It all starts up front.
Those words are spoken often when talking about the success of a football team. It emphasizes the importance of dominating the offensive and defensive lines.
For the Toronto Argonauts, it was one of the main goals of the off-season, to replenish the shelves to give the Argos a fresh look along the lines in 2026.
The highest profile additions on the defensive line are tackle Ralph Holley, back from a year in the NFL, and end Jonathan Kongbo, one of the team’s priority free agents. He joins the Boatmen from Edmonton along with his positional coach, Demetrius Maxie.
The coach will have another pair of first-year Argos at his disposal, both part of the 2025 draft.
Paris Shand is a GTA kid, who attended Bill Crothers Secondary in Unionville before heading to a prep school in Connecticut. It worked out for him, as he played NCAA football at a pair of prominent programs, Arizona and LSU.
It earned the 6’4”, 270 pounder a shot in the NFL, as he signed with the Bills last season before becoming a late cut in training camp. He’s now back home in Toronto, playing for the team he cheered for as a kid.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” Shand told Argonauts.ca. “I love to be able to represent my hometown, play in front of my family and friends, and anyone in the community. To represent the kids that want to get to where I’m at and do the things I’ve done. I’m grateful for this opportunity.”
Shand fell to Toronto in the second round a year ago. He was a first-round talent who slipped because teams felt he may stick in the NFL for a while. The lineman comes with a great pedigree; he’s athletic, explosive, smart, and can line up at end or tackle, making him a Swiss army knife for Maxie. But the coach is quick to pump the brakes in terms of immediate expectations, emphasizing that Shand is still new to pro football.
“He is a rookie,” the coach said to Argonauts.ca. “He has a lot to learn. We have to fix a few things, tweak a few things that he didn’t get taught along the way, especially trying to be a pro. But you can see the reason why he got those opportunities to go down south. He has great length and size, and it’s just his demeanour, he’s all business. He’s going to be a great asset for us.”
Maxie sees a steady improvement from Shand, a talented athlete who played on Canada’s national U-17 basketball team in 2017, and whose father Kevin played on the men’s national senior basketball team. Paris also competed in track and field, winning an OFSAA silver medal in shot put.
Like his coach, he feels that training camp has gone well.
“I feel myself getting better every day, coming in here and focusing on one specific aspect of my game and working on getting at least one percent better every day. I feel like I’ve been doing that, so I’m happy with the camp so far.”
He has the ability to play inside or outside, giving the Argos options on how to construct their defensive line. Shand doesn’t care, he’s just happy to get on the field again.
“No, it never matters. It’s football, if they tell me to line up at corner, I’ll line up at corner.”
That attitude is shared by tackle Soane Toia (so-AWN-ee toh-EE-ah), the Argos second-round pick in the 2025 CFL Global Draft. Like Shand, his enthusiasm for the game is obvious.
“He’s ferocious,” Maxie said of the Tonga native. “He’s explosive, agile, and has great quickness. He’s a guy that has great recognition of movement that’s happening in front of him. He’s able to change direction at the drop of a hat.”
Argonauts.ca asked 6’0’, 280-pound Toia to provide a scouting report on himself. What separates him as a player?
“My motor. I feel like I was made for football,” he said. “My main focus is to get off the ball and react to whatever, and I love that. It’s what Coach Maxie coaches, attack. Just get off the ball and just react to whatever comes. I feel like that describes me as a player.”
Like Shand, the 24-year-old Toia is a part of an athletic family. His brother Jay plays defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys, while another brother, Siaki Ika – who like Shand played at LSU – also plays pro football in Dallas, with the UFL’s Renegades.
The family’s love for football comes naturally.
“My dad has always been athletic,” said the San Jose State product. “It’s what I always grew up around; my older cousins, my older brothers, everybody just played football. It was competition at home, just to see who was going to be the best.”
Toia’s family moved to the United States in 2016, settling in Simi Valley, California. He made his mark there, totaling 35.5 tackles for loss in his final two seasons at Grace Brethren High School.
While he’s one of the lowest profile Argos at this stage of his CFL career, he could very well start alongside Holley at tackle when the Double Blue open the season June 12 in Montreal.
ARGO NOTES: The Argos “Huddle Up” anti-bullying program wrapped up its 25th season by welcoming four Guelph area schools to practice. They sat in the stands at Alumni Stadium, watched the Argos on the field, heard from program founder Jason Colero, general manager Michael “Pinball” Clemons, and players Chad Kelly and Cameron Judge. The program has spoken to close to a million students over thousands of assemblies in that quarter century.
Argonauts.ca missed much of the on-field activity while helping out Colero, but in limited viewing, Theren Johnson certainly stood out. The recently signed defensive back had knockdowns on back-to-back plays when the offence was practicing no huddle. He later had a lengthy pick-six during skelly (no linemen) …Ethan John also had an interception he ran back for a touchdown…The Argos final pre-season game is Friday night in Guelph. It’s a rematch with the Tiger-Cats at 7:00 at Alumni Stadium. Tickets available at Argonauts.ca.