Football: The Perez-Archambault situation

A little bit of drama took place in Quebec university football recently.

Laval coach Glen Constantin didn't say the Carabins were breaking any rules; in fact, he said the opposite, but it reads like he's not happy with what Montréal allegedly did.

What they did depends on who you listen to.

Byron Perez-Archambault, a linebacker out of Vanier College, is the centre of attention here. He signed a letter of intent with Laval. But apparently he was very close to signing with Montréal before that, and in fact the blue team might have tried to steal him from the red and gold team--again, depending on who you ask.

Perez-Archambault "confirms getting a call from Darren Gill", an agent who was apparently working on behalf of Danny Maciocia in this case (he has Rouge et Or clients too), if he indeed told the linebacker that playing for Maciocia instead of Constantin could be advantageous to his professional career.

(According to Deux Fans, this sort of thing probably happens every year, but garners greater attention this time around because Perez-Archambault is the best defensive player coming out of college.)

Maciocia, for his part, later told the Journal de Québec that everything was above-board: Perez-Archambault had not signed a letter of intent at the time (mid-January), and in fact he contacted the Carabins' defensive line coach Martin Lapostolle. A few weeks later, Maciocia had the player in his office with a letter of intent to play for Montréal. Which wasn't signed, and became irrelevant when Perez-Archambault signed with Laval this past weekend.

The end of this article says that most Rouge et Or players now sign LOIs. After this episode, I bet they do...

(I'll admit to not having followed this very closely, and of course now I'm working through the language barrier so I expect to have missed some things. Any and all corrections are welcomed, as always.)