The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have signed American quarterback J’Mar Smith.
The 24-year-old Smith signed as an undrafted NFL free agent with the New England Patriots and spent time with the team in 2020.
The six-foot-one, 218-pound native of Meridian, Mississippi played 44 games for Louisiana Tech University over four seasons from 2016-2019. He completed 59.3 percent of his passes for 9,523 yards with 51 touchdowns and 21 interceptions. Smith added 326 carries for 856 yards and 15 rushing touchdowns with the Bulldogs throughout his NCAA career.
Smith was named Conference-USA Offensive Player of the Year in his senior season and earned first team All-Conference USA honours. He received four Conference-USA Commissioner’s Honour Roll selections and was selected as the DXL Frisco Bowl Offensive Player of the Game in 2017.
The multi-sport athlete was a catcher at Meridian High School. Smith was selected in the 24th round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres, but decided against signing a contract to focus on football.
Hamilton has also signed offensive lineman Travis Vornkahl. The 25-year-old Vornkahl attended training camp with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2019 before stints with three NFL teams, including the Cleveland Browns (2019), Washington Football Team (2019) and Indianapolis Colts (2019-2020).
The six-foot-six, 298-pound native of Sealy, Texas played 32 games at both guard and tackle for West Texas A&M University over three seasons (2016-2018). He was named to the second team All-Lone Star Conference in 2018 and received All-Conference Honourable Mentions in 2016 and 2017 with the Buffaloes.
