Ali Saad invited to Detroit Lions local pro day
Keelan White, Hayden Harris wrap up college pro days at Montana
Welcome to April, when the weather is more unpredictable than your team’s draft strategy.
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Heading south ✈️
Bowling Green Falcons defensive end Ali Saad told me on Tuesday night that he’s been invited to the Detroit Lions local pro day on April 8, where he will get to perform in front of the team’s coaches and and scouts. The Windsor, Ont., native is a projected first-round pick in the CFL Draft and is gaining interest from the NFL after becoming one of the best Mid-American Conference run defenders in 2024. Saad’s 10 per cent run stop rate (stops divided by number of run defence snaps) was fourth-best among Group of Five edge defenders who played at least 190 snaps against the run in 2024, per Pro Football Focus. Comparing 2023 to 2024, he improved in several major statistical categories during his final college football season:
41 tackles (+17)
9 tackles for loss (+3)
4.5 sacks (+3)
22 pressures (+14)
23 stops (+8)
Montana Grizzlies wide receiver Keelan White showed off his agility at Montana’s pro day on Thursday. The Vancouver product’s 4.1-second shuttle would’ve been third-fastest among NFL Combine receivers and second among his position group at the CFL Combine. White’s three-cone quickness also impressed, running it in 6.78 seconds, which would have put him tied for fourth at the NFL Combine for WRs and first among CFL Combine WRs. Here are all of his numbers:
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 190 pounds
Wingspan: 75 1/4 inches
Bench press: 12 reps
Broad jump: 9-foot-9
40-yard dash: 4.6 seconds
Shuttle: 4.1 seconds
Three-cone: 6.78 seconds
(Video: @MontanaGrizFB/X, @SkylineSportsMT/X)
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Grizzlies DE Hayden Harris also competed at Montana’s pro day. The Canadian dual-citizen’s highlight was pumping out 25 reps on the 225-pound bench press, which would have been second-most among CFL Combine defensive linemen. When Harris spoke to media after his pro day performance, he detailed his daily routine ahead of the draft, which includes finishing his MBA and completing three-hour workouts. Here are all of his numbers:
Height: 6-foot-5.1
Weight: 257 pounds
Wingspan: 78 inches
Bench press: 25 reps
Broad jump: 9-foot-7
40-yard dash: 4.81 seconds
Shuttle: 4.51 seconds
Three-cone: 7.4 seconds
(Video: @MontanaGrizFB/X)
ICYMI: Read last week’s Pressure Package, featuring a CFL Combine recap
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)
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Excalibur (York)
The Queen’s Journal (Queen’s)
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Canada West
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The Gateway (Alberta)
The Gauntlet (Calgary)
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The Manitoban (Manitoba)
RSEQ
Impact Campus (Laval)
*Covered Rouge et Or football in the 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
The media covers U Sports football 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 until the early 2010s.