Canadian placekicker Lirim Hajrullahu has been named the South Division Player of the Week in The Spring League (TSL).
The 31-year-old went a perfect five-for-five on field goals on Saturday afternoon at Rice Stadium, tying a league single-game record. His toughest kick came from 59 yards out, setting a new league record for longest field goal.
Hajrullahu is playing in TSL in hopes of earning another NFL opportunity. He was released by the Carolina Panthers in late March after signing a futures contract in January.
The Los Angeles Rams cut Hajrullahu at the end of training camp in August last year. He was by far the best statistical kicker, but the Rams chose to start the season with Sam Sloman who LA selected in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL draft. Hajrullahu went 10-for-13 in Los Angeles scrimmages while Sloman hit 8-of-13.
Hajrullahu played in all 18 regular season games with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2019, converting 47-of-55 field goal attempts (85.5 percent) and 26-of-28 single convert attempts (92.8 percent), while averaging 43.1 yards per punt on 106 attempts.
The five-foot-eleven, 205-pounder tied for first in the CFL in field goals made (47), third in scoring (162 points) and sixth in field goal percentage. Hajrullahu earned division all-star honours for the first time in Hamilton and second time in his career (2016 and 2019).
Born in Kosovo, Hajrullahu and his family fled the region when he was a nine-year-old as Serbian forces attacked their town. More than a million ethnic Albanians were displaced and 11,000 were killed in a war that lasted 18 months in the late 1990s.
The family ended up in a refugee camp in neighbouring Macedonia. The family bypassed a chance to immigrate to the U.S. and opted for Canada instead, ultimately settling in the St. Catharines area.
Hajrullahu is currently a free agent on both sides of the border. TSL is playing a six-week season using two hub cities.
