Paul LaPolice, Rachel Lessard named Canadian flag football head coaches ahead of L.A. 2028 Olympics
Green Bay Packers to interview Taylor Elgersma this weekend
Oh, Canada. We now have coaches.
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Up north 🍁
With just over three years until the L.A. 2028 Olympics and the first-ever Games featuring flag football, Football Canada named Paul LaPolice and Rachel Lessard its new head coaches for the Canadian senior national flag football teams on Thursday afternoon.
Lessard, a former Montreal Fleur de Lys player and current University of Montreal flag football head coach, will lead the women’s team. When she met with me this week to talk about the new role, Lessard said she’s impressed with the “crazy” growth of Canadian flag football — a sport largely grown by women in this country.
LaPolice, a former CFL head coach and current TSN analyst, will head up the men’s team. “Lapo” told me ahead of the announcement that this is a “special opportunity” and that he’s looking for players “who love the process of pro football.”
Both teams will hold a final identification camp at the University of Montreal from May 22-24. Any prospective football players with experience playing skill positions — quarterbacks, receivers, running backs and defensive backs — are encouraged to compete at the camp. (If you’re a fast linebacker whose hands aren’t feet, I’d also recommend you go, too.)
Lessard’s Montreal squad won its third collegiate flag football national championship in four years this weekend when it beat Concordia University 40-28 in Sunday’s title game.
Montreal won both of the tournament’s first two seasons in 2022 and 2023, but the College Montmorency Nomades broke the streak last year.
Football Saskatchewan — a non-profit organization made up of directors from all levels of amateur football in the prairie province — hosted this year’s tournament in Regina, Sask.
The East-West Bowl is set for a 12:30 p.m. ET kickoff at the University of Waterloo’s Warrior Field on Saturday.
Players and coaches arrived in Waterloo, Ont., earlier this week to begin practices and other events ahead of the game.
The Montreal Carabins, Guelph Gryphons, Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks and the host, Waterloo, are in a four-way tie for most players invited, with six each.
ICYMI: Read last week’s Pressure Package, featuring draft recaps
Heading south ✈️
The Green Bay Packers are expected to offer a contract to Laurier QB Taylor Elgersma, an NFL source told TSN’s Dave Naylor this week.
The Packers are bringing Elgersma back to Green Bay this weekend for a follow-up interview, according to 3DownNation’s Justin Dunk.
Elgersma attended Green Bay’s rookie mini-camp last week and was also invited to the Packers’ top-30 visit ahead of the NFL Draft. The green and gold opted not to select the Hec Crighton Trophy winner in the draft, but it’s clear the team wanted to learn more about him.
Elgersma was also invited to the Buffalo Bills rookie mini-camp, which begins Friday, but won’t be there due to this Green Bay situation. Fellow Canadians Paris Shand and Hayden Harris signed contracts with the Bills shortly after this year’s NFL Draft, and are expected in Orchard Park, New York, for mini-camp.
The London, Ont., product was the first-ever QB from a Canadian university to play in the Senior Bowl when he competed in the NFL Draft’s premier showcase game in February.
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Punter Anthony Venneri and defensive lineman Elijah St. John are the latest Canadians to find new college homes in the transfer portal.
Venneri, who hails from Hamilton, Ont., is transferring to the UCF Knights earlier this week. The Canadian specialist and St. Thomas More High School alumnus spent his 2024 season with the Ohio State Buckeyes, winning a College Football Playoff national championship in January. Before then, Venneri played for the Buffalo Bulls for two years.
St. John, an Ottawa native, is transferring from the FCS’s Long Island Sharks to the Big Ten’s Purdue Boilermakers. He’s reuniting with fellow Canadian and former Clearwater International Academy teammate Evans Chuba, a QB who transferred from the Washington State Cougars in January. St. John has played the last two seasons with LIU.