William Langlais

William Langlais (born April 23, 1990) is a Canadian former professional football fullback. He played for ten seasons for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and won a Grey Cup championship in 2018.

Amateur career

Langlais played high school football at École secondaire Mont-Bleu for Les Panthères. He first played college football at Cégep Beauce-Appalaches as a linebacker from 2009 to 2011 before transferring to the Université de Sherbrooke. While playing for the Sherbrooke Vert et Or, he played as a linebacker in 2012 and a defensive end in 2013, before moving to the offensive side as a running back in his final year. During his only year as a running back at the collegiate level, Langlais rushed only four times for 14 yards, adding five catches for 44 yards. He was selected by the Calgary Stampeders in the third round of the 2015 CFL draft with the 27th overall pick, and was signed by Calgary on May 28, 2015. Langlais played in 17 regular season games for the Stampeders in this rookie season where he had 11 special teams tackles.

In 2016, Langlais appeared in 16 games for the Stampeders, where he had one punt return for 0 yards and 17 special teams tackles. In a later game against the Tiger-Cats, on October 13, 2017, Langlais recovered a fumble following a blocked punt and returned the ball for his first professional touchdown. He appeared in all 18 games for the first time in his career and finished the season with three catches for 30 yards, a kickoff return for 21 yards, and 16 special teams tackles.

In a pandemic-shortened 2021 season, Langlais played in 12 regular season games and had one catch for five yards and four special teams tackles. He had 10 kickoff returns for 162 yards, 60 special teams tackles, one punt for 50 yards, and a touchdown return from a blocked punt.