A day after they officially confirmed the worst kept secret in Winnipeg – that their new stadium won’t be available until the Banjo Bowl on Sept. 9 at the earliest, and more likely for a Sept 21 game against Hamilton – the Winnipeg Blue Bombers pulled off a surprise in the annual CFL Canadian Draft, picking offensive tackle Tyson Pencer with the third overall selection.
The fact that orchestrated a deal with Hamilton, sending their eighth and 13th overall selections to the Ticats in exchange for the third overall choice wasn’t much of a surpise.
Bombers General Manager Joe Mack had hinted he would try to move up in the draft so they could potentially land a preferred player.
Rather, it was the selection of Pencer that created some arched eyebrows, as he wasn’t even ranked among the Top 15 in the April CFL Scouting Bureau rankings.
Mack explained that after their comprehensive evaluation of the draft field, they believed there were only three bluechip players who would be prepared to come immediately to the CFL and not take a shot at the NFL.
“We hoped to take defensive lineman Jabar Westerman from Eastern Michigan with the third overall pick, but when the B.C. Lions made him the second overall selection, we were happy to get Pencer with the third choice,” said Mack.
Mack understands that Pencer’s stock has fallen since he played for Washington State in 2009 and 2010. Pencer has had some injury issues, and he wound up playing for the Okanagan Sun Juniors last year after leaving WSU for academic reasons.
But Mack is a big believer in that what you see on film is the real thing. And after extensive viewing of Pencer’s play against the likes of USC and Oregon, Mack was sold.
“He’s aggressive, he doesn’t back down, and he’s very athletic. We think he has a chance to be a starter in the CFL, maybe even at tackle, and Canadian starters at offensive tackle are rare,” said Mack.
For his part Pencer was ecstatic.
“This is a dream come true. I’ve always followed the CFL, and my goal is to win a starting spot as an offensive guard and then hopefully move over to tackle,” said Pencer.
If size matters, Pencer is the full meal deal. The native of Delta, B.C. stands six-foot-eight and weighs in at 330-pound. And he is only 23 years old.
The Bombers lost three starting Canadians during the off-season, Doug Brown and Obby Khan to retirement and offensive linemen Brendon LaBatte to free agency.
While there are other young candidates to replace Khan and Labatte, Pencer will get every chance to show he deserves a chance to start in his rookie season, although the Bombers admit they aren’t counting on that.
They realize Pencer needs work on his technique and could be a year or two away from becoming a starter.
While Pencer will get most of the attention when the Bombers open training camp, Mack and draft coordinator Kyle Walters are also optimistic about their other four picks.
Johnny Aprile from Queen’s was taken with the 16th overall pick. Aprile is a receiver who made a real impact as a kick returner with the Gaels. The Bombers also see him as a potential safety.
Their third choice was defensive end Christo Bilukidi from George State. Mack doesn’t believe in drafting players who have NFL aspirations, but he made an exception in the case of Bilukidi, who was a sixth round pick of Oakland in this year’s NFL draft.
Bilukidi is a 22-year old, six-foot-six 290-pounder from Ottawa, who Mack feels will be an impact player if or when he comes North.
The Bombers 23rd overall selection was linebacker Rene Stephan from Harding University in Arkansas. Stephan hasn’t played for a year, but he was an all-conference linebacker at De Anza Junior College, and the Bombers were impressed with his speed at the CFL’s Evaluation camp.
Their final pick, 29th overall, was defensive tackle Jake Thomas from Acadia. Thomas is only 21, he’s ix-foot-two, 270-pounds, and was a second-team all-Canadian in 2011.
The Blue Bombers came away very pleased with their draft picks. But then too, so did seven other CFL teams.
As always, when it comes to evaluating the success of a draft, only time will tell.
