Arden Zwelling
CFL.ca
No matter where the chips fell following a busy day of wheeling and dealing at the 2010 CFL Canadian Draft, it was a banner day for football players from the Canadian University ranks.
In all, four of the seven first round picks came from Canadian Interuniversity Sport competition and 36 of the 47 players selected on Sunday were from Canadian schools.
Leading the pack was Queen’s University’s Shomari Williams who was selected first overall by the Saskatchewan Roughriders after the Toronto Argonauts sent the first and eighth overall picks west for punter Jamie Boreham and the second and fourth overall picks.
The six-foot-two, 236-pound defensive lineman was ecstatic to be picked by the Roughriders.
“It feels great, I’m so excited and so happy about this,” Williams said from Regina. “It’s good to be part of a great team and a great organization. I couldn’t ask for anything else.”
Williams helped lead the Queen’s Gaels to their first Vanier Cup championship in 17 years this past November with a 33-31 win over the Calgary Dinos. He paced the entire CIS throughout the playoffs with 5.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for a loss.
The Brampton, ON native becomes the first Queen’s product to be taken first overall in the draft in more than 50 years. He said Queen’s assistant coach Pat Tracey and defensive coach Bob Vespaziani were big factors in preparing him for making the step up to the CFL.
“I think this bodes really well for the football program at Queen’s,” Williams said. “Coach Vespaziani and Coach Tracey both helped me a lot to get ready to come into the CFL. They worked wonders with me to help me get ready for this day.”
After the Argonauts used their second overall pick to select hulking offensive lineman Joe Eppele from Washington State, they flipped picks with the BC Lions, allowing them to draft Concordia linebacker Cory Greenwood third overall.
“It means a lot that the Argos did all the behind the scenes stuff to pick me up at number three. I can’t wait to get into camp,” Greenwood said.
The six-foot-two, 235-pounder averaged 7.8 tackles a game for the Stingers in 2009 and led the Quebec league in tackles with 62. The Kingston native is excited about playing close to home.
“I grew up watching Mike O’Shea and the Argonauts,” Greenwood said. “I’ve got plenty of family and friends in Kingston as well as Toronto so hopefully they can make it up to as many games as they can.”
Greenwood owes some of his football success to luck in his rookie season at Concordia. In just the second quarter of his first game with the Stingers, Greenwood was called off the bench to replace an injured linebacker and never turned back.
“I went in and the rest is history. I never came out,” Greenwood said. “[Concordia] gave me an opportunity to compete and play at a high level. Just playing in that competitive Quebec conference with teams like Laval and Bishop’s — that really got me ready for the CFL.”
After Baylor offensive lineman Danny Watkins was selected fourth overall by the Lions, the Calgary Stampeders used their first round pick to select Guelph kicker Rob Maver fifth.
“I went out to Calgary for my workout and the whole organization was just so great to me. As soon as I got on the plane to go home, I was already thinking that’s the place I would really be happy to go to,” Maver said.
Maver converted 13 of his 14 field goal attempts in 2009 and his 41.3 yards per punt was good for second in the CIS. He credited former Gryphons head coach Kyle Walters — now the special teams coordinator with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — for much of his development.
“At Guelph, We definitely treated special teams as one third of the game and we worked really hard at it. I think that’s definitely translated and that had a lot to do with the success that I had at Guelph,” Maver said.
Rounding out the first round were the Edmonton Eskimos, who selected Stanford offensive lineman Brian Bulcke sixth overall, and the Montreal Alouettes, who chose Kristian Matte, an offensive lineman from Concordia.
Matte may never see action in the CFL, however, having recently signed a free agent contract with the Houstan Texans of the NFL.
Bishop’s wide receiver Shawn Gore, expected by many to be selected in the first round after an impressive performance at the CFL’s Evaluation Camp, slid to the tenth spot on the draft board where the BC Lions claimed the Toronto native.
Gore was in Wisconsin on draft day, trying out for the NFL’s Green Bay Packers.
“I’m extremely excited to be going to BC,” Gore said after a workout with the Packers. “Just to work with a guy like Wally Buono — I think it’s going to be amazing.”
Gore led a crop of three Gaiters draftees on Sunday that included wide receiver Steven Turner who was selected 30th overall by the Argonauts and linebacker Justin Conn who was chosen with the 47th and final pick of the draft by the Alouettes.
Gore said playing under Gaiters head coach and CFL veteran Leroy Blugh had a great effect on the trio’s development towards the CFL. Blugh won the Grey Cup in 1993 with the Edmonton Eskimos and the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian Award in 1996.
“I think coach Blugh has instilled an extremely strong work ethic in all his players. I thought I had a good work ethic when I came to Bishop’s but he pushed it to another level and really taught me how to be more efficient,” Gore said.
“[Blugh] was in the CFL for fifteen years so he knows what it’s like and he tries to bring a lot of that down to the college level. He really did a good job of teaching us what it’s like to be at the next level.”
For complete draft results click here
