Convinced his career was over, Jake Medlock instead received a phone call a couple weeks ago that has him on top of the world.

That call led to a workout and an invite to minicamp with the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes. And now, the former Valdosta State standout leaves for Montreal with a contract and an invitation to training camp.

“I actually thought my football career was done,” he said. “I thought Calgary was going to end up picking me up and the last day they told me no and told me that I was a pocket passer. I was just like, ‘Come on now. I ran in college.’ That’s the worst excuse I could get.

“So I thought my career was done and then all of a sudden Montreal called and said they wanted me to come to a workout.

“When they called and said they wanted me to come to training camp, I went crazy. I went from thinking my career was done and now I’m going to go to training camp.”

In his one season with the Blazers, Medlock certainly was more than just a pocket passer. In 11 games, Medlock did complete 69.9 percent of his 246 passes for 2,024 yards with 16 touchdowns. But the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Medlock also provided depth to VSU’s rushing attack as he complimented Cedric O’Neal and Austin Scott with 619 yards and seven TDs on the ground.

That netted Medlock second-team All-American recognition as well as helping the Blazers reach an NCAA Division II quarterfinal. 

It also helped lead Medlock overseas where he played for the Dresden Monarchs in the German Football League a year ago.

“It was a great experience, to be able to go to another country and seeing how they live and how they look at the game,” he said about his experience with the Monarchs, where he completed 67.4 percent of his 178 passes for 1,597 yards with 20 touchdowns to just three interceptions. He added 251 yards and eight touchdowns rushing.

“They’re very serious about football over there. It was really cool how they kept up with it. It kind of reminded me a lot of Valdosta. Games were packed when they were at home.”

Now he tries to compete for a spot in the wide-open CFL with a deep pool of talented quarterbacks on the Alouettes’ roster. In addition to Kevin Glenn, Montreal’s veteran starter, the Alouettes also have former Marshall star Rakeem Cato, who threw for 2,167 yards for Montreal a year ago, as well as Clemson product Tahj Boyd and former Tennessee star Jonathan Crompton.

Still, Medlock said his three days at Montreal’s minicamp were full of learning from those guys.

“I blew (the workout) out of the water,” he said. “It was the best day throwing I’ve had in a very, very long time.

“I met a lot of great guys and they helped me out a lot. It’s just a bunch of really good quarterbacks and I got to learn from them and the three days I was there for practice, I did really good and caught on to the offense.”

Picking up the offense will be the biggest key now, he said.

“It’s going to be hard, but they told me they went through eight quarterbacks last year and were keeping six,” he said. “So the chances are in my favor, but with the great talent around I’ve got to just do the best I can and do what I’m capable of doing and learning from the older guys, the veterans.

“Just picking (Glenn’s) brain, because this league I think is my kind of league because of my arm and being able to hit every throw on the field. So I just have to keep my head into the playbook and just know what I can do.”

As he tries to latch on to the Alouette roster, Medlock has one other advantage — those legs that didn’t interest Calgary. In addition to his running prowess at VSU, Medlock also served as the Blazers’ punter in 2014 — earning multiple All-American honors after averaging 44 yards per kick on 26 punts, including a long of 65 yards against Winston-Salem State. Medlock had six punts that covered more than 50 yards and 11 times pinned an opponent inside its 20.

“I shanked the first three and the coach was like, ‘Oh you can’t punt,’” he said. “I told him to give me a second because I haven’t punted since college and the very next punt, I boomed it like 65 yards in the air.”

Jamie Wachter is the sports editor of the Valdosta Daily Times and can be followed on Twitter @jlwachter.