Former Auburn football star returns to the sport in Canadian League

For some former Auburn football players, graduating only means leaving behind the uniform, not the passion for the sport or the school they played for. One of those players who has never quit being a true Auburn man is Sammie Coates.

A former Tiger wide receiver, Coates signed with the Auburn football team as a member of the 2011 class. He was a 4-star WR out of high school, hailing from the small town of Leroy, AL. He was ranked as the #171 overall prospect and the #25 wide receiver in the recruiting class of 2011, and was the #6 player out of the state of Alabama.

Coates played for the Tigers from 2011-2014, coming in on the heels of Cam Newton and the National Championship team and getting the chance to compete for one himself at the Rose Bowl at the end of the 2013 season (we won’t talk about how that game ended).

He was drafted in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, and after a period of success suffered quite a few injuries, some of which required surgery, and he was eventually traded to the Cleveland Browns before landing on the Houston Texans in 2018. He was released by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019 and joined the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks in 2020 until the season was suspended due to COVID-19.

Now, after four seasons in the NFL, Coates will return to the game of football by way of the Canadian Football League, where he has officially signed with the Edmonton Elks.

The Elks will kick off the preseason on Monday, May 22 against the Calgary Stampeders. Their regular season will begin on Sunday, June 11, when they take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders.