Laurier's 'Canuck Cannon' Elgersma turning heads at Senior Bowl, Stanford's Ayomanor opts out
68 invited to CFL Combine, 80 to invitational
Welcome to another offseason week on the path to draft season.
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Back north: U Sports offseason headlines 🍁
Laurier Golden Hawks quarterback Taylor Elgersma finished his third and final Senior Bowl practice on Thursday; the game starts on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET. Many at the premiere NFL Draft showcase this week have noted on social media how the Canadian university quarterback has improved with each day. Much of the praise has been focused on Elgersma’s size and arm talent — the guy people are calling the “Canuck Cannon” measured in with the longest wingspan (77 2/8”) among all seven Senior Bowl QBs, including Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel. Some of the criticism I’ve heard is his speed getting the ball out, overthinking in the pocket and inexperience in the 11-man game, which Elgersma has admitted is an adjustment he’s working on. (You can find more analysis on the first-ever Canadian university QB at the Senior Bowl by just Googling “Taylor Elgersma.”) Here are some of his top plays this week:
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Over 140 CFL Draft prospects have been invited to the CFL Combine (68) in Regina from March 21 to 23 and the invitational combine (80) at the University of Waterloo on Feb. 28. The Montreal Carabins lead U Sports with eight players going to the CFL Combine. One interesting addition to the invitational is former Western Mustangs running back Edouard Wanadi, who was suspended for four years by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport — U Sports’ anti-doping governing body — in spring 2023 due to a drug violation.
Western defensive back Jackson Findlay made this year’s Top 8 U Sports Academic All-Canadians list, which celebrates the eight “best and brightest university student-athletes from across Canada.” The OUA Outstanding Stand-Up Defensive Player of the Year was the lone football player among two basketball players, two swimmers, two track and field athletes, and a hockey player.
ICYMI: Read last week’s Pressure Package newsletter
Heading south ✈️
Stanford Cardinal wide receiver Elic Ayomanor (Medicine Hat, Alta.) opted out of the Senior Bowl, as first reported by Arye Pulli on Monday. Ayomanor was set to be the other Canadian in the showcase game when he initially accepted his invite. The 2023 Cornish Trophy winner is expected to go in the first three rounds of this year’s NFL Draft.
Nine Canadian NCAA players will be at the CFL Combine, including South Dakota State Jackrabbits offensive lineman Ethan Vibert (Regina), who started at guard on an offensive line that allowed just eight sacks in 15 games this season — the best in the FCS. Four NCAAers will be at the invitational.
For more on Ayomanor, read my latest Canuck U:
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 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.