Thomas DeMarco (born January 16, 1989) is a former professional

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 ( ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He played for the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Starting ...

and the Edmonton Eskimos 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).

College career

College of the Desert

DeMarco started his collegiate career at

College of the Desert College of the Desert (COD) is a public community college in Palm Desert, California. COD enrolls about 12,500 students, of which around one third attend college full-time. It serves the Coachella Valley of Riverside County. The college is fede ...

in Palm Desert. While there, he passed for 1,792 yards and 14 touchdowns during the 2008 season. He also rushed for 8 touchdowns.

Old Dominion

In 2009, DeMarco transferred to

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (Old Dominion or ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and is now one of the largest universities in Virginia w ...

. DeMarco dressed for 35 games over three seasons at Old Dominion and started 27 times. He passed for 5,732 yards with a 57.7 completion percentage and racked up 51 touchdowns. DeMarco also ran for 1,456 yards and 30 TDs. As a junior in 2010, DeMarco ranked seventh nationally in total offence at 289 yards per game. He was named as an Honorable Mention All-American in 2010 by Consensus Draft Services. During a game against

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...

in 2011, a defensive end rolled over his ankle. True freshman

Taylor Heinicke Taylor Heinicke ( ; born March 15, 1993) is an American football quarterback for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Old Dominion and signed with the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted f ...

would play the rest of the game, later becoming the Monarchs' starting quarterback.

Professional career

BC Lions

While DeMarco did not get drafted by a

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

team, he signed a two-year deal with the BC Lions on May 14, 2012. He started the season as the Lions' third-string quarterback, behind

Travis Lulay Travis may refer to: People and fictional characters *Travis (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Travis (surname), a list of people Places in the United States *Travis, Staten Island, a neighborhood *Travis Air Force Base, a ...

and Mike Reilly. On October 6, 2012, DeMarco made his pro debut against 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 ...

, completing 3 of 6 passes for 35 yards; his first completion was a five-yard pass to Geroy Simon. During the 2012 offseason, Reilly was traded to the Edmonton Eskimos, making DeMarco the backup to Lulay. Despite his small size for a quarterback, DeMarco found a niche as the Lions' short-yardage quarterback. On September 15, 2013, DeMarco (while in relief of an injured Lulay) threw his first career touchdown, a 14-yard pass to Marco Iannuzzi against the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canad ...

. The following week, DeMarco would get the start (due to Lulay's shoulder injury) against 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 led the team on a late drive down the field, which set up a 42-yard Paul McCallum field goal to win the game 24-22. He finished the game going 18 for 33, with 208 yards and 2 touchdowns. DeMarco would struggle the following weeks, eventually getting replaced by

Buck Pierce Buck James Pierce (born November 15, 1981) is the offensive coordinator of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and a retired professional quarterback who played nine seasons for the BC Lions and Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. H ...

during the October 19 game against Edmonton. Lulay returned as starter for the playoffs, but the Lions were eliminated by the eventual Grey Cup Champions, Saskatchewan. DeMarco finished the year with 1,325 yards passing, 10 touchdowns and 8 interceptions.

Ottawa Redblacks

On December 16, 2013, Ottawa selected quarterbacks DeMarco and

Kevin Glenn Kevin Glenn, Jr. (born June 12, 1979) is a former American professional Canadian football quarterback. He was originally signed by the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) as an undrafted free agent in 2001. He played co ...

(from Calgary) in the first round of the

2013 CFL Expansion Draft The 2013 Canadian Football League Expansion Draft was a three-round CFL Draft that took place on Monday December 16, 2013. It was designed to assign players from existing CFL teams to the expansion Ottawa Redblacks. The structure of the draft was ...

(the first round being designated for Imports). On February 4, 2014, after being released by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, quarterback and veteran CFLer

Henry Burris Henry Armand Burris Jr. (born June 4, 1975) is a gridiron football coach, former professional quarterback, and a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. He is currently an offensive quality control coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the ...

signed a three-year contract with the Redblacks, thus creating a quarterback controversy between Burris, Glenn, and DeMarco. On May 13, 2014, Glenn was traded to the BC Lions during the 2014 CFL Draft in exchange for the fifth overall pick in that draft. DeMarco began the season as the 2nd string QB behind veteran Henry Burris. DeMarco only appeared in 4 games in the

2014 CFL season Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unre ...

before suffering a season-ending ACL tear in his left knee. He has the unusual distinction of punting for the first Redblacks touchdown at

TD Place Stadium TD Place Stadium (originally Lansdowne Park and formerly Frank Clair Stadium) is an outdoor stadium in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located at Lansdowne Park, on the southern edge of The Glebe neighbourhood, where Bank Street crosses the R ...

when his onside punt was recovered for a touchdown by

Dobson Collins Dobson Collins (born July 12, 1987) is a former American football wide receiver. He was originally signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Gardner–Webb. Collins has also been a memb ...

on August 2, 2014. DeMarco dressed for all 18 regular season games and three post-season games in 2015, but played sparingly due to the health and strong play by league

MOP A mop (such as a floor mop) is a mass or bundle of coarse strings or yarn, etc., or a piece of cloth, sponge or other absorbent material, attached to a pole or stick. It is used to soak up liquid, for cleaning floors and other surfaces, to mop ...

, Henry Burris. He became a

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 ...

on February 9, 2016.

Edmonton Eskimos

DeMarco signed as a

with the Edmonton Eskimos on April 16, 2016. He was released July 10, 2016. The Eskimos' starting quarterback Mike Reilly got banged up in the first round of the playoffs, which prompted the Eskimos to sign DeMarco back to their roster ahead of the Eastern Final. DeMarco was released by the Eskimos on December 13, 2016.

Personal

DeMarco has a major from Old Dominion in Business Management. He is currently working towards his

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

References

External links

Ottawa RedBlacks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:DeMarco, Thomas 1989 births Living people American football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football BC Lions players Canadian football quarterbacks Edmonton Elks players Old Dominion Monarchs football players Ottawa Redblacks players People from Palm Desert, California Players of American football from California Sportspeople from Riverside County, California College of the Desert Roadrunners football players