Jermaine Gabriel

Jermaine Gabriel is a Canadian former professional football defensive back and is currently the defensive backs coach for the Saint Mary's Huskies of U Sports. He played for eight seasons with three teams in the Canadian Football League and won a Grey Cup championship with the Toronto Argonauts in 2017.

Early life

Gabriel was raised in Scarborough. Later, he moved to Calgary and Halifax.

Gabriel played CIS football with the Bishop's Gaiters from 2009 to 2010 while sitting out the 2011 season. He then joined the Calgary Colts of the Canadian Junior Football League for the 2012 season before joining the professional ranks.

Gabriel was drafted 17th overall in the 2013 CFL draft by the Toronto Argonauts and signed with the club on May 22, 2013. He made the team's active roster following training camp and played in his first career professional game on June 28, 2013 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats where he recorded three special teams tackles. Later that season, he recorded his first two career sacks in a game against the Montreal Alouettes on September 8, 2013. He later played in his first Grey Cup game during the 2017 season where he recorded four defensive tackles and one forced fumble in the Argonauts' 105th Grey Cup victory over the Calgary Stampeders.
Overall, Gabriel played in 95 regular season games for the Argonauts where he recorded 239 defensive tackles, seven sacks, two interceptions, four forced fumbles, and scored one touchdown. He became a free agent on February 11, 2020.

On February 13, 2020, Gabriel signed with the Edmonton Eskimos. However, the 2020 CFL season was cancelled and he did not play in 2020. He re-signed with Edmonton to a contract extension through 2021 on December 26, 2020. He played in five regular season games with the newly-named Edmonton Elks before being released on September 24, 2021.

On October 13, 2021, it was announced that Gabriel had signed with the Montreal Alouettes. He spent the remainder of the season on the practice roster and was released on November 29, 2021.