Carabins fullback rebounds from surgery
It’s easy to measure an athlete’s height and weight. What’s less discernible, however, is the amount of heart he might possess; the mettle he can rely on to overcome obstacles and challenges.
“Obstacles, I see them as a challenge,” said Alexandre Dupuis, a fullback with Université de Montréal Carabins. “When something’s in your way, you’ve got to pass through it. Then you do what you can to be where you want to be.
“I don’t think the things that are in your way are going to dictate the things that are going to happen to you,” said the Blainville native, who turns 24 this Sunday.
Dupuis, a kinesiology major, missed most of the 2012 season when he suffered not one, but two knee injuries within weeks — an improbable and inexplicable scenario. The 6-foot-4, 245-pounder injured his right knee at summer camp. Then, in the Carabins’ second game, he tore the meniscus along with the medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments in his left knee.
Dupuis underwent surgery on both knees at the beginning of November that year, but returned for training camp last season — he missed the spring session — and was selected a conference all-star.
“When (an injury) happens at that moment, you tell yourself that you’re going to be okay,” Dupuis explained. “You walk to the sideline and figure you’re going to be okay. Then the doctor turned my knee. Right after that, he told me my season was over.
“I couldn’t believe it. I had worked so hard in the offseason to get ready and was looking to become a starter. It really tore me apart.”
Occasionally, stories have happy endings.
On Wednesday, Dupuis was one of 42 players who attended the Canadian Football League’s regional combine at Concordia University. Short- ly after 3 p.m., he learned he was one of five being invited to the league’s national combine in Toronto, the three-day exercise beginning on Friday.
Dupuis recorded the second-highest amount of reps, 23, in the 225-pound bench-press drill. He also ran a 5.15-second 40-yard dash.
By advancing to the next stage, Dupuis’s dream of a professional career remains alive. The league’s Canadian college draft will be held May 13. Should Dupuis not be selected, he becomes a free agent and likely would return to university, where he has one year of eligibility remaining.
“He’s a leader on our team,” Carabins head coach Danny Maciocia said of Dupuis recently. “I believe he can contribute on special teams in the CFL right away. Also, it’s sometimes hard to find good players at the fullback position.
“He’s a guy that likes to take on challenges and never lets the situation discourage him.”
While Dupuis never considered his injuries to be career-threatening, he nonetheless undertook an arduous six-month rehabilitation process. Indeed, it was easily eight or nine months until he was football ready.
Prior to last season, he spent the summer working with former Alouettes receiver Danny Desriveaux, a Carabins assistant, on a weekly basis, improving his route-running skills. And Dupuis worked like a trojan this winter, preparing for the regional workout.
Coincidentally, the Als lost Patrick Lavoie, a fullback and tight-end, to the Ottawa RedBlacks during last December’s expansion draft. Predictably, Dupuis has been compared to Lavoie.
This marks the second year the CFL has conducted a series of regional combines. Five players were invited from Edmonton, last Monday, to the national evaluation camp. The third and final regional combine takes place Thursday, in Toronto.
“We want to leave no stone unturned,” said Ryan Janzen, the CFL’s director of football operations. “We want to find the next tier. Some guys, that maybe should have been invited to the main combine, maybe they were just missed.
“This gives them a chance to be seen.”
Each of the nine CFL teams were represented at Concordia. Each team’s personnel had input on which players would advance to the next stage this weekend.
Noel Thorpe, the Als’ defensive coordinator and assistant head coach, called the regional combine extremely valuable.
“Anytime you can be exposed to more talent of CIS calibre players, it bodes well for us as coaching staffs in evaluating these kids and being able to see them firsthand, not just on film,” Thorpe explained. “It’s a trickle-down effect, because there’s only so many spots. Kids can get missed. This gives them an opportunity to be seen and exposed to other CFL staffs.”
While times, strength and skills are important, Thorpe said he observes their footwork along with nuances that aren’t always visible on game film.
The CFL draft might be no more important to any team than the RedBlacks, entering the league and faced with stocking a roster from scratch. Ottawa selected numerous non-imports in the expansion draft, but will rely heavily on the college selection, having been granted nine picks.
“Other teams already had their inventory of Canadians,” said RedBlacks’ general manager Marcel Desjardins. “Are these guys maybe second-tier guys? Yeah, in a sense, absolutely. But that doesn’t mean they’re not going to be able to play in the CFL. It’s incumbent upon all teams to do their homework.”
Given a second chance at the game he loves, Dupuis learned to cherish every moment he was on the field last season. While he was injured, he attended every practice and team meeting.
“Sometimes you come to the middle of the season. You’re getting cold or the team’s not in the playoffs,” he said. “Last year wasn’t like that. I saw other people on the sideline and remembered (what it was like for) myself. I was happy to be in the rain, in the cold, playing football.”
Joining Dupuis at the national combine are Concordia linebacker Travis Bent; Laval running-back Guillaume G. Bourassa; Sherbrooke receiver Francis Lapointe, and Saint Mary’s defensive-lineman Nigel Romick.