of Canadians in the middle of the offensive line. What you do you know about David Beard, Brandon Revenberg and Coulter Woodmansey?

“I actually don’t know that much about that group. To be honest, I didn’t think that Hamilton was going to pick me, so it was a big surprise for me. In three or four mock drafts I was going to Calgary, so maybe my head was there.  But I’m really really happy to be coming to Hamilton. All my friends are telling me that there’s a great group of O-linemen there. So it’s going to be a great experience with them. I’m going to learn really fast, and I think they are there to help me too. I think I’m versatile so that could help me a lot during camp.”