Les Maruo (, ''Maruo Resuri'', born February 14, 1996) is a Japanese professional

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

linebacker for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Early life

Maruo attended Goddard High School in Wichita, Kansas. As a senior on the football team, he recorded 79 tackles in nine games.

College career

Maruo first played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Hutchinson Blue Dragons The Hutchinson Blue Dragons are the sports teams of Hutchinson Community College located in Hutchinson, Kansas, United States. They participate in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and in the Kansas Jayhawk Community Co ...

from 2014 to 2015. He then transferred to the University of Texas at San Antonio, though he used a redshirt season in 2016 after compartment syndrome forced him to undergo surgery on both of his calves. He played for the

Roadrunners The roadrunners (genus ''Geococcyx''), also known as chaparral birds or chaparral cocks, are two species of fast-running ground cuckoos with long tails and crests. They are found in the southwestern and south-central United States and Mexico, us ...

from 2017 to 2018 where he started all 12 games in his senior year.

Professional career

Asahi Soft Drink Challengers

After being overlooked by the National Football League and Canadian Football League, Maruo began his professional career with the

Asahi Soft Drink Challengers The Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers are an American football team located in Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan. They are a member of the X-League. Team history *1978 Team founded as a practice team for the Momoyama Gakuin University's football team. Tea ...

of the X-League in 2019. He played for the Challengers for two years.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Maruo originally participated in the 2020 CFL Global Combine, but he was under contract with the Challengers, and could not play in the CFL. Instead, he returned in 2021 where he was selected with the fourth overall pick in the

2021 CFL Global Draft The 2021 CFL Global Draft took place on April 15, 2021 and was the first CFL Draft that pooled all of the global players together after previously having separate drafts for Mexican players and European players in 2019. 36 players were chosen fr ...

by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and signed with the team on April 26, 2021. Following training camp, Maruo made the team's active roster and made his CFL debut in week 1 against the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

on August 5, 2021. He played in the team's first seven games where he had six special teams tackles before shifting to the practice roster for the remainder of the year. While he didn't play in the game, Maruo became a

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

champion when the Blue Bombers defeated the Tiger-Cats in the

108th Grey Cup The 108th Grey Cup decided the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the 2021 season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season was cancelled and the start of the 2021 season was delayed, pushing the game to December 12, 2021. The ...

. He re-signed with the Blue Bombers on December 28, 2021. In

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, Maruo again made the team's opening day roster and began to see more playing time on defense. He recorded his first career sack on July 22, 2022, in a game against the Edmonton Elks when he tackled

Taylor Cornelius Taylor Cornelius (born September 16, 1995) is a professional gridiron football quarterback for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Oklahoma State. Cornelius started as a 5th year senior for the ...

. He played in 17 regular season games that year where he had 14 defensive tackles, seven special teams tackles, and one sack. He also played in both postseason games, including the

109th Grey Cup The 109th Grey Cup decided the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the 2022 season. The game was played on November 20, at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan. It marked the fourth Grey Cup game to be held in Regina, and the first ...

, where he recorded two special teams tackles in the loss to the Toronto Argonauts.

Edmonton Elks

Maruo was signed to the practice roster of the Edmonton Elks on July 7, 2024.

Personal life

Maruo was born in

Yokkaichi is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 310,259 in 142162 households and a population density of 1500 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Yokkaichi is located in north-central ...

, Mie, Japan, and moved to

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain, a predecessor of Shizuoka Prefecture ...

when he was three years old. He then moved to Wichita, Kansas, with his family when he was nine years old. He picked up the English language in less than a year. His brother, Sean, went on to play college baseball at

Nebraska–Kearney The University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) is a campus of the public University of Nebraska system and located in Kearney, Nebraska. It was founded in 1905 as the Nebraska State Normal School at Kearney. History In March 1903 the Nebraska Stat ...

. Maruo's father was

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

but died due to a car accident when Maruo was three years old.

References

External links

Winnipeg Blue Bombers bio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maruo, Les 1996 births Living people American football linebackers Canadian football linebackers Japanese players of American football Japanese players of Canadian football Hutchinson Blue Dragons football players UTSA Roadrunners football players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players People from Yokkaichi Sportspeople from Shizuoka Prefecture Players of American football from Wichita, Kansas Japanese people of Scottish descent Japanese emigrants to the United States X-League (Japan) players Players of Canadian football from Kansas Asian American players of American football