As much as A.J. Ouellette enjoys receiving handoffs, his favourite carries now take place away from the football field.<\/p>\n
The Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 featured running back loves holding his newborn daughter, Isla Jo.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a different mindset,\u201d Ouellette said on Thursday during an online media conference from Toronto, where he took part in CFL-related media and promotional sessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know how fast it would click in, but as soon as I was holding her, it\u2019s no longer, \u2018I\u2019m playing this game because I love playing.\u2019 I\u2019m playing this game so I can take care of my daughter \u2014 so I can be the best running back to make sure I\u2019m playing again next year and making a paycheque.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it softens me up a little bit. I\u2019ve done some ballerina moves in the living room while trying to rock her to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ouellette and his girlfriend, Caitlyn Amaral, welcomed Isla Jo on March 6.<\/p>\n
As much as first-time fatherhood is a blessing and a joy, some major adjustments are warranted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole sleep thing is getting to me,\u201d Ouellette said with a laugh. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a trick that you need a sleep schedule before having kids, but I feel like people have got to start training years in advance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mind you, Ouellette did receive a sneak preview late in the 2025 season, while living with quarterback Trevor Harris, his wife Kalie, and their four children \u2014\u00a0including little Livian, who was born on March of last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was the craziness of having three more on top of a newborn,\u201d Ouellette marvelled. \u201cThey were like, \u2018Just take it all in.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m talking to all the guys here (in Toronto) from different teams and the (kids) change so fast. Take all the pictures and videos you can.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, this is the easy part of fatherhood, because when I put her down on the couch, she cannot move. They said, \u2018Just wait until she\u2019s running around the house.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
If she takes after her father, she will also be running over everything.<\/p>\n
The hard-nosed approach, labelled by Ouellette as \u201cthree yards and a bucket of blood,\u201d helped him rank second among the league\u2019s rushers during the Roughriders\u2019 Grey Cup championship season of 2025.<\/p>\n
The 5-foot-8, 208-pounder gained 1,222 yards along the ground, averaging 4.9 yards per carry and scoring eight touchdowns. He added another major \u2014 giving him a team-leading nine \u2014 on a reception during a banner all-around season.<\/p>\n
Ouellette carried his excellence into the playoffs, beginning with a 113-yard rushing performance in the Western Final against the visiting B.C. Lions.<\/p>\n
He added 83 more yards, including a four-yard TD run, in a 25-17 Grey Cup victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Nov. 16 in Winnipeg. His 32-yard reception was a key play in the touchdown drive that ended with him crossing the goal line.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter we won the Grey Cup, we celebrated for 24 hours and then I felt like every celebration after that was kind of forced,\u201d Ouellette noted. \u201cIn my mind, it was still, \u2018We have a game coming up. It\u2019s just not on the schedule.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember driving home (to Ohio) with Trevor and being like, \u2018Dude, there should be a game. The season can\u2019t be over already.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I have a good mindset in terms of stacking years on top of it. I just hope I can look back and enjoy it one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
As much as Ouellette does appreciate everything that transpired in 2025, his current mindset revolves around looking ahead. Main training camp is to begin on May 10 at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing I am looking forward to in training camp is the mindset of the team,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re no longer the Grey Cup champions. We\u2019re Saskatchewan Roughriders, 2026, and we\u2019ve got to show up day in and day out to win the day, win the battle, and win the week when it gets to the opponent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no looking forward to the next Grey Cup. It is, \u2018Win your battle that week.\u2019 You should get everybody\u2019s best, because this is the CFL. It\u2019s professional football and every team is good. Every team can win on a given day.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you\u2019ve got to show up and get your wins. You need to stack them early and often to set yourself up in a good position.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As much as A.J. Ouellette enjoys receiving handoffs, his favourite carries now take place away from the football…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-579540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}