In celebration of his recent Grey Cup win, this month’s Beyond February feature honours one of the greatest players to ever don the purple and gold -
Kurleigh Gittens Jr.
During his four years as a student-athlete at Laurier, he was the OUA Rookie of the Year, a four-time OUA All-Star, a four-time U SPORTS All-Canadian, a two-time team MVP and the OUA Player of the Year. He finished his career with the most regular season receptions in program history (205) and was the OUA record-holder until he was surpassed in 2022 by UW's Gordan Lam, who was playing in his fifth season. Gittens Jr. ranks sixth all-time in U SPORTS.
Gittens Jr. is still the only Canadian university football player to catch more than 200 balls in four seasons. He is the only Laurier football player to be named a first-team All-Star and All-Canadian at two positions (receiver and kick returner) in the same season (2018).
In 2019, the Toronto Argonauts made Gittens Jr. the 23rd overall pick in the CFL Draft. In the past two seasons with the Argos, he has caught 131 passes for 1,706 yards and nine touchdowns. He was also the East Division nominee for Canadian Player of the Year.
Gittens Jr. was one of five Golden Hawks active for the 109th Grey Cup game and seven between the two rosters.
