Rick Moffat
CFL.ca
Don’t blame Jim Popp for trading for a kicker only to draft one in the first round of the 2010 Canadian Draft. The rest of the CFL made him do it.
And be forewarned, the reigning Grey Cup back-to-back champs are thrilled with all of their draft selections.
“We got outstanding talent but we just don’t know when or if we’ll see it,” said Popp from his North Carolina home-office.
With low draft position year after year, the Als’ GM is used to choosing from others’ leftovers. Prospects “fall down” to him, as Popp puts it.
Sources close to the Lions tell me that the Als and BC had been talking about a trade of either Sean Whyte or Paul McCallum for months before their pre-draft deal, but even pulling the trigger with Wally Buono couldn’t force the Alouettes to pass on Brody McKnight.
“We had him rated as the best player available,” says assistant GM Marcel Desjardins. “He’s going back to Montana for another year and I won’t be surprised if there’s NFL interest, so who knows when we’ll get him.”
Clearly there is an organizational need at kicker with Damon Duval cut loose. But when that dovetailed with the potential for a ratio-changer, the Als couldn’t say no to the kicker seven other teams passed on.
“McKnight could be a ratio-changer so we could go back to the Terry Baker days,” says Popp.
The Als have always tried to go with one roster spot to cover all the kicking chores and all the better if that man’s a non-import.
McKnight’s selection marks the first time the Als have ever taken a kicker with their top draft selection and first time since the early ‘70s they have used any pick higher than their 5th selection in any draft year to take a kicker.
With McKnight chosen, the Als were then concerned home grown talent Anthony Barrette would not be available in the second round. Barrette “fell down” as well.
Life has come full bus ride if not full circle for the Stingers’ left tackle who was coached in his fourth year at Concordia by former Alouette all-star centre Bryan Chiu.
“My Dad and I would ride the bus from Verdun (a mostly working-class neighbourhood) and I’d cheer for Chiu and Okeke,” (Uzooma – who helped scout Barrette) said the solid 315-pounder who has one more year of CIS eligibility if more seasoning is required.
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| “My Dad and I would ride the bus from Verdun and I’d cheer for Chiu and Okeke,” said Anthony Barrette who grew up in Verdun, a working-class neighbourhood borough of the City of Montreal. |
Barrette received an unlikely phone call on the eve of the draft from his hero Okeke.
“He just started asking me all kinds of questions,” says Barrette, who was working as a bouncer at a Crescent Street nightclub (appropriately named for a football player “XO”). “I told him I’d be following the draft with my Mom and Dad and some buddies. He asked if I’d ever been in a fight. I didn’t lie. I said ‘yes’. The Argos had actually asked me during the combine if I’d been in any fights and if I’d won. I told them I won.”
“We got tough, physical brawlers,” raves Popp of his O-line restocking project that many had thought ended with the recent selections of Barrette’s Stinger teammate Kristian Matte in 2010, not to mention Dylan Steenbergen, Andrew Woodruff and Luc Brodeur-Jourdain in ’09 and ’08 respectively.
The Alouettes went “home grown” in the fourth round for defensive tackle Renaldo Sagesse from the Michigan Wolverines. He’ll be a project for defensive line coach Mike Sinclair and the Als hope he develops along the same lines as J.P. Bekasiak did in 2010.
But Popp and Desjardins insist they couldn’t believe their luck when the San Diego Chargers’ defensive lineman Vaughn Martin was still available at 39th overall.
“He petitioned the NFL to enter their draft two years ago so it’s like getting a first round draft pick,” said Desjardins. Though he admits a lockout could prolong the wait.
Martin has one year left on a contract and his former D-coordinator is now the new head coach in Carolina, so he may have another option if the new Chargers’ regime doesn’t keep the young defensive lineman around.
“If he’s ever bitchin’ to play more we’ll be there for him; and he won’t be bitchin’ about money,” laughs Popp, given Vaughn’s $2-million salary. “We’ve always put a premium on top-notch Canadian defensive tackles from Doug Peterson to Ed Philion to Bekasiak who is coming into his own.”
What could possibly be left for the Als by the time their final pick rolled around? Only one of the top two special teams players Montreal had rated remained. Blaine Ruttan’s coach at Carson-Newman has already e-mailed Popp to congratulate the Als on drafting a young man with such solid work ethic.
More evidence the Als have done their homework to make sure the talent that’s “falling down” has never fallen off the radar.
