Josh Sacobie waits for his chance in a CFL spot

There's no denying Josh Sacobie is an above-average football player.
The 24-year-old Maliseet is a record-breaking quarterback currently with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
For Sacobie, this is his fifth and final season in the university ranks.
And though he realizes the odds may be against him, he's hoping to move up and play professional football in the near future.
Ideally, Sacobie would have preferred to be in the Canadian Football League now.
He was one of 50 players that attended the CFL combine camp in Toronto this past March where officials from all of the league's clubs saw prospects showcase their skills while performing various drills.
Though some teams had expressed an interest in him, Sacobie did not end up getting drafted in the CFL this past April.
So now he is a free agent, who will have to earn an invitation to a training camp.
"That's all I want is a shot," said Sacobie, who is from the St. Mary's First Nation in New Brunswick.
Regardless of the impressive numbers he drives up at the university level, Sacobie realizes he would be a longshot to play in the CFL. That's because a league rule stipulates all teams must have 20 Canadian-born players on their rosters.
And teams tend to reserve their skilled positions (for example quarterbacks and running backs) on American players who are deemed imports.
"It's harder for us," Sacobie said of Canadian quarterbacks wishing to play in their own country.
The CFL, however, is not Sacobie's only professional option.
Though cracking a National Football League roster would be considered by many to be much more difficult to do than making a CFL team, Sacobie actually believes he might have a better chance to earn a QB job south of the border.
And if not in the NFL, then perhaps in a pro indoor arena football league.
To get his name out there, Sacobie is planning to hire an agent either near or at the end of the current football season.
And he'll be doing his best to make sure people know just exactly who Josh Sacobie is.
"I'm going to do my best to make myself visible through different promotions," he said.
And then it will be a wait-and-see process once his university athletic career is over this fall.
"I've just got to cap it off with a good year again," he said. "And I've got to get a good highlight tape out there."
Overcoming odds, however, is something Sacobie has become accustomed to. He admits he had trying teen years growing up on three First Nations.
"I went through my share of battles," he said.
Those battles ­ which included alcohol, drugs and violence ­ were hard to stay away from.
"It's so visible," he said. "It's so hard for Aboriginal kids."
Sacobie said he started to drink alcohol at age 10. Then he started doing drugs about a year or two later.
Though he said he drinks responsibly now, Sacobie said he hasn't used drugs since he was 14 ­ the same age he started playing football.
"The sport saved me in a lot of ways," he said.
Sacobie entered his final year with the Gee-Gees already as the team's all-time leader in touchdown thrown and career yards thrown. So each game this season he's been adding to his totals.
And this season he's chasing down various national university all-time quarterback records.
A year ago he was chosen as the most valuable player in the 10-team Ontario University Athletics (OUA).
He led Ottawa to a perfect 8-0 record in OUA regular season action.
But Sacobie and his teammates were not able to defend the OUA crown they won in 2006.
Sacobie though was nominated for the Hec Crighton Trophy last year, annually presented to the top Canadian university football player.
As for his goal with the Gee-Gees this season, it's a fairly simple one.
"It's the same as the last four years ­ to win all the games," he said.
Ottawa, which won two out of its first three contests this season, is once again expected to be a contender for the league championship. And then perhaps with a bit of luck, Sacobie will be able to continue playing football ­ but at the professional level.