5 Canadians left in CFP, bowl season nears end and Rohan Jones' Montana State set for FCS title game
Kurtis Rourke, Keelan White latest Canadian CFBers to declare for NFL, CFL drafts
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Sad about last night’s World Junior’s game? It’s okay — because there are still young Canadians to watch in another sport!
Welcome to the College Football Playoff semifinals and the final weekend of non-playoff bowl games.
Heading south ✈️
Boise State and Canadian safety Ty Benefield (Vancouver) were eliminated from the CFP quarterfinals after losing to Penn State, 31-14, in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve. Benefield struggled to cover potential first-round NFL Draft pick Tyler Warren, allowing two touchdowns against Penn State’s 6-foot-6 tight end. But the Vancouver College alumnus still tied his season-high for tackles, tallying nine in the loss.
Five Canadians remain in the CFP, though none are starters. Notre Dame has three defensive linemen from the north: Armel Mukam (La Prairie, Que.), Sean Sevillano (Winnipeg) and Devan Houstan (Mississauga, Ont.). Ohio State has the other two: TE Maxence LeBlanc (St-Bruno, Que.) and punter Anthony Venneri (Hamilton, Ont.).
Montana State and Canadian h-back Rohan Jones (Montreal) are playing North Dakota State in the FCS national championship game in Frisco, Texas on Monday. Jones’ Bobcats beat South Dakota and its three Canadians — DL Carter Hooper (Toronto), DL Chris Dixon (Toronto), and wide receiver Tristan Michaud (Quebec City, Que.) — in the semifinals on Dec. 21, 2024. Jones is the lone Canuck in the title game since South Dakota State and its northern duo — offensive lineman Ethan Vibert (Regina) and defensive back Noah St-Juste (Montreal) — dropped to North Dakota State on semifinals weekend.
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Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke (Oakville, Ont.) and Montana WR Keelan White (Vancouver) are the latest Canadians to declare for the NFL and CFL drafts. Rourke, who announced his draft status Wednesday on Instagram, is projected to go anywhere from the fourth through the seventh round of the NFL Draft and is at the top of CFL teams’ boards. White is also likely to be a high pick in the CFL Draft. Stanford WR Elic Ayomanor (Medicine Hat, Alta.) is another notable Canadian who declared for the NFL Draft on Dec. 20.
College football teams with at least one Canadian on the roster went 9-10 in non-CFP bowl games since last Friday, bringing the total record to 15-14 with two days to go. The biggest wins were Louisville over Washington in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, where star DL Rene Konga (Ottawa) collected a sack and two solo tackles, and LSU over Baylor in the Kinder’s Texas Bowl, where DL Paris Shand (Toronto) also had a sack and two tackles in his final game in the Tiger threads.
Three more bowl games featuring six Canadians on three teams will be played between Friday and Saturday to cap off bowl season:
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl: North Texas (1) vs. Texas State (0)
North Texas linebacker Jaylen Smith (Hamilton, Ont.), with 97 tackles this season, has a chance to break the 100-tackle mark. Rutgers LB Dariel Djabome (Longueuil, Que.) did it earlier this season, becoming the first Canadian to tally triple digits since current Chicago Bears LB Amen Ogbongbemiga’s (Calgary) 100-tackle 2019-20 Oklahoma State season.
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: Minnesota (2) vs. Virginia Tech (0)
David Amaliri, Minnesota LB (Winnipeg)
Rhyland Kelly, Minnesota DB (Winnipeg)
Bahamas Bowl pres. by Atlantis Resorts: Buffalo (3) vs. Liberty (0)
Jackson Bellamy, Buffalo OL (Ancaster, Ont.)
Junior Poyser, Buffalo DL (Brampton, Ont.)
Nick Roy, Buffalo EDGE (Montreal)
For another CFB breakdown from earlier this week, read my latest Canuck U:
Back north: U Sports offseason headlines 🍁
Not much to report here, other than Canadian former NFL TE Luke Willson tweeting (is that still the word?) his thoughts on the eligibility relationship between CEGEP and U Sports football:
ICYMI: Read last week’s Pressure Package newsletter:
Student shout-outs 📢
I got my start in multimedia storytelling and sports journalism at a student newspaper. It’s important for me to spread the love to those student journos finding new leads on campus fields across the country, just like I did a short time ago.
OUA
The Western Gazette (Western)
*My old stomping grounds!
The Cord (Laurier)
Imprint (Waterloo)
The Silhouette (McMaster)
The Varsity (Toronto)
Excalibur (York)
The Queen’s Journal (Queen’s)
The Fulcrum (Ottawa)
The Charlatan (Carleton)
Canada West
The Ubyssey (UBC)
The Gateway (Alberta)
The Gauntlet (Calgary)
The Sheaf (Saskatchewan)
The Manitoban (Manitoba)
RSEQ
Impact Campus (Laval)
*Covered Rouge et Or football in Vanier Cup
Quartier Libre (Montreal)
Concordia
The McGill Tribune (McGill)
Le Collectif (Sherbrooke)
AUS
The Xaverian Weekly (StFX)
The Campus (Bishop’s)
The Athenaeum (Acadia)
The SMU Journal (Saint Mary’s)
More Canadian college football coverage
U Sports football is covered by the media at a level not seen since theScore’s former television program “University Rush” covered Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS, the former name for U Sports) football up until the early 2010s.