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?
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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.
![]() So what more do we know about Lemar Durant. Well he stands at 6’2’’, which explains why he’s a wide receiver and weighs 230 pounds. Very highly rated that he has got NFL teams sniffing around him including 2014 Super Bowl champions Seattle Seahawks. As touched on previously Durant was one of the standouts at the regional combines, most notably for his 40-yard dash, ranking 4th overall in the combines and the highest for a wide receiver with 4.55 seconds. Furthermore he established a CFL combine record by bench pressing 225 pounds 26 times. All this is even more impressive as he’s not always been a Canadian Football player, as up until the age of 14 he was a very successful College Basketball player. Most likely destination Very highly rated so could go in the first round of the draft, that’s if he’s not snapped up by an NFL team for their draft. Given Ottawa RedBlacks have the first pick Durant could easily go there, however this depends on the on field position Ottawa are after. If not he could go to his home team BC Lions who have the 5th pick, alternatively he could go as low as the 8th pick which Hamilton Tiger-Cats have. Whichever franchise does get Durant will have a real talent on their hands who will have a long career whichever path he chooses, CFL or NFL.
That time of year is fast approaching where the 9 teams in Canadian Football are on the lookout to add that extra bit of quality to their ranks which may make the difference between a play-off spot or not, and more importantly a Grey Cup or no Grey Cup!
Most likely destination Hard to say as he was ranked 18/20 in the CFL scouting bureau for the top 20 prospects in September 2014, but failed to make the list last December. So the Toronto native may end up going under the radar, although I believe he should be snapped up given the many qualities he possesses. If not picked up straight away he could end up at Edmonton, but if Campbell’s drafted near the start Montreal could be his new destination.
Introduction Canadian Football is usually seen as the less attractive sibling in North American football as America’s NFL trumps the national game in Canada mainly due the financial power of the league and its teams. However there is vast appeal of CFL, most notably as the game is played at a faster pace compared to the NFL with a shorter play clock (20 seconds as opposed to 40), meaning double the excitement in that time. Each game as four quarters of 15 minutes each meaning the games last 1 hour in total (3 hours overall if commercial breaks are included). It is also worth noting if you don’t know much about Canadian Football that each team has an extra man compared to American Football, 12 instead of 11. Furthermore the pitches are bigger and wider (150-yards in length, incl. 20-yard endzones and 65 yards wide) meaning the Linemen need to be more pacey in order to close down the opposing teams offense. Additionally players in the CFL tend to be quicker and lighter than in the NFL as well as being smaller as the America football teams cut them from the roster after deeming them an inappropriate size. Brief League & teams overview So that’s just a bit of background information on Canadian Football and the CFL highlighting the main rules. Now to look at the teams where there are currently nine, with the latest (Ottawa Redblacks) being formed in 2010 after a number of failed franchises in Ottawa. The nine teams are split into two conferences, Eastern and Western meaning five are in one while the remaining four are in the other, although all the teams do play each other home and away with the season being 20 weeks, starting in June and finishing in November. The five teams in Western division consists off, BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos, Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers, while in the Western division there is Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Montreal Alouettes, Ottawa Redblacks and Toronto Argonauts. All the teams compete for the prestigious Grey Cup which is one of the oldest sporting trophies in the World having begun in 1902, although the professional competition (CFL) began in 1958. The teams ![]() Edmonton Eskimos Founded: 1949 Division: Western Colours: Green/Gold Stadium: Commonwealth stadium (56,302) No. of Grey Cups: 13 Most recent: 2005 ![]() Montreal Alouettes Founded: 1946 Division: Eastern Colours: Red/Blue/ Silver/White Stadium: Percival Molson Memorial Stadium (25,012) No. of Grey Cups: 7 Most recent: 2010 ![]() Saskatchewan Roughriders Founded: 1910 Division: Western Colours: Green/White/Black Stadium: Mosaic Stadium (33,427) No. of Grey Cups: 4 Most recent: 2013 |
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