May 4, 2016

Prospect Profile: Vaillancourt set to join new football family

Johany Jutras/CFL.ca

TORONTO — Weighing 10 pounds and nine ounces at birth, Charles Vaillancourt says he was always a big kid growing up.

“Gentle giant, that’s for sure,” said Vaillancourt. “I was a gentle boy, but don’t push it.”

Now at 6-foot-4, 329 pounds, gentle probably isn’t the right word. He’s one of the the biggest players, physically, going into this year’s CFL Draft, and would likely be one of the draft’s biggest catches.

The Coaticook, Que. native is one of three Laval offensive linemen projected to go in the first round from a program with a penchant of producing proven pro talent at the position.

With the draft fast approaching, Vaillancourt, an only child, talks about his brothers on the field and the prospect of joining a new football family on May 10:

 

“It’s a big family,” Vaillancourt said of his Laval teammates, who he chose to join despite being recruited by Sherbrooke, where he played his football growing up. “We do everything together. When we get to the end we get like three to four suppers a week just to get together and have fun and talk about the season.”

Now he has a chance to be drafted alongside linemates Jason Lauzon-Seguin and Philippe Gagnon, as the three Laval linemen are projected to go high in the draft. And while CFL.ca’s Justin Dunk has Vaillancourt going third in his recent 2016 CFL Mock Draft and Oklahoma’s Josiah St. John going first, Vaillancourt is very much in the running to go first overall.

Either way, he’s about to join his new brothers on the field.

“I’ve been working out and making so many sacrifices for football,” said Vaillancourt. “I don’t see my family, my friends from back home a lot because of football.

“I’ve always been an only child, but I feel like I have a bunch of brothers when I play football. It’s a special family for me and I love that.”

“Being drafted would be everything to me.”

The CFL Draft will be held May 10.