The Ottawa Redblacks have signed seven American players, including quarterbacks Matt Morrissey and Hajj-Malik Williams. Both passers had stints on the team’s practice roster in 2025, though neither saw any regular-season action.
Morrissey played 13 collegiate games at Eastern Kentucky University in 2024, completing 57 percent of his pass attempts for 2,088 yards, 14 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. He also rushed for 297 and three scores.
The six-foot-four, 229-pound native of Elmhurst, Ill. previously played at Western Illinois University, the University of Northern Iowa, and Trinity Valley Community College. Morrissey threw for 3,663 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions over those stops and scored four times along the ground.
Williams finished his collegiate career at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in 2024 where he threw for 1,941 yards, 19 touchdowns, and five interceptions and carried the ball 161 times for 851 yards and nine scores.
The six-foot-one, 205-pound native of Atlanta, Ga. started his collegiate career at Campbell University, an FCS program located in Buies Creek, N.C., where he played from 2019 to 2023. He threw for 8,200 yards, 58 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions with the Fighting Camels and rushed for 1,590 yards and 23 scores.
The 25-year-old attended rookie minicamp with the Las Vegas Raiders earlier this year but wasn’t signed to a contact.
The Redblacks have also signed running backs Elijah Collins and Marquez Cooper, receivers Robert Lewis and Sam Schnee, and punter Noah Gettman.
Collins spent part of the 2025 season on Ottawa’s practice roster, though he didn’t see any regular-season action. The six-foot, 212-pound native of Detroit, Mich. played collegiately at Michigan State and Oklahoma State, rushing for 1,648 yards and 13 touchdowns over 51 games and earning a third-team All-Big Ten selection in 2019. He also attended training camp with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2024.
Cooper was a collegiate standout at San Diego State, Ball State, and Kent State, rushing for 5,265 yards and 45 touchdowns over 54 collegiate games. The five-foot-eight, 200-pound native of Gaithersburg, Md. was named first-team All-Mountain West in 2024, first-team All-MAC in 2022, and second-team All-MAC in 2021 and 2023.
Gettman played one regular-season game for the Redblacks in 2025, punting six times for a gross average of 50.8 yards. The native of Daytona Beach, Fla. finished his collegiate career at Akron where he registered 61 punts for a gross average of 40.6 yards. He was a member of the Edmonton Elks in 2023, though he didn’t see any regular-season action with the team.
Lewis had a stint on Ottawa’s practice roster in 2025 but didn’t see any regular-season action. The five-foot-ten, 185-pound native of Covington, Ga. played collegiately at Georgia State and Auburn, recording 117 catches for 1,467 yards and 14 touchdowns. The 23-year-old had a stint with the Minnesota Vikings earlier this year but was released near the conclusion of training camp.
Schnee spent most of 2025 on Ottawa’s practice roster but didn’t dress for any regular-season games. The five-foot-ten, 191-pound native of Dubuque, Ia. played collegiately at Northern Iowa where he made 139 receptions for 2,231 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also had an NFL stint with the Tennessee Titans.
The Ottawa Redblacks finished fourth in the East Division standings in 2025 with a 4-14 record, missing the playoffs for the fifth time in the last six seasons. Dru Brown went 2-7 over nine starts at quarterback, throwing for 2,389 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Dustin Crum went 2-4 over six starts, throwing for 1,771 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions.
The Redblacks ranked sixth in net offence, fifth in net defence, and ninth with a turnover differential of minus-16. The club’s leading rusher was William Stanback with 698 yards, leading receiver was Justin Hardy with 1,019 yards, and leading tackler was Adarius Pickett with 84 tackles. Ottawa finished eighth in attendance with average crowds of 18,136, which was a 4.2 percent decrease from the previous year.
