Jason Clermont

Jason Clermont (born May 24, 1978) is a Canadian former professional football slotback who played ten seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the BC Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders. Clermont started his professional career with the Lions after being selected in the 2002 CFL draft. He played amateur football in his hometown of Regina, starting with the Regina Rams junior football club, and continuing with the team after they became affiliated with the University of Regina. While playing university football, Clermont was named an All-Star and All-Canadian, as well as the Most Valuable Player in the Canada West Conference and represented Western Canada as one of only two Canadian players in the East West Shrine Bowl in San Francisco. As a professional, Clermont's honours have included being named the CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie in 2002, Most Outstanding Canadian in 2004 and 2007, as well as the Most Valuable Canadian at the 2004 Grey Cup. Clermont captured a Grey Cup championship with the Lions in 2006. He joined his hometown Roughriders at the start of the 2009 season after being released by the Lions and is now a member of the Regina Sports Hall of Fame as well as the University of Regina Hall of Fame and BC Lions Wall of Fame.

Amateur football

High school Clermont started playing football when he was eight years old, after seeing a minor football team practicing behind his home. He played high school football at Robert Usher Collegiate in his hometown of Regina, Saskatchewan. In 1995, Clermont quarterbacked Usher to a city championship. The Rams won the Canadian Bowl as the nation's junior football champions in 1997 and 1998. In 1997, Clermont scored the winning touchdown in double overtime.

University After the 1998 season, the Rams left the CJFL in favour of affiliation with the University of Regina to play Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) football in the Canada West conference. In 2000, Clermont and the Rams were the runners up in the Vanier Cup championship. During his senior year with the Rams, Clermont was named a Canada West All-Star, and a CIS All-Canadian in addition to being named the Most Outstanding Player in the Canada West conference and the nominee for Hec Creighton Award. He was also selected to participate in the annual East-West Shrine Game at the end of the season. Clermont had similar production in 2003, finishing the season with 615 yards and seven touchdowns.

With the Lions in 2005, Clermont recorded his second 1000-yard season, and caught four touchdown passes. He finished the season with 44 receptions and three touchdowns, while starting 11 games.

In 2007, Clermont caught 86 passes for 1158 yards and 7 touchdowns. He won his second CFL Most Outstanding Canadian award and he was named a CFL All-Star.

Clermont had an injury plagued season in 2008, leading head coach Wally Buono to deem him expendable. As such, on December 3, 2008, the Lions released Clermont and he became a free agent. In August 2016 the BC Lions inducted Clermont into their Wall of Fame.

Saskatchewan Roughriders Clermont signed a contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders on December 12, 2008, finally being afforded the opportunity to join his hometown team. Although fans expected much from Clermont for the 2009 season, his role on offence was limited as he only caught 23 passes for 317 yards and was a healthy scratch for two games. His first touchdown for the Roughriders was scored on November 14, 2010, at the end of the first semifinal game of the season, taking Saskatchewan to a 41-38 victory against the BC Lions in double overtime. Clermont was named the CFL's Outstanding Canadian for the first week of the playoffs after his performance in the Western semi-final.

On April 24, 2012, Clermont retired from the Canadian Football League after a ten-year career that included four Grey Cup appearances and one Grey Cup championship.

CFL career statistics Receiving Regular season Playoffs Year Team Games No. Yards Avg Long TD Games No. Yards Avg Long TD 2002 BC 18 46 735 16.0 41 6 1 2 36 18.0 19 0 2003 BC 15 41 615 15.0 39 7 1 2 13 6.5 9 0 2004 BC 18 83 1,220 14.7 80 7 2 8 131 16.4 36 1 2005 BC 18 78 1,042 13.4 69 4 1 2 37 18.5 20 0 2006 BC 11 44 507 11.5 26 3 2 9 98 10.9 22 0 2007 BC 18 86 1,158 13.5 93 7 1 2 28 14.0 22 0 2008 BC 15 50 640 12.8 36 3 2 6 64 10.7 18 0 2009 SSK 16 23 317 13.8 65 0 2 3 46 15.3 30 0 2010 SSK 18 27 300 11.1 35 0 3 8 115 14.4 32 1 2011 SSK 18 23 232 10.1 25 1 CFL totals 165 501 6,756 13.5 93 38 15 42 570 13.6 36 2