Noah Picton (born July 5, 1995) is a former professional football quarterback and currently a

quarterbacks coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

for the Regina Rams of

U Sports football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports (formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport). Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athletic confe ...

. He played college football for the Rams from 2014 to 2018 and is the all-time leading passer in U Sports history. He also won the

Hec Crighton Trophy The Hec Crighton Trophy (sometimes referred to as the Hec Crighton Award) is awarded annually to the most outstanding Canadian football player in U Sports. The trophy is named after the late Hec Crighton - teacher, coach, referee, and author of t ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

and was named a First Team All-Canadian twice in his career.

University career

Picton first joined the Regina Rams football program in

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where he dressed in one game while taking a redshirt season. During the 2014 season, he played in all eight regular season games and started in four of them as he split quarterbacking duties with Cayman Shutter. Despite only starting in four games, he set a conference record for a rookie by passing for 2,029 yards while completing 64.1% of his passes for 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. The Rams won their final two regular season games to qualify for the playoffs, but lost to the

Calgary Dinos The Calgary Dinos are the athletic teams that represent the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. They were known as the "Dinosaurs" but usually referred to as the "Dinos" until 1999, when the name was officially shortened. Some of its venue ...

59–0 as Picton completed 14 of 24 passes for 147 yards and two interceptions. In 2015, Picton started in all eight regular season games, completing 166 of 252 pass attempts for 2,134 yards with 10 touchdown passes and eight interceptions. On October 30, 2015 against the Saskatchewan Huskies, he set a program single-game record for highest pass completion in a game by completing 78.8% of his passes. The Rams finished winless in 2015 and did not qualify for the playoffs. The 2016 season marked a tremendous turnaround for the Rams, largely due to Picton's outstanding play. He set a

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the C ...

single-season record with 3,186 passing yards (since surpassed by Adam Sinagra) and led all players that year with 25 touchdown passes with a 69.3% completion percentage. He also had the second-highest number of completions in U Sports history in a single season with 224. The Rams finished with a 6–2 record and in first place in

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...

for the first time in program history as Picton started all eight games. The season ended on a sour note as the Rams lost the West Semi-Final to the fourth-place

UBC Thunderbirds The UBC Thunderbirds are the athletic teams that represent the University of British Columbia in the University Endowment Lands just outside the city limits of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In Canadian intercollegiate competition, the Thu ...

. At the end of the season, he was named a First Team All-Canadian and was awarded the

, becoming the first Rams player to win the award. In the following year, he again started in all eight games and completed 207 passes from 301 attempts for 2,491 yards with 19 touchdown passes and nine interceptions. In doing so, he became the Rams' all-time leader in completions and passing yards, surpassing former record-holder Teale Orban. He was named a First Team All-Canadian for the second season and led the Rams to a third place finish with a 4–4 record. However, the Rams were again defeated by the Thunderbirds in the Canada West Semi-Final game. After attending training camp with 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 ...

, Picton re-joined the Rams to complete his fifth and final year of U Sports eligibility 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 Unit ...

. On September 29, 2018, Picton became the all-time leading passer in

, surpassing Sherbrooke's Jérémi Roch with 11,494 passing yards. He sat out the last three games of the 2018 season with a foot infection to finish his U Sports career with that same number. The Rams had to forfeit three wins due to use of an ineligible player and did not qualify for the playoffs in 2018.

Professional career

Picton signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with the

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) on May 14, 2018, but was released after training camp and returned to the Regina Rams. Following the conclusion of his record-setting 2018 U Sports season, Picton re-signed with the Argonauts on December 16, 2018 to a three-year contract. He played in one pre-season game for the Argonauts on May 30, 2019 and attempted one pass. He was released on June 1, 2019.

Coaching career

On December 11, 2019, it was announced that Picton had joined the Regina Rams as the team's

for the 2020 season.

References

External links

Regina Rams bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Picton, Noah 1995 births Living people Players of Canadian football from Saskatchewan Canadian football quarterbacks Regina Rams players Toronto Argonauts players Sportspeople from Regina, Saskatchewan