The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have re-signed veteran Canadian running back Johnny Augustine through the 2026 season.
The 32-year-old Welland, Ont., native appeared in 17 games last season, his first with the Ticats. He recorded 61 carries for 242 yards, 12 receptions for 134 yards and one special teams tackle.
Augustine appeared in 110 career CFL games, mostly with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, making 283 catches for 1,512 yards and three touchdowns, catching 29 passes for 303 yards and a touchdown, and adding 23 special teams tackles. The five-foot-eight, 202-pound University of Guelph product spent time with the Edmonton Elks and Saskatchewan Roughriders after going undrafted in 2017 before finding a home in Winnipeg and contributing to two Gray Cup victories.
The Ticats also brought back a trio of defensemen, re-signing Americans Zamarie Walton and Cameron Bergeron and Canadian Jake Nitihoruk.
Walton appeared in two games for the Ticats as a rookie, making seven tackles on defense before finishing the year on the practice squad. The six-foot-three, 185-pound corner finished his collegiate career at the University of Mississippi in 2023 with 38 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions, nine passes defensed and one forced fumble in 13 games. He transferred from Georgia Tech, where he played 48 games over five seasons, totaling 130 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions, one sack and 20 passes defensed.
Bergeron had a brief stint with the Tiger-Cats as part of their practice squad expansion at the end of the 2025 season. The six-foot, 190-pound native of Albany, Georgia spent his collegiate career at Duke University, where he appeared in 46 games and recorded 100 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, one interception, three passes defended, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
Nitichoruk was selected 57th overall in the seventh round of the 2025 CFL Draft by the Ticats but was released after training camp. The six-foot-four, 210-pound prospect appeared in 27 games over four seasons at the University of Manitoba, making 54 tackles, seven pass breakups, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, one tackle for loss and one blocked kick. The Winnipeg native most recently played for Team Canada at the Gridiron Nations Championship against Italy and Germany.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats finished first in the East Division standings in 2025 with an 11-7 record, although the team lost to the Montreal Alouettes in the East final. Bo Levi Mitchell led the CFL with 5,296 passing yards, 36 touchdowns and 11 interceptions after starting all 18 regular season games, earning an Eastern Division Most Outstanding Player nomination.
The Tiger Cats ranked third in net offense, eighth in net defense and first in turnover margin of plus ten. The club's leading rusher was Greg Bell with 1,038 yards, the leading receiver was Kenny Lawler with 1,443 yards, and the leading tackler was Stavros Kasantonis with 69 tackles. Hamilton ranked fourth in attendance with an average attendance of 22,858, up 3.9 percent from the previous year.
