Villanova star Temi Ajirotutu joins Hamilton Tiger-Cats offensive line

Temi Ajirotutu’s move to Hamilton is the kind of roster decision that says as much about the FCS pipeline as it does about one offensive line. The Tiger-Cats signed the 24-year-old Villanova product on May 19 and released receiver Shedler Fervius in the same transaction, choosing to invest in a proven blocker as they push toward a June 4 opener against Montreal and a shortened window for camp decisions.

Ajirotutu arrives with the traits CFL teams keep mining from the FCS: size, durability and clean pass protection numbers. Listed by Hamilton at 6-foot-5 and 310 pounds, with Queens, New York, as his hometown, he played 52 games across six seasons at Villanova from 2020 to 2025 and made 45 starts. Hamilton credited him with 1,324 career pass-blocking snaps, 52 pressures allowed, six sacks surrendered and a 3.9% pressure rate. In a league that prizes linemen who can survive quickly compressed pockets and motion-heavy fronts, that résumé reads like a ready-made evaluation.

His 2025 season was the exclamation point. Ajirotutu earned first-team AFCA FCS All-American honors, second-team FCS Football Central All-American recognition and first-team All-CAA honors, giving Villanova another offensive lineman with postseason credibility beyond just steady weekly work. Villanova’s roster also lists him as a graduate student and notes 2023 third-team All-CAA honors, while his bio says he was a multiple-time academic honoree on the CAA Football Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll and Athletic Director’s Honor Roll. The profile is exactly the sort of combination pro personnel staffs chase from the subdivision: productivity, reliability and the ability to absorb a full college workload.

Hamilton’s timing also fits the urgency of its offseason. The Tiger-Cats opened training camp on May 10, have a preseason game at Toronto on May 29 with kickoff set for 7 p.m. ET, and must trim the roster by May 30 before the regular season begins. The schedule sends Montreal to Hamilton on June 4 in a rematch of the 2025 Eastern Final, a game that will test how much of this roster overhaul pays off immediately.

The club has not been subtle about upgrading around the line of scrimmage. It signed linebacker Wynton McManis on Feb. 4 after 100 regular-season CFL games, receiver Kurleigh Gittens Jr. on Feb. 12 after 88 games and 3,756 receiving yards, and drafted offensive lineman Jonathan Denis fifth overall on April 29. Hamilton also signed seven Canadian draft picks and one global pick on May 4. Even the release of Fervius fits the pattern, with the Scarborough, Ontario, receiver moving out after 19 CFL games and seven catches for 87 yards with Montreal.

For Villanova, Ajirotutu’s promotion is another endorsement of the program’s line development. For Hamilton, it is a bet that the most transferable FCS trait is not flash, but the ability to hold up snap after snap when the pro game gets faster and less forgiving.