Cameron Judge (born November 29, 1994) is a

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

for the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-o ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). After being selected second overall in the

2017 CFL Draft The 2017 CFL Draft took place on Sunday May 7, 2017 at 7:00 PM ET on TSN and RDS. 71 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadian universities, as well as Canadian players playing in the NCAA. The draft was broadcast live on T ...

by the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in ...

, he played three seasons for the team from 2017 to 2019. Judge has also been a member of the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

Early life

Judge was born on November 29, 1994, in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, to actor

Christopher Judge Douglas Christopher Judge (born October 13, 1964) is an American actor best known for playing Teal'c in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1,'' and Kratos in the 2018 video game ''God of War'' and its ...

and Margaret Judge (née Schinke), a former model. The family moved from Montreal (where Christopher Judge had been working on a television show) to Los Angeles when Judge was three months old. When Judge was three years old, the family moved to British Columbia and split their time living between Vancouver and Victoria. It was during his time in Vancouver, that Judge developed an interest in football and started playing minor football. When Judge was twelve years old, the family moved back to California, primarily to give Judge and his older brother, Christopher, a better environment to develop their football skills.

High school

After one year as a running back and linebacker for the junior varsity team, Judge became a three-year varsity starter at linebacker for

Oaks Christian School Oaks Christian School (OCS) is a co-educational, college-preparatory, non-denominational Christian school serving grades 5–12. Oaks Christian School is located on in Westlake Village, Los Angeles County, California. The school was established i ...

Westlake Village Westlake Village is a city in Los Angeles County on its western border with Ventura County. The City of Westlake Village incorporated in 1981 becoming the 82nd municipality of Los Angeles County.Baker, Pam (2002). ''Thousand Oaks Westlake Vill ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, under the coaching of

Bill Redell Bill Redell (born April 17, 1941) is a former American football coach and member of the College Football Hall of Fame. Redell served as head coach at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, California, where in 1986, he led the Celts to a 13-1 r ...

and legendary NFL linebacker

Clay Matthews Jr. William Clay Matthews Jr. (born March 15, 1956) is a former American football linebacker who played for the Cleveland Browns and the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted in the first round by the Cleveland Brown ...

Judge was rated a 4 star recruit and a top 5 linebacker on the West Coast according to scout.com. Selected to the

Tom Lemming Tom Lemming is an American high school football recruiting analyst. Tom Lemming serves as the host of ''The Lemming Report'' on CBS Sports Network, the only national weekly high school football recruiting show. He is the editor of ''The Tom Lemmin ...

list of top 25 outside linebackers. Maxpreps.com 2012 Preseason All-Southern California team

College football career

Judge accepted a scholarship offer from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

where he played college football for the team from 2013 to 2016 and was a team co-captain in 2015. He and other members of the defensive unit for UCLA were considered the best group of players in the linebacker position in the Pac-12 Conference. During his time there Judge played both inside and outside linebacker positions, and was a special teams captain for the Pac-12 Conference team.

Professional career

Saskatchewan Roughriders

In 2019, he was the unanimous selection for Saskatchewan Roughriders Most Outstanding Canadian, and was named a finalist for CFL Most Outstanding Canadian. After the CFL canceled the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Judge chose to opt-out of his contract with the Roughriders on August 28, 2020. Judge played three seasons for the Riders, appearing in 38 games, registering 102 tackles, 7 quarterback sacks, two interceptions, two forced fumbles and one defensive touchdown.

Toronto Argonauts

On February 17, 2021, it was announced that Judge had signed a one-year contract with the

. He played in nine regular season games where he recorded 13 defensive tackles and one special teams tackle.

Calgary Stampeders

On February 4, 2022, Judge was traded to the

in exchange for

Royce Metchie Royce Metchie (born September 11, 1996) is a professional Canadian football defensive back for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL). University career Metchie played U Sports football for the Guelph Gryphons from 2014 to ...

as both players had contracts expiring the following week. Judge and the Stamps agreed to a contract later that same day. In September 2022 Judge was suspended one game for punching B.C. Lions wide receiver

Lucky Whitehead Rodney Darnell "Lucky" Whitehead Jr. (born June 2, 1992) is an American professional football wide receiver for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played high school football at Osbourn High School in Manassas, Virginia. He ...

in post-game altercation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Judge, Cameron 1994 births Living people American football linebackers Anglophone Quebec people Calgary Stampeders players Canadian football linebackers Canadian players of American football Canadian people of African-American descent Players of Canadian football from Quebec Saskatchewan Roughriders players Canadian football people from Montreal Toronto Argonauts players UCLA Bruins football players