CFL adds third combine & adjusts invitation format

TORONTO – With the success of last year’s regional combines, the Canadian Football League announced today that it is adding a third regional combine. This year’s regional combines will take place in Edmonton on March 17, Montreal on March 19 and Toronto on March 20. The national CFL Combine presented by Reebok will take place in Toronto from March 21-23.

“Last year we introduced the concept of regional combines with the objective of providing more players opportunities to work out in front of scouts and coaches from all teams and the results and feedback were very positive,” said Kevin McDonald, CFL vice president of football operations.

The CFL also announced that it has adjusted the invitation process for players.

How it Works:

The top 40 players eligible for the upcoming CFL Draft on May 13, as ranked collectively by the teams and the league office, are invited to attend the national CFL Combine presented by Reebok.

The CFL, with input from all teams, will then invite additional players from the regional combines depending on player performance.

There is no minimum or maximum number of players required to be invited to the national combine from the regional combines. But the expectation is that approximately 6-12 players will be extended an invite.

“This year we have initially invited fewer players to the national combine to provide us with more flexibility to invite players who perform well at the regional combines,” added McDonald. “Last year’s regional combines added three excellent players to the national combine roster, and they all went on to be selected in the first four rounds of the CFL Draft.”

About the Regional Combines:

The one-day invitational combines are for players eligible for the 2014 CFL Draft. The top players from each combine could receive an invite to attend the national CFL Combine in Toronto from March 21 to March 23. The regional combines may also include non-import free agents and import free agents who play in the CIS. These players are not eligible for the draft and therefore cannot receive an invitation to the national CFL Combine. Each regional combine will invite approximately 30 to 40 football players. See below for the list of participants:

EDMONTON REGIONAL CFL COMBINE PARTICIPANT LIST:

Name	Pos	School	Draft Status
Quarterback
Eric Dzwilewski	QB	Calgary	Import
Jahlani Gilbert-Knorren	QB	Langley Rams	Draft Eligible
Cayman Shutter	QB	Regina	Free Agent
Defensive Back
Raymond Cornish	DB	Saint Mary’s	Draft Eligible
Braxton Lawrence	DB	Saskatchewan	Free Agent
Running Back
Cuong Thai-Lieu	RB	Calgary	Free Agent
Jeremy Andrew	RB	Saskatchewan	Draft Eligible
Linebacker
Richard Zacharias	LB	Saskatchewan	Draft Eligible
Doctor Cassama	LB	Calgary	Free Agent
Tyler Lavin	LB	McGill	Free Agent
Thomas Miles	LB	Manitoba	Draft Eligible
Tom Harris	LB	UBC	Free Agent
Defensive Line
Zach Hart	DL	Saskatchewan	Free Agent
Steven Giang	DL	Alberta	Draft Eligible
Dylan Roper	DL	Simon Fraser	Draft Eligible
Michael Dadzie	DL	Regina	Draft Eligible
Joel Suetter	DL	Saskatchewan	Free Agent
Pacome Matulu	DL	Manitoba	Draft Eligible
Ranji Atwall	DL	Manitoba	Draft Eligible
Offensive Line
Keegan Schneider	OL	Winona State	Draft Eligible
Tyler Fabbri	OL	Manitoba	Draft Eligible
Kyle Paterson	OL	Regina	Draft Eligible
Lane Bryksa	OL	Saskatchewan	Draft Eligible
Tristain Hoath	OL	Saskatoon Hilltops	Free Agent
Receiver
Mitch Stevens	WR	Saskatchewan	Free Agent
Kolten Solomon	WR	Regina	Free Agent
Brett Carter	WR	Winnipeg Rifles	Free Agent
Brad Quartel	WR	Edmonton Wildcats	Draft Eligible
Landon Buch	WR	Regina	Draft Eligible
Andrew Smith	WR	Manitoba	Draft Eligible
Tore Corrado	WR	Simon Fraser	Draft Eligible
Micha Theil	WR	UBC	Free Agent
Jared Jonatta	WR	Regina	Free Agent
Ryley Richardson	WR	Alberta	Free Agent
Matt LaRiviere	WR	Manitoba (WPG Rifles)	Draft Eligible
Kicker/Punter
Denton Kolodzinski	P	Saskatchewan	Draft Eligible
John Mark	K	Calgary	Draft Eligible

MONTREAL REGIONAL CFL COMBINE PARTICIPANT LIST:

Name	Pos	School	Draft Status
Defensive Back
Brett Backman	DB	Acadia	Free Agent
Matthew Bond-Lapointe	DB	Ottawa	Free Agent
Alexandre Branco	DB	Sherbrooke	Draft Eligible
Soonbum Cha	DB	Ottawa	Free Agent
O’Shane Daley	DB	Bishop’s	Free Agent
Charlton Elliott	DB	St. Francis Xavier	Draft Eligible
Demetrius Ferguson	DB	St. Francis Xavier	Draft Eligible
El-Hadj N’Doye	DB	McGill	Draft Eligible
Mattey Ossom	DB	McGill	Draft Eligible
Jamie Symianick	DB	Western University	Free Agent
Alex Graham	DB	Acadia	Free Agent
Running Back
Jean-Christophe Beaulieu	RB	Sherbrooke	Draft Eligible
Sean Murphy	RB	McGill	Draft Eligible
Alexandre Dupuis	RB/TE	Montreal	Draft Eligible
Guillaume G. Bourassa	RB	Laval	Draft Eligible
Ronlee King-Fileen	RB	Bishop’s	Free Agent
Linebacker
Omar Smith-Jackson	LB	Bishop’s	Draft Eligible
Travis Bent	LB	Concordia	Draft Eligible
Matt Lalande	LB	Saint Mary’s	Draft Eligible
Stephan Osman	LB	McGill	Draft Eligible
Pier-Yves Lavergne	LB	Montreal	Draft Eligible
Alex Lemire	LS/LB	Concordia	Free Agent
Eric Noivo	LB/DE	Concordia	Draft Eligible
Defensive Line
Sanmi Adereti	DE	St. Francis Xavier	Draft Eligible
Shaquille Armstrong	DL	Concordia	Draft Eligible
Vincent Desloges	DL	Laval	Draft Eligible
Jonathan Langma	DL	Concordia	Free Agent
Steve McCollum	DL	Bishop’s	Free Agent
Offensive Line
Quinn Everett	OL	Mount Allison	Draft Eligible
Kyle Handy	OL	Bishop’s	Free Agent
Tyler Harding	OL	Bishop’s	Free Agent
Adam Hughes	OL	Bishop’s	Free Agent
Frederik Landry-Simard	OL	Concordia	Draft Eligible
Devon Millar	OL/LS	Ottawa	Free Agent
Receiver
Nathan Heather	WR	Bishop’s	Draft Eligible
Troy Trentham	WR	Mount Allison	Draft Eligible
Bill Nyantakyi	WR/RB	Bishop’s	Free Agent
Francis Lapointe	WR	Sherbrooke	Draft Eligible
Ryon McCAlla	WR	Bishop’s	Free Agent
Michael Harrington	WR	Concordia	Draft Eligible
Marc Etienne-Villeneuve	WR	Montreal	Free Agent

TORONTO REGIONAL CFL COMBINE PARTICIPANT LIST:

Name	Pos	School	Draft Status
Defensive Back
Taylor Palmer	DB	Guelph	Free Agent
Raye Hartmann	DB	St. Francis Xavier	Draft Eligible
Felix Odum	DB	Wilfrid Laurier	Free Agent
Josh Burns	DB	Windsor	Draft Eligible
Matt Webster	DB	Queen’s	Draft Eligible
Running Back
Aaron Milton	RB	Toronto	Draft Eligible
Errol Brooks	RB	York	Draft Eligible
Connor Anderson	RB	York	Draft Eligible
Zack Davis	RB	York	Draft Eligible
Linebacker
Jonno Carreiro	LB	Twin Cities Predators	Free Agent
Aram Eisho	LB	McMaster	Draft Eligible
Dylan Howes	LB	Toronto	Draft Eligible
Christopher Johnson	LB	Toronto	Draft Eligible
Defensive Line
Stephon Miller	DL	Windsor	Draft Eligible
James Tuck	DL	York	Draft Eligible
Kevin Malcolm	DL	McMaster	Draft Eligible
Ryan Northfield	DL	Western University	Draft Eligible
Jeffery Finley	DL	Guelph	Draft Eligible
Adam Dickson	DL	McMaster	Draft Eligible
Djordge Gavrilovic	DL	Waterloo	Free Agent
Abiodun “Abbey” Olusoga	DL	Toronto	Free Agent
Offensive Line
Tommy Griffiths	OL	Wilfrid Laurier	Free Agent
Joe Circelli	OL	Western University	Draft Eligible
Craig Woloshyn	OL	Saskatchewan	Free Agent
Tchissakid Player	OL	Northwestern State	Draft Eligible
Tyson Carter	OL	Dubuque	Draft Eligible
Receiver
Quincy Van De Cruize	WR	Bishop’s	Draft Eligible
Scott MacDonell	WR	Queen’s	Draft Eligible
Austin Kennedy	WR	Windsor	Draft Eligible
Paul de Pass	WR	Toronto	Free Agent
Andrew Thibaudeau	WR	Western University	Draft Eligible
Nick Anapolsky	WR	Waterloo	Free Agent
Bryce Lawrence	WR	Western University	Draft Eligible
Alex Carroll	WR	Queen’s	Draft Eligible
Nick Downey	WR	Langly Rams	Free Agent
Will Austin	WR	York	Free Agent
Saxon Lindsey	WR	Guelph	Free Agent
Kicker
Zackary Medeiros	K	London Beefeaters	Draft Eligible

About the National CFL Combine:

The national CFL Combine presented by Reebok in Toronto will take place at the Park Hyatt Hotel and Varsity Stadium. The players will undergo medical examinations, performance, strength and speed tests, on-field football drills and team interviews over the three day combine in front of general managers, coaches and scouts from all teams. Here is the list of players attending this year’s combine:

NATIONAL CFL COMBINE PARTICIPANT LIST:

#	Name	Pos	School	HT	WT
Quarterback
1	Billy McPhee	QB	Queen’s	6.03	195
2	Reid Quest	QB	Concordia	6.05	218
Kickers
3	Tyler Crapigna	K	McMaster	5.07	165
Defensive Back
20	Eric Black	DB	Saint Mary’s	6.01	170
21	Derek Jones	DB	Simon Fraser	6.01	180
22	Andrew Lue (8)	DB	Queen’s	6.02	210
23	Antoine Pruneau	DB	Montreal	6.00	190
24	Adam Thibault (13)	DB	Laval	6.00	205
25	Steven Ventresca	DB	McMaster	6.00	180
Running Back
30	Jordan Botel	RB	Mount Allison	5.10	200
31	Anthony Coombs (9)	RB	Manitoba	5.09	190
32	Robert Farquharson	RB	Guelph	5.09	210
33	Pascal Lochard	RB	Laval	6.00	215
34	Mackenzie Sarro	RB	Calgary	6.04	245
Linebacker
40	Jesse Briggs	LB	McGill	6.01	222
41	Max Caron (10)	LB	Concordia	6.02	213
42	Casey Chin (11)	LB	Simon Fraser	6.15	215
43	Beau Landry (7)	LB	Western University	5.11	201
Offensive Line
60	Jaskaran Dhillon	OL	UBC	6.03	290
61	Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (1)	OL	McGill	6.05	315
62	David Foucault (3)	OL	Montreal	6.08	320
63	Matthias Goossen (5)	OL	Simon Fraser	6.04	300
64	Terry Hart	OL	St. Francis Xavier	6.03	300
65	Pierre Lavertu (2)	OL	Laval	6.03	300
66	Aaron Wheaton	OL	Toronto	6.05	295
Receiver
80	Devon Bailey (4)	WR	St. Francis Xavier	6.05	202
81	Kristopher Bastien	WR	Concordia	6.03	205
82	Alexander Fox	WR	Bishop’s	5.08	185
83	Kit Hillis	WR	Saskatchewan	5.09	175
84	Brian Marshall	WR	Western University	6.00	200
85	Alex Pierzchalski	WR	Toronto	6.05	220
86	Evan Pszczonak	WR	Windsor	6.00	185
Defensive Line
90	Dylan Ainsworth (15)	DE	Western University	6.03	225
91	Kirby Fletcher	DL	Acadia	6.03	300
92	Evan Gill (6)	DL	Manitoba	6.03	275
93	Mathieu Girard	DL	Montreal	6.04	275
94	David Menard	DL	Montreal	6.01	265
95	Martin Pesek	DL	Acadia	6.03	250
96	Quinn Smith	DL	Concordia	6.02	305
97	Derek Wiggan (14)	DL	Queen’s	6.01	254
Regional Combine Players

Specific details, including timing, location and media opportunities for each event will be distributed over the coming days.

Regional Combine Players Invited to National Combine in 2013:

Jermaine Gabriel (@JGab9), a defensive back from the CJFL’s Calgary Colts, who also spent two years at Bishop’s University (Edmonton Regional Combine). Selected by the Toronto Argonauts in the second round, 17^th overall, in the 2013 CFL Draft.

Michael Klassen (@mikeklassen90), a defensive lineman from the University of Calgary (Edmonton Regional Combine). Selected by the Montreal Alouettes in fourth round, 32^nd overall, in the 2013 CFL Draft.

Kristopher Robertson, a defensive back from Concordia University (Quebec City Regional Combine). Selected by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the second round, 11^th overall, in the 2013 CFL Draft.