Elks sign four Canadians and four Americans, suspend four others

Photo: AP/Nati Harnik

The Edmonton Elks have signed eight players — four Canadians and four Americans. The Canadians are long snapper Blaise Barber, defensive back Kenan Clarke, running back Kevin Dubois, and running back Alex Gayle, while the Americans are receiver Shaquille Hill, kicker Caleb Lightbourn, receiver Tremaine Ross, and receiver Christian Saulsberry.

Barber played four seasons of U Sports football at McMaster University, recording 16 tackles. He was part of the OUA championship-winning Marauders in 2019 and was selected to play in the 2022 U Sports East-West Bowl, the annual university all-star showcase game that took place on May 7 in Hamilton.

Clarke was a sixth-round draft pick of the Elks in 2021 who spent three seasons at Cornell University (2018-2021), recording 48 total tackles, one sack, two interceptions, and 10 pass deflections in 19 games.

A five-foot-ten native of Laval, Que., Dubois played at Montmorency College before going to the University of Montreal to compete at the U Sports level. He helped the Carabins win the RSEQ championship in consecutive seasons (2019, 2021) and advance to the Vanier Cup in 2019. Dubois took part in the Eastern Regional Combine before unselected in the 2022 CFL Draft.

Gayle played two seasons with the Edmonton Huskies of the Prairie Football League (2019-2021). The local product recorded 1,264 yards from scrimmage and 15 touchdowns in 17 career regular season games and added 257 yards and three touchdowns in two playoff games last season.

Hill previously attended training camp with Edmonton in 2018 and was signed by the B.C. Lions in 2019. After going unselected in the 2017 NFL Draft, he signed with the Houston Texans in 2017 and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2018. The California native is a former All-Big Sky Conference selection who made 178 catches for 2,818 yards and 23 touchdowns.

Lightbourn played last season with the Idaho Vandals, appearing in all seven games and averaging 40.2 yards per punt and 2,141 yards on kickoffs with 25 touchbacks. He played his previous three seasons at Nebraska (2016-2018), recording 6,062 yards on punts and 3,345 yards on kickoffs in 33 games.

Ross spent three seasons (2017-19) with the University of Charleston. The Detroit, Mich. native had 784 yards receiving and seven touchdowns over 30 games for the Cougars.

Saulsberry was an All-Gulf South Conference selection in both of his years (2018, 2019) at West Alabama. As a senior, he led the Tigers with 1,223 all-purpose yards, including a team-high 23 kickoff returns for 614 yards. The native of Southaven, Miss. previously played at Itawamba Community College where he had 41 receptions for 510 yards and two touchdowns as a sophomore in 2017.

The Elks also released American defensive lineman Darion DeBrossard and American defensive lineman Matthew Wilkerson while adding American defensive back Derrick Baity, American running back Sherman Badie, Global kicker Ryan Meskell, and Global kicker Wihan Van Der Riet to the suspended list.