Ticats sign three, suspend five on cutdown day

Photo courtesy: Ticats.ca

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats were busy on Monday as they navigated the CFL’s mid-training camp roster cutdown day.

The team signed American offensive lineman Jordan Murray, American defensive end Jalen Bates, and national defensive lineman Marshall Esokpunwu. All three players have been added to the suspended list while they complete their quarantine periods.

Murray, 24, most recently helped the Generals win a championship in The Spring League in 2020. He also attended rookie minicamp with the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks in 2019.

The six-foot-nine, 325-pound native of Coppell, Texas played 44 games over four seasons at the University of North Texas (2015-18) where he saw time at both tackle and guard throughout his collegiate career.

Bates, 24, most recently played 12 games in his senior season at Colorado State University (2019), registering 46 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one quarterback sack and two pass deflections.

The six-foot-four, 246-pound native of Kaplan, Louisiana spent the four previous seasons at Arizona State University (2015-18) where he played in 18 games, registering 31 total tackles, six tackles for loss, one quarterback sack, one pass deflection and one forced fumble for the Sun Devils.

Esokpunwu, 25, played 24 games over five seasons at Mount Allison University (2015-20). The six-foot-five, 240-pound native of Brampton, Ontario registered 48 total tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 quarterback sacks and two forced fumbles in his career with the Mounties.

Hamilton also suspended American receiver Emmanuel Butler and Global defensive end Valentin Gnahoua and released the following players.

American offensive lineman Jaelin Fisher
American defensive back Maurice Carnell IV
American defensive back Jomon Dotson