Mark Masters
The National Post
Many players may shudder at the thought of playing for the Toronto Argonauts. Not Joe Eppele. The Argos selected Eppele with the second overall pick in yesterday’s Canadian Football League draft.
The Washington State offensive lineman said the fact the Argos are in a rebuilding year after missing the playoffs in two straight seasons is actually a big plus for him.
“It’s the perfect opportunity for me to come out and compete and get on the field, which is what I really want to do,” said Eppele. “I’m really looking forward to it.”
In an interview with the National Post before the draft, Eppele said he relished the opportunity to help turnaround a franchise. “It would be amazing to be able to say I was part of turning it around and being able to feel like I contributed to that would be huge for me,” said Eppele.
After compiling a 7-29 record the last two years the Argos were looking for some immediate help and head coach Jim Barker said the club got just that from the draft.
Barker said the 6-foot-8, 306-pound Eppele will have a chance to make an impact on the team right away.
“He’ll come in and compete at right tackle with the players we have. We’ll start him out playing at tackle, knowing we can move him inside to [the] guard [position] where he played some at Washington State,” said Barker. “Does he start? That will be up to Joe Eppele. Will he be given an opportunity? Absolutely.”
Eppele said Toronto fans should expect him to be a silent leader in the locker room and fundamentally sound on the field. “I like to lead by example mostly. I won’t be doing back flips or anything at halftime, but I can tell [Argos fans] their quarterback will be safe and their running back will be getting a lot of yards on the board so that’s what they can expect.”
Toronto pulled off a trade before the draft in order to get two picks early in the first round. The Argos sent the first and eighth picks to Saskatchewan and received the second and fourth overall picks in return, along with kicker Jamie Boreham.
Then they obtained the third, 18th, 26th and 30th overall picks in the draft from the Lions in exchange for the fourth, 20th, 24th and 25th picks. The Argos used the third pick to select Concordia linebacker Cory Greenwood.
“Greenwood will come in and compete with Jason Pottinger and Kevin Eiben and it gives us a great threesome of Canadian linebackers,” said Barker. “To be able to get him there it just gives us some great depth.”
The Argos took a chance in the fourth round selecting offensive lineman Joel Reinders from Waterloo. Reinders recently signed a contract with the Cleveland Browns and is expected to be with the NFL team during the next season.
“When he was available [at that pick] he was just too good of a football player to let go by and hope he goes to your next pick,” said Barker. “We just felt he was the right guy to take there.”
The Argos also selected Bishop’s receiver Steven Turner in the fourth round. Turner attended a mini-camp with Chicago last week and may get a contract offer from the NFL club.
Toronto’s other draft picks included: kicker/defensive back Grant Shaw(third round, 11th overall), receiver Spencer Watt (third round, 18th overall), offensive lineman Mike Warner (fifth round, 32nd overall) and Nasser Jamal (sixth round, 40th overall) and linebacker Conor Elliott (sixth round, 44th overall).
courtesy of www.nationalpost.com
