Marrow signs to play for CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos

February 14, 2013 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Desmond Marrow admits he doesn’t know much about Edmonton or the Canadian Football League, but he knows the most important thing.

“They wanted me to come play football,” he said.

The Cardinal Mooney High graduate signed a one-year contract to play cornerback for the Eskimos, an opportunity he hopes will lead him back to the NFL.

“I’m going to go over there for a year and see what happens,” he said. “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

Marrow, who played collegiately at Toledo, signed with the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent last spring. He was released in late July and picked up by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but was released in late August.

Edmonton originally approached Marrow with a three-year contract but he wanted a shorter commitment, so he spent the NFL season in Youngstown working at Youngstown Early College while staying in playing shape.

CFL teams do not have offseason programs, so Marrow won’t report until training camp begins in June. The 18-game regular season runs from late June to early November, followed by three weeks of playoffs. The title game, the Grey Cup, is played in late November.

Edmonton is 2,000 miles northwest of Youngstown and sits about eight hours north of Montana’s Canadian border.

Marrow only knows the basic differences between the NFL and the CFL. The CFL fields are longer by 30 yards (counting end zones) and wider (65 yards, compared to 53 1/3), there are more players on the field (12 to a side) and receivers can get a running start behind the line of scrimmage.

“That’s pretty much it,” he said. “But I’m excited about it. I can get some film [to show scouts] and it’s something I need to do.”