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CALGARY — The Grind not only helped Alex Fontana become an elite football player, it also helped him grow off the field.

Fontana, who the Ottawa Redblacks selected seventh overall in the Canadian Football League draft last month, left home at age 16 after Grade 11 at Pickering High School to head south to Kent Prep High School in Connecticut. After two years there, he enrolled at a junior college (ASA College) in Manhattan. From there, he went to New Mexico Military Institute, and after a couple of years at the University of Houston, he wound up at the University of Kansas for his senior year.

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“The road getting here was anything but typical,” said the 26-year-old offensive lineman, who suited up Saturday for the Redblacks in their regular-season opener against the Calgary Stampeders. “It was exhausting, but it was well worth it. Leaving home early, I thought it was an advantage for me. You kind of figure out who you are by yourself, rather than being guided by friends and family. I thought I really became the person I wanted to be, rather than what anyone else wanted me to be.