Pier-Yves Lavergne thought his pro football dreams were dead — until he got the call to suit up this weekend for the Ottawa Redblacks.

Luckily, Lavergne didn't have to go far: since February, the 26-year-old Gatineau, Que., native's been working as a football operations assistant in the Redblacks' front office.

Lavergne was asked by general manager Marcel Desjardins to play in the team's final pre-season game Friday night against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, since several Redblacks starters were injured.

"It was sort of a running joke around the office, like from Marcel and his assistant, that maybe one day if we got too many injuries I might need to step up," Lavergne told CBC News.

"But actually, that happened."

Injuries derailed CFL dreams

Lavergne had played football with the Université de Montréal and once had dreams of a career in the CFL, but he put those hopes on the backburner after he was sidelined with injuries.

Lavergne said he's kept himself "in shape" over the last few months, but didn't realize that would pay off.

Lavergne says he thought his CFL dreams were over after suffering hamstring injury.

The RedBlacks lost 42-25 to the Tiger-Cats on Friday night, but Lavergne — who's listed on the CFL's official website as a fullback — said he feels good about his performance.

"I think I did my best, and I think I was able to survive," Lavergne said with a laugh.

Noon deadline for team rosters

CFL teams had until Sunday at noon to announce their rosters — and after Friday's game, Lavergne was eagerly waiting to find out if he made the cut.

Lavergne said if he hadn't been asked to play, he would have been in the meetings to pick the team.

He said it would be "awesome" if he's picked, but he knows he would have a lot of hard work ahead of him to get in shape.

"At the end of the day, I just want to win," Lavergne said. "No matter where I am, on the field or in the front office, I just want to win."

Unfortunately for Lavergne's CFL career, it looks like he'll be headed back to the front office: his name was on the list of 22 players released by the club Sunday afternoon.