CFL SCOUTING BUREAU RANKINGS (WINTER): Boyko still number 1, Mateas & Waud vault into top 3

TORONTO — The Canadian Football League Scouting Bureau today published the winter edition of the Top-20 ranked prospects eligible for the 2015 CFL Draft.

TOP-5 PROSPECTS

For a second-straight ranking, offensive lineman Brett Boyko from UNLV was named the top prospect by the CFL Scouting Bureau. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan native was recognized after a senior season in which he was named to the All-Mountain West second team for a second consecutive season. He started all 13 games, allowing only one sack and collecting 37 pancake tackles.

Boyko completed the campaign with an invitation to play in the East-West Shrine Game on January 17, 2015 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Rounding out the top five are University of Connecticut offensive lineman Alex Mateas, Western University defensive lineman Daryl Waud, Yale University running back Tyler Varga and University of Manitoba receiver Nic Demski.

The Scouting Bureau list was expanded from 15 to 20 prospects this year and 15 CIS standouts found their way on the second ranking of the season, one more than in September. Powerhouses Calgary and Laval once again lead the way with four and three selections, respectively.

Waud, a 6-foot-5, 270-pound senior who was named a first-team all-Canadian in his fourth campaign with the Mustangs, moves up two positions to No. 3 on the new Bureau list to replace Manitoba slotback Nic Demski as the top-ranked CIS prospect. Demski drops two spots to No. 5 on the December list.

BY THE NUMBERS

The ranking includes eight offensive linemen, four defensive linemen, three receivers, three linebackers, one defensive back and one running back.

There are 14 universities represented on the list with three schools featuring multiple selections: Calgary (4), Laval (3) and Laurier (2).

17 players from the fall CFL Scouting Bureau List (published in September) were selected to the winter edition.

Three players fell out of the Top-20 and were replaced by Adam Konar from Calgary, Byron Archambault from Montreal and Ottawa’s Ettore Lattanzio.

The biggest rise in the rankings came from Calgary Dino offensive lineman Sean McEwen. The native of Calgary was ranked No. 14 in the September rankings and jumped eight spots to No. 6 in the latest rankings.

Of the 15 players featured in last year’s winter edition of the CFL Scouting Bureau rankings, 14 were selected in the 2014 CFL Draft with seven of those players being selected in the first round.

Last May, Laval centre Pierre Lavertu became the eighth CIS player in as many years – and the 12^th in the past 15 years – to be selected first overall in the CFL Canadian Draft when the Calgary Stampeders called his name at No. 1. He was ranked fourth, second and third, respectively, on the three Scouting Bureau lists published in 2013-14.

A record 59 CIS players (out of 65 total picks) were selected in the 2014 CFL Draft, including eight in the first round, also an all-time mark for CIS (tied with 1970 and 1972).