With excitement building ahead of the 2016 CFL draft on Tuesday (May 10th), it’s time to take a look at the top prospects who are billed to go in the first few rounds. In a change to last year there won’t be single articles on each one (due to time constraints), instead there will be one article highlighting the main guys who could be set for CFL stardom. The first round of the draft is seen to be a major factor in the team’s upcoming season with all 9 franchises looking for top Canadian talent who can be starters as opposed to sitting on the practice roster. As Toronto Argonauts General Manager, Jim Barker put it “you look for guys who can step right in and play right away” and these drafts will have a huge part bearing as to whether a team makes the Grey Cup or falls short by quite a way. Barker also added that mistakes in the draft process are costly and that “you’re only as good as your Canadian talent” selected in the draft. This year the highly regarded prospects all tend to be Offensive Linemen after a number of other prospects went in the NFL draft. Nigerian Defensive Lineman David Onyemata signed with the New Orleans Saints, while four others signed free agency deals with the NFL including highly rated receiver Tevaun Smith. The favourite to go at the number 1 slot is Toronto native Josiah St. John, who plays Offensive Lineman. Going first means he would be joining Chris Jones’ new looking Roughriders in Saskatchewan who endured a horrendous year last season only winning 3 of their 18 regular season games. So what’s the appeal that St. John has? Well he’s an Offensive Lineman for starters will appeals straight away to CFL sides due to the rules of having so many Canadian’s in the side and Linemen tend to be the best options. He weighs 300 pounds and will come from Oklahoma University where he has developed in his 2 years with the Sooners. In 2014 he played in 8 of the Sooners games making his debut on the 30th August against Louisiana Tech. The following year (2015) is where St. John grew in stature, playing one less game than 2014 (7) but started in 4 of them (all at right tackle) which is something he failed to do the previous year. Despite not partaking in the Combines he impressed the officials with his communication and if the teams require test results from St. John they needn’t look further than his pro day performance in front of all 32 NFL officials. These include 17 reps for the bench press, a 27-inch vertical jump as well as running the 20-yard shuttle run in 4.76 seconds. Next up is another Offensive Linemen in Jason Lauzon-Seguin who has represented Laval University and is a Quebec native. The 25-year-old is 6’4” and weighs 300 pounds and according to the CFL’s own mock draft could go second meaning he would mostly likely stay in his province, joining Montreal Alouettes. The potential of Lauzon-Seguin will excite a team like Montreal given their struggles in that area last season, so a top Canadian starter at tackle might be just what they need. During his couple of years with the University of Laval Lauzon-Seguin won a number of awards including two in 2015 with being named in the SIQ first offensive star team and RSEQ offensive star team in his first season starting at right tackle. Looking at his combine results, Lauzon-Seguin completed 27 reps in the bench press as well as completing the 40-yard dash in 5.385 seconds and reaching an impressive 30-inches for the vertical jump. Third according to CFL’s latest mock draft is Charles Vaillancourt who like Lauzon-Seguin also attended Laval University. The 6’4”, 329 pounds Offensive Lineman is a Quebec native and according to CFL’s official website is one of the biggest and most physical players up for grabs in the draft. His time at Laval University during 3 years speaks for itself with a total of 9 awards being racked up by Vaillencourt, emphasising how vital he’ll be for whichever team snaps him up. With Vaillancourt being listed number three in the mock draft means he would currently go to BC Lions which would be great for them given the rebuilding currently going on for the Vancouver based franchise. During the CFL combines back in March Vaillancourt achieved 24 reps in the bench presses, while finishing the 40-yard dash in 5.384 putting up in the top half of the Offensive Linemen who partook in that. In the vertical jump he achieved 27-inches, again putting him at the half way point in the OL department. Another Offensive Lineman is next on the list in the shape of Quebec native Phillipe Gagnon. Predicted to go fourth and unsurprisingly too as the Argos get the fourth pick and Gagnon has all the attributes that GM Jim Baker likes for his OL, strong, tough and mean. Should Gagnon join the Toronto based outfit he could potentially be a starter from the off which would him a great platform for the season which may end in Grey Cup glory in Toronto. His statistics from the CFL combines are mightily impressive with Gagnon recording 40 reps in the bench press which was the highest on the day and the joint third best of all-time. However his 40-yard dash was the slowest on the day with 5.513 seconds being recorded, although he wasn’t that far short of a number of other invitees and this was more a case of small margins. Gagnon’s vertical leap came in at 24.5 inches which put him in the lower half of results that day. Nevertheless the potential Gagnon has he could be a star in the making sooner rather than later. Finishing off my preview is Canadian receiver Juwan Brescacin, who’s played his trade with the University of North Illinois over a 4 year period becoming ever the consistent along the way. The 23-year-old Toronto native is 6’4” and weighs 227 pounds and can consider himself somewhat unfortunate not to be going to the NFL, however their loss is the CFL’s gain. Brescacin statistics for his time playing in the NCAA made for impressive reading, more so in 2013 and 2014 with his receiving catches hitting over 30 (33 and 31 respectively), while recording 499 in 2013 and 445 in 2014 for receiving yards. In both these two seasons too he did make 6 touchdowns. On CFL’s own website they predict that Brescacin will go fifth meaning he’ll join Hamilton unless another franchise negotiates trade slots. It will be those stats alone that the 9 teams base their judgement on as Brescacin could not attend the combines back in March due to his pro day falling pretty close to them.
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