The Saskatchewan Roughriders made sure Ben Heenan was given a dream entry into the Canadian Football League.
Usually, a draft pick has to wait by the phone to hear whether or not he was drafted.
Instead, Roughriders President and CEO Jim Hopson was given the green light to tell nearly 2,000 people attending the Univeristy of Saskatchewan Football Club’s charity breakfast that Heenan would be selected with the first overall pick in the CFL Canadian Draft.
In front of a rousing standing ovation, Heenan was handed his new Rider jersey and the future suddenly turned into the present.
“It was overwhelming to have that experience,” said a still speechless Heenan just hours after being officially named the first overall pick by Commissioner Mark Cohon.
“With my family, friends and teammates like that in Saskatoon, that was something special that I’ll never forget.”
The selection ended months of speculation about what the Riders would do with the first overall pick. In the end, the easy decision to draft the best player, who is also a home-town boy, was the best one for General Manager Brendan Taman.
“You always have to weigh the fact of ability and need at position and he just outweighed the categories of what we were looking at. He was the best player on the board and that’s what we felt we wanted to do. Obviously, he’s a talented young man.”
While other teams took a risk in drafting a player who could end up in the NFL, the Roughriders made sure they got a player they felt would be at training camp on June 1st and add to an already deep core of non-import offensive lineman.
The bonus for Heenan is he won’t be asked to step into a starting role right away. He can learn the tricks of the trade from a veteran offensive line group.
Although, don’t tell him that.
The Grand Coulee, SK farmer says he’s going to come into camp with the mindset to push the guys in front of him and land a starting a job.
Then we’ll see where he can play.
The main reason given by the pundits for not drafting Heenan (like I said last week in this space) was he’s a guard, a position in which the Riders are fairly deep with the signing and extension of Bredon LaBatte and Chris Best this off-season.
But Heenan made it clear that’s he’s willing to play at any position the Riders need him to play and Taman didn’t leave out the possibility of trying him at tackle in training camp.
Bottom line is Heenan may not play right away but he likely has a long career ahead of him in Green and White.
While the Roughriders picked the best player on the board to start off the draft, they had to fill needs with only three more picks.
Taman signaled linebacker, receiver and defensive line as the three big needs heading into Thursday’s draft. They took care of linebacker by drafting two-time Canada West Defensive Player of the Year, Sam Hurl with their next pick (12th overall) and 1st team All-Canadian Kevin Regimbald-Gagne (5th round).
The Roughriders can only dream Hurl turns out as well as the man they picked 12th overall last year, safety Craig Butler, who was the team’s nominee for Most Outstanding Rookie.
Hurl adds depth for the Roughriders who are looking at going with a non-import at middle linebacker.
But like, Butler last year, Taman is going to temper expectations.
“Defensively we wanted to get a special teams player who is a linebacker type. He’s a real tough, athletic, smart kid who’s a good football player.”
Regimbald-Gagne out of Sherbrooke is similar to Hurl in that the Roughriders would love to see him earn a job on special teams coming out of camp.
With the departure of Andy Fantuz and the retirement of Jason Clermont, there was no question the Roughriders were eying receivers in the draft.
They potentially got the steal of the draft when the fourth ranked receiver heading in was available with their final selection in the sixth round.
The Riders snapped up a teammate of Gagne’s by drafting Ismael Bamba – a quick, play making receiver who already has a tie to one of the Riders top receivers, Weston Dressler.
Bamba transferred from Dressler’s alma mater, the University of North Dakota, two years earlier.
And with Chris Getzlaf and Rob Bagg already locks to be starting Canadian receivers, Taman knows they need quality in behind them in case of injury.
“He’s pretty athletic, he’s very fast and he’s obviously going to come in and push for a depth spot… and we’ll see where it goes.”
And Taman’s work didn’t end on Thursday.
Over the weekend, he added three more players to the team’s protected list that he expects will be at rookie camp in May, including another receiver and a defensive lineman.
However, don’t ask Taman if he’s willing to grade himself a week after a draft. He’s quite honest that “every GM in the league is going to say they got who they wanted, but proof is in the pudding.”
But when you’re able to draft first overall and get the best player that every team would love to have, it’s pretty easy to say the Riders are smiling about what transpired on draft day.
