Kyler Elsworth has arrived in the Canadian Football League.
On Aug. 13 at the 4:27 mark of the first period at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, Elsworth, the starting linebacker for the Montreal Alouettes, picked up an Edmonton Eskimos fumble and charged 71 yards downfield for a touchdown. Playing for the Alouettes this season, Elsworth has 28 tackles along with his first touchdown of his professional career.
‘The coaches always say just run toward the ball on defense and good things happen,? said Elsworth, a 2009 Goodrich graduate. ‘The ball fell right in my hands and I was off and running.?
A wrestling stand-out as a Martian’his stellar wrestling career featured a school record 232 wins, along with two individual state titles and two team state crowns, stepped away from his years as a Martian grappler and took a shot at Division I college football at MSU. Elsworth, at 6?1″, 235-pounds, was a fifth-year senior for the Michigan State Spartans. He played in all the MSU games while on the team, mostly on special teams and some at the linebacker position. His first career start for the Green and White would be to lead the best defense in the country into the Rose Bowl. On New Year’s Day 2014, Elsworth stuffed Stanford fullback Ryan Hewitt on a fourth-and-short and sealed a Rose Bowl victory for Michigan State (13-1) 24-20 over Stanford (11-3) with more than 95,000 in attendance at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
In July 2014 Elsworth signed a contract to play for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. However, he played much of the 2014 season on the Alouette’s practice team. Since the third game of the 2015 season, which began in May, Elsworth has been the starting linebacker after middle linebacker Bear Woods sustained an injury in the third quarter against the Calgary Stampeders.
‘The style here in Canada is much different than American football,? he said. ‘It’s much faster.?
Other differences in the Canadian Football League include12 players on a 110 yard field’with three downs to move the ball 10 yards.
While Elsworth is happy to be starting in the CFL, he did not rule out going to the NFL at some point.
‘They have been really good to me here in Montreal,? he said. ‘Going to the NFL is still a goal for me. I am proving I can compete at the professional level.?
The Montreal Alouettes are 2-5 this season in the East Division of the Canadian Football League, which plays from about mid-June until early November. Since 1996, the Alouettes, meaning a lark or skylark, have played in the Grey Cup eight times between 2000 and 2010’winning three cups including back-to-back 2009 and 2010, both against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
‘I’m getting used to living in Montreal, it’s a great city with a lot to do,? he added. ‘But, I still love coming home to Goodrich in the off season. I have the best of both worlds.?