| A. J. Ouellette | |
| Number: | 45 |
| Current Team: | Saskatchewan Roughriders |
| Position: | Running back |
| Birth Date: | 20 July 1995 |
| Birth Place: | Covington, Ohio, U.S. |
| Height Ft: | 5 |
| Height In: | 10 |
| Weight Lb: | 210 |
| High School: | Covington |
| College: | Ohio |
| Undraftedyear: | 2019 |
| Pastteams: |
|
| Status: | Active |
| Cflstatus: | American |
| Highlights: | |
| Cflstatseason: | 2023 |
| Cflstatlabel1: | Games played |
| Cflstatvalue1: | 37 |
| Cflstatlabel2: | Rushing attempts |
| Cflstatvalue2: | 322 |
| Cflstatlabel3: | Rushing yards |
| Cflstatvalue3: | 1,782 |
| Cflstatlabel4: | Rushing touchdowns |
| Cflstatvalue4: | 10 |
| Cfl: | aj-ouellette/165219 |
A. J. Ouellette (born July 20, 1995) is an American[1] professional football running back for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He has previously played for the Toronto Argonauts.
Ouellette played college football for the Ohio Bobcats from 2014 to 2018 while using a medical redshirt season in 2016 after suffering an injury in his first game that year.[2] He finished his collegiate career having played in 50 games where he had 719 carries for 3,833 yards and 32 rushing touchdowns and 64 receptions for 516 yards and six receiving touchdowns.[2]
| Ohio Bobcats | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rushing | Receiving | ||||||||||||||
| Year | Team | GP | Att | Yards | Avg | TDs | Rec | Yards | Avg | TDs | |||||
| Ohio | 10 | 160 | 785 | 4.9 | 7 | 21 | 133 | 6.3 | 3 | ||||||
| Ohio | 13 | 151 | 691 | 4.5 | 6 | 12 | 74 | 6.2 | 0 | ||||||
| Ohio | 1 | 3 | 45 | 15.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Ohio | 13 | 192 | 1,006 | 5.2 | 7 | 10 | 97 | 9.7 | 1 | ||||||
| Ohio | 13 | 213 | 1,306 | 6.1 | 12 | 21 | 212 | 10.1 | 2 | ||||||
| College totals | 50 | 719 | 3,833 | 5.3 | 32 | 64 | 516 | 10.0 | 6 | ||||||
In May 2019, Ouellette signed with the New Orleans Saints.[3] New Orleans waived Ouellette on May 28, 2019.[4]
On July 27, 2019, Ouellette signed with the Cleveland Browns.[5] However, he was waived by Cleveland on August 31, 2019.[6]
On September 17, 2019, it was announced that Ouellette had signed with the Toronto Argonauts.[7] He played in his first career game on October 18, 2019, against the Montreal Alouettes where he had four carries for 20 yards.[8] In the following game, he recorded his first career touchdown on a 15-yard pass from Dakota Prukop in a game against the Ottawa Redblacks on October 26, 2019.[9] He played in three regular season games in 2019 where he had 23 carries for 114 yards and five receptions for 39 yards and one touchdown.[8]
Ouellette did not play in 2020 due to the cancellation of the 2020 CFL season, but signed a contract extension with the Argonauts on December 15, 2020.[10] In 2021, he played in just six games while spending time on the injured list and practice roster, but recorded 23 carries for 143 yards.[8] [11] Ouellette made his post-season debut, on December 5, 2021, after playing in the East Final where he had four carries for eight yards in the loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.[8]
Ouellette began the 2022 season on the injured list and played in just three of the team's first eight games as the back up running back.[12] However, following a season-ending injury to the team's starting running back, Andrew Harris, Ouellette became the team's starting running back on August 20, 2022, where he had six carries for 18 yards and seven catches for 92 yards against the Calgary Stampeders.[12] He scored his first career rushing touchdown on September 10, 2022, in the victory over the Ottawa Redblacks.[8] Ouellette finished the season having played in 13 regular season games carrying the ball 98 times for 516 yards with two touchdowns. He also caught 38 passes for 350 yards and a score. On February 11, 2023, Ouellette and the Argos agree to a contract extension.[13]
In 2023, Ouellette entered the season as the starting running back as Harris was relegated to backup status. Ouellette played in 15 games, sitting out three as the Argonauts clinched the division early, where he recorded 178 carries for 1,009 yards and eight touchdowns along with 16 catches for 163 yards and two touchdowns.[8] He was named a CFL East All-Star for the second consecutive season.[14] In the following off-season, he became a free agent upon the expiry of his contract on February 13, 2024.[15]
On February 13, 2024, the Saskatchewan Roughriders announced that Ouellette had signed a two-year contract with the team.[16]
| Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | Fumbles | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOR | 3 | 2 | 23 | 114 | 5.0 | 36 | 0 | 5 | 39 | 7.8 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| TOR | Season cancelled | |||||||||||||||
| TOR | 6 | 1 | 23 | 143 | 6.2 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| TOR | 13 | 9 | 98 | 516 | 5.3 | 34 | 2 | 38 | 350 | 9.2 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| TOR | 15 | 15 | 178 | 1,009 | 5.7 | 42 | 8 | 16 | 163 | 10.2 | 28 | 2 | NA | NA | ||
| Career | 37 | 27 | 322 | 1,782 | 5.5 | 42 | 10 | 59 | 552 | 9.4 | 28 | 4 | 1 | 1 | ||
Ouellette was born to parents Phil and Jody Ouellette and has one older sister, Ashlie. Ouellette is married to Haley Ouellette.[2]