TORONTO -- Former Bates offensive lineman and two-time team captain Cole De Magistris '24 signed a contract this month to play professionally for the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts.

"It's an exciting opportunity to be able to continue to play," De Magistris said on this week's episode of the Bates Bobcast. "Not a whole lot of high school athletes make it to college to play, and then even a smaller number are able to compete beyond that. So to be in that little percentage and play the sport that I love, you can't ask for anything better."

De Magistris (Emerson, N.J.) joins the Argonauts on May 4th for their pre-season training camp and is already attending position group meetings via Zoom. He impressed the team at a recent free agent camp after spending the 2024 and 2025 seasons playing for Sacred Heart University, an NCAA Division I (FCS) program. 

An economics and rhetoric, film and screen studies double major at Bates, De Magistris graduated in 2024 as a Senior Scholar Award-Winner, having participated in varsity sports for four years and maintained a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 or better. He was a semifinalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, college football's premier scholar-athlete award, and was named to the National Football Foundation's Hampshire Honor Society.

He did not get to compete as a first-year in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and his senior year got cut short due to injury, giving him two additional seasons of eligibility upon graduation. With Sacred Heart, De Magistris earned a starting spot on the offensive line and was named a captain last year. 

During his time at Bates, De Magistris interned with the Minnesota Vikings and he is still interested in working in an NFL front office at some point. But the chance to play football at the professional level is his focus for now.

"I want to continue playing until the wheels fall off," De Magistris said. "Until that day comes and I have to hang up the cleats, I'm going to be playing, whether it be in the CFL or maybe even higher. But I have to win my spot first. After my playing career is done, whenever that may be, I definitely want to have a career within the sport."