Last night saw the hugely anticipated CFL draft that saw a record of Offensive Linemen going in the first round and Alex Mateas becoming the first overall pick, with Ottawa getting the night going. The night also saw highly rated Lemar Durant end up going in the final round 2 slot to Calgary. So there were a mixture of winners and losers on the night, but in your opinion which team were the main winners on the night and who was the star pick in the draft who will light up the CFL come June.
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The final prospect in the series of draft prospects is defensive lineman Daryl Waud who hails from Hamilton, Ontario. He stands at 6’5’’ and weighs 270 pounds and he plays his football for the Western Mustangs. Waud is highly rated having been ranked 5th last September in the CFL scouting bureau rankings before moving up to 3rd overall in December and in the final rankings recently he was ranked 7th which illustrates why a lot of franchises in both CFL and NFL want him. His stats are impressive over the past couple of seasons playing Canadian Football with the Mustangs where he picked up individual accolades as well as leaving a lasting impression. In the 2012-13 season Waud played a total of 9 regular season games, plus 2 play-off games where he won 32 tackles in total (25 of them being by himself), as well as assisting other teammates in 14 tackles. In the 2 play-off games Waud participated in he won 2 solo tackles (3.5 overall) meaning he won more than 1 tackle per game. This record in the total of 11 games he played earned him an OUA first team all-star and CIS first team All-Canadian. Meanwhile in the season just past (2013-14) Waud completed 11 games in total like the previous season (8 regular season, 3 play-offs) where he won 21 tackles, 12 of them solo in the regular season. He also assisted on 18 tackles, while in the play-offs he impressed further winning a total of 9 tackles (7 solo) and provided 4 assists on tackles too. Like 2012-13 he earned OUA first team all-star as well as playing in the CIS East West Bowl. These stats helped him get invited to the CFL combines back in March where he recorded 21 reps in the bench press which was the 2nd highest out of the defensive linemen to take part. While in the 3-cone drill he recorded a time of 7.66 which was the 3rd best for his position. In the past week Waud accepted mini-camp invitations from two big NFL franchises, the New York Giants and Washington where he will be hoping to showcase his skills there over the upcoming weeks. Most likely destination
Like others covered in these blogs it is hard to call where Waud will end up given the intense interest from a number of NFL teams. All the CFL teams will be hoping they get Waud given his strength and tackle record, but the question is which club would be most likely to get him. He could possibly go to Montreal and get paired with Michael Klassen, but this depends if the Alouettes want a defensive lineman as their number 1 pick. The 6-foot-6, 325 pound athlete Danny Groulx is the next in the series of prospects as we build up for the draft next week. The offensive lineman who attended Laval University loves the physicality of the game having told TSN that “when I get on the field, I like to hit people and have fun doing it” and that he chose football to hockey due to there being no restriction in being allowed to hit people whereas in hockey there is an age restriction. So given Groulx clearly loves a tackle this attribute will give him an extra hand when going in the CFL draft on the 12th of May. In the CFL scouting Bureau Groulx was ranked 4th back in September while in December he slipped to 8th and just recently in the final rankings before the draft he rose up to 5th making him a very appealing pick. During the CFL combines Groulx ranked 5th out of the offensive line during the bench press racking up 21, while in the 3 cone drill he ranked 3rd with a time of 8.03. Overall very impressive, but where will he end up?
The next player we focus upon in our CFL draft prospect series is 21-year-old Nic Demski who plays in the slotback position for Manitoba Bison’s. Demski would be drafted as a wide receiver and many of the teams will be hoping they are the lucky ones. However according to the CFL scouting bureau rankings he has dropped as last September he was ranked 3rd, then in December 2014 he dropped to 5th and in the final rankings he was ranked 9th. Nonetheless Demski should still be considered one of the top draft picks and figures suggest likewise as his form for the Bison’s last term saw him cover 767 yards with 6 touchdowns recorded from 36 catches equating to 1 touchdown for every 6 catches, impressive! Throughout his young career with the Bison’s he has been a four-time CIS all Canadian making him the youngest ever player to achieve this honour. This is even more impressive as he was juggling two sports (Canadian Football & Ice Hockey) until 2013 when he decided to focus solely on the football. 2013 also saw him move positions from offence to slotback where he excelled picking up his third all Canadian award as well as covering 640 yards with 7 touchdowns, proving that Demski’s potential will go a long way. Most likely destination
Given he is one of the most highly rated prospects in the draft I expect him to go in the top 3, meaning either Ottawa Redblacks, Winnipeg Blue Bombers or Toronto Argonauts will get him. Given that Demski is from the Winnipeg area and that the Blue Bombers may be looking for someone to beef up their offense then this could be his most likely destination. Demski too acknowledged this in an interview he gave to the Winnipeg Sun this March stating that it “would be a blessing, playing in front of family and friends, it would be an unreal feeling for sure.” Although it is worth noting that Demski has been invited by NFL side Clevland Browns to participate in their minicamp this weekend and the NFL is his preferred destination, so he could still be off to America. Next up in the CFL draft prospects of 2015 is defensive receiver Chris Ackie from Wilfrid Laurier University. The 22-year-old is currently ranked as the top defensive receiver in the upcoming draft, courtesy of the CFL scouting bureau, but ranked 12th overall. So what else do we know about the Cambridge native, well he started playing football when he was 10 following his brother’s footsteps and currently weighs 205 pounds, standing at 6’2’’. He has also had a very impressive College career after winning 2011/12 rookie of the year with Laurier as well as standing out in Laurier’s game last September against Carleton, in which he received OUA player of the week. Obviously this form helped him get spotted by the CFL talent scouts and advance to the CFL combines where he excelled. Ackie ranked in the top five of half the drills and topped the charts in two of them, the vertical jump with a height of 6.00 and vertical reach of 40.0’’ and the broad jump where he achieved a distance of 10’11.5’’. In addition to this Ackie ranked 3rd in the 3-cone drill with a time of 7.09, 0.18 seconds behind 1st placed wide receiver Nic Demski of Manitoba. Most likely destination Like some of Ackie’s combine counterparts he could go to any one of the nine CFL teams. His versatility may be key in seeing him get drafted at number 1 as Ackie said in a recent interview with cfl.ca that he is happy to play in any position and could easily go as an offensive. His all-round ability may appeal to a team like the Argonauts who will be looking for an edge after missing out on the play-offs last season. |
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