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Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 running back A.J. Ouellette did not undergo a viral body transformation<\/a> in the offseason \u2014 but he has gained dad strength.<\/p>\n Isla Jo was born on Friday, March 6 as Ouellette and his girlfriend, Caitlyn Amaral, welcomed a daughter into the world.<\/p>\n \u201cI was expecting the worst when it comes to having a baby sleeping, and\u00a0she\u2019s been awesome. I\u2019m getting up at night and I\u2019m doing all that stuff,\u00a0but Caitlyn\u2019s been super woman, doing more than probably what she is cleared to do,\u201d Ouellette told 3DownNation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been extra motivation for me. Watching Caitlyn handle her and the way that she\u2019s transformed into a mother,\u00a0I no longer play this game because I just love playing it. I still love playing it,\u00a0but now I\u2019m playing it to make sure I have a paycheque for those two.\u201d<\/p>\n Ouellette has been enjoying fatherhood and embracing being a girl dad. He\u2019s been doing ballerina twirls and gymnastic spins with Isla in his hands. He called his daughter a \u201cchamp\u201d and plans to let her know when she\u2019s older how \u201ceasy\u201d it has been to handle her as a baby. Isla might even have a knock-on effect for him on the football field.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that dad strength \u2014 I\u2019m waiting for it to kick in, as long as I don\u2019t get the low back pain \u2014 but more passion,\u00a0I get to play for one more person. Adding another person to my circle is an extra level of commitment I have,\u201d Ouellette said.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy: Sammie DeMedeiros\/SammieDePhotography.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to say calm me down, but everybody was so glad when I announced that I was having a girl. Coaches were like, \u2018Good, you need to chill. You need to not be so psycho.\u2019 It brings it around to my childhood, what I want to give her,\u00a0make sure I have the opportunity to give her what she needs and deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n The 30-year-old has already transitioned from bachelor life to family mode. He won\u2019t live in a trailer at a camp ground on the prairies anymore. Instead, the Ouellette family found a house located on Regina\u2019s south side with a fenced-in backyard. That extra space is much-needed as there are two dogs and one cat to go along with the couple and their daughter.<\/p>\n \u201cMy camping days are over, there\u2019s no more camper,\u201d Ouellette said. \u201cKind of feel like a full family now, like a dad \u2014 I\u2019m not camping, playing football.\u201d<\/p>\n Ouellette signed a one-year extension in February<\/a>, but told 3DownNation he wanted \u201ca couple years\u201d on his contract<\/a>. The five-foot-eight, 208-pound all-around back plans to play until the passion for football leaves him. In an ideal scenario, he would three-peat with the Riders and retire after the 2027 season.<\/p>\n \u201cYou win three in Sask, I think I have to retire,\u201d Ouellette said.<\/p>\n No. 45 is taking it year-to-year in his football career and day-to-day in his life as a father.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/56dd3e96-278f-4e50-ac1f-f8d227fa5091.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/3downnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/3DownNation-Wordmark-v3-3.svg\"\/)
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Sammie DeMedeiros\/SammieDePhotography. Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 running back A.J. Ouellette did not undergo a viral body transformation in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,180012,49,228288,48,7028,521,522,520,68627,228289,228290,10599,45083,55574,24373,4400,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-603682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-3down","9":"tag-3downnation","10":"tag-a-j-ouellette","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-caitlyn-amaral","13":"tag-canada","14":"tag-canadian","15":"tag-canadian-football-league","16":"tag-canadianfootballleague","17":"tag-cfl","18":"tag-grey-cup","19":"tag-isla","20":"tag-isla-jo","21":"tag-regina","22":"tag-riders","23":"tag-roughriders","24":"tag-saskatchewan","25":"tag-saskatchewan-roughriders","26":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603682","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=603682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}