Over 70 to compete at this weekend's CFL Combine
Several Canadians participate in FBS, FCS pro days
Welcome to CFL Combine week!
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Back north 🍁
More than 70 prospects are in Regina, Sask., this weekend for the CFL Combine, which kicks off on Friday and continues through Sunday.
BYU Cougars defensive lineman Isaiah Bagnah has the busiest week among combine prospects, having completed his Big 12 pro day in Frisco, Texas, on Wednesday, then quickly turning around to fly to Saskatchewan for Friday. The Lethbridge, Alta., native’s pro day numbers didn’t stand out among his conference peers during Wednesday’s testing portion — cracking the top 10 in just the three-cone — but he did show flashes of burst and explosion during on-field reaction drills. Bagnah is the highest-ranked combine participant on the CFL Scouting Bureau, sitting at No. 4 in the winter edition.
(Video: BYU Football/IG)
The Western Mustangs, Montreal Carabins and Alberta Golden Bears lead all U Sports teams with seven players representing each of the three Canadian universities. (I know I’m getting old now that I’ve only played with one of those Mustangs, offensive lineman Alex Berwick, when he was a rookie and I was a senior in 2019.) Montreal DL Jeremiah Ojo is the highest-ranked U Sports player on the winter edition of the CFL Scouting Bureau, coming in at No. 7, just before Western safety Jackson Findlay.
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Heading south ✈️
Utah Utes wide receiver Damien Alford had one of the most impressive pro day performances at the Big 12 conference’s Wednesday event, posting a 4.46-second 40-yard dash after measuring in at 6-foot-5 and 224 pounds. That number would be third-fastest among NFL Combine WRs over 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds.
Stanford Cardinal WR Elic Ayomanor competed in Wednesday’s Stanford pro day, hitting 15 reps on the 225-pound bench press and running field drills. The San Francisco 49ers were one team that showed interest in the WR from Medicine Hat, Alta., according to Brad Graham of TheSFNiners. San Francisco general manager John Lynch reportedly requested Ayomanor to run a specific route at least once and WR coach Leonard Hankerson coached him up (refer to video below). Lynch also spent time chatting with the Canadian while others ran their 40-yard dash; Ayomanor didn’t compete in speed and agility tests. The Albertan will be at the 49ers’ local pro day.
(Video: @Graham_SFN/X)
Arkansas State Red Wolves DL Nate Martey impressed with 25 reps on the bench press at his pro day. The best interior DL bench at this year’s NFL Combine was 29 reps — just four more than the Ottawa product. The 14th-ranked prospect on the winter edition of the CFL Scouting Bureau didn’t do well in the 40-yard dash, however, running it in 5.52 seconds.
North Texas Mean Green linebacker Jaylen Smith is another Canadian who won’t make it to the CFL Combine, but will be at his team’s pro day on Friday. Smith made the most tackles as a Canadian in the NCAA this past season, racking up 106, which is twice as much as his first three years at North Texas combined (53).
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.