Antoine Pruneau is a Canadian football

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Prior to being drafted into the CFL, he played Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) football for the Montreal Carabins.

University career

In university, as a member of the Montreal Carabins, Pruneau was known as a versatile player. He played defensive back before switching to linebacker for his final year, and also served on special teams. During the 2013 season, Pruneau scored two special teams touchdowns; one on a kickoff return and the other on the return of a missed field goal. Pruneau was named to the

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and 2013 second All-Canadian Teams by the

CIS Cis or cis- may refer to: Places * Cis, Trentino, in Italy * In Poland: ** Cis, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central ** Cis, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, north Math, science and biology * cis (mathematics) (cis(''θ'')), a trigonome ...

Professional career

The Ottawa Redblacks were impressed by Pruneau's speed and athleticism at the 2014 CFL Combine, and they selected Pruneau in the 1st round of the subsequent draft, 4th overall. In his rookie year, Pruneau saw much playing time on both defense and special teams. He was named the CFL's Canadian player of the month in October. He finished the 2014 season second on the Redblacks with 69 tackles while also contributing 11 special teams tackles and 2 quarterback sacks. Antoine Pruneau was nominated by the RedBlacks as their best rookie. Over the next two seasons Pruneau continued to be an important starter for the Redblacks defence (despite being briefly benched in

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due to poor performance). Following the 2016 season Pruneau and the Redblacks agreed on a contract extension, keeping him in Ottawa through the

2019 CFL season The 2019 CFL season was the 66th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 62nd Canadian Football League season. The regular season began on June 13 and concluded with the playing of the 107th Grey Cup in Calgary on November ...

. He was named a CFL East All-Star in

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after totaling 65 defensive tackles, eight special teams tackles, four interceptions and one quarterback sack. Pruneau played in 13 games for the Redblacks in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, contributing with 50 tackles. Immediately following the close of the 2018 season Pruneau agreed to a three-year contract extension. Pruneau suffered a foot injury in Week 13 of the 2019 season - at the time of the injury he had played in eight games for Ottawa that season, contributing with 25 tackles, one interception and one forced fumble. Following the cancellation of the 2020 season Pruneau returned to the Redblacks for the 2021 season, in which he played in 11 games, finishing the season with 35 defensive tackles, five special teams tackles, and one interception. Pruneau and the Redblacks agreed to a one-year contract extension on February 21, 2022.

References

External links

Ottawa Redblacks bio

CIS player pageRedblacks say goodbye to Hill, open door for Pruneau

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

, 5 Aug 2014
Pruneau ready for prime time with Redblacks
Ottawa Citizen, 29 May 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pruneau, Antoine 1989 births Living people Canadian football defensive backs Montreal Carabins football players Ottawa Redblacks players Players of Canadian football from Quebec Sportspeople from Montreal