Kingston players make an impact in the CFL

Cory Greenwood, a Regiopolis-Notre Dame graduate and Kingston native, was picked third overall by the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League Canadian Draft on Sunday.

The flow of fine football players from these parts to the pros was marvellously illustrated at Sunday’s Canadian Football League draft of native sons.

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The Canadian college draft turned out to be special treat for a trio of Limestone linebackers, including two recruits highly-coveted by their future employers.

Queen’s Golden Gaels linebacker Shomari Williams and Concordia Stingers linebacker Cory Greenwood were selected with the No. 1 and No. 3 picks overall. The former will don the green and white of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, while the latter will wear the double blue of the Toronto Argonauts.

Just past the midway part of the six-round draft, yet another Gaels linebacker, Chris Smith, was plucked by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the fourth round, 28th overall.

Then, with the second-last pick of the draft (46th overall), the Calgary Stampeders selected Bayridge graduate Oamo Culbreath, an offensive lineman with the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

“This is terrific for football in this city,” exclaimed Queen’s coach Pat Sheahan.

“Kingston used to be a hockey town, now it’s a football town,” he added before softening that stance. “Let’s just say we’re in the process of establishing it as a football town.

“Last year there were, I believe, eight Queen’s kids on the active rosters of CFL teams, and I expect there to be that many or more this year,” he added. “That’s truly outstanding.”

Though Williams, a 6-foot-2, 235-pound linchpin with the national champion Golden Gaels, was tickled to be top pick, he harnessed his glee. He realizes this is but another step in his bid to be a paid footballer.

“I’m ecstatic to be first overall, but I know I still have to prove myself at this level,” said the swift, powerful defensive end, who goes from Queen’s to the Queen city. “My goal is to contribute any way I can and be the best player I can possibly be.”

The last Queen’s player to go No. 1 overall was receiver Jimmy (Dirty Thirty) Young some 45 years ago. Young, also the first Canadian drafted by the National Football League, played one season south of the border and 12 more with the B.C. Lions.

Williams is actually the university’s fourth overall No. 1 pick, following Young, tackle Jim Hughes (1957) and defensive end Lou Bruce (1956). The last first-round pick from Queen’s was running back Brad Elberg, who went second overall to Saskatchewan in 1993.

Saskatchewan moved up in the draft via a complex deal with Toronto, which had owned the No. 1 and No. 8 picks. To acquire both, the Riders sent the No. 2 and No. 4 overall picks to the Boatmen plus non-import punter Jamie Boreham. The Riders also received the eighth overall pick.

Williams is projected as either a linebacker or rush end with Saskatchewan. The married Brampton native played one season with Queen’s following a transfer from the University of Houston, where he and wife Dominique reside.

He said he and Dominique, a native Texan, will relocate to Regina in mid-May, which should not be as shivering a shock as, say, a mid-January move to the Prairie city.

Williams and Greenwood, a Regiopolis-Notre Dame grad, knew their respective pigskin port of call days in advance.

Both were told to dummy up on the unofficial trade. Both failed, although their sounding boards were in fact trusted family members. Williams told his wife and his mom, Greenwood his parents as well as his sister, a teacher working in that hotbed of CFL gossip, Guatemala.

Greenwood, voted Canadian Interuniversity Sport, defensive player of the year, fielded a phone call Friday night and listened keenly as an Argo official discussed confidential details on how the team planned to land the chiselled 233-pound linebacker, whom they coveted.

“Basically, I was told to keep my mouth shut for a couple of days, but I had to tell someone,” Greenwood said.

“Toronto’s a great fit because it’s close to home, so family and friends can check me out from time to time,” he pointed out.

“The fact that they did all that behind-the-scenes stuff to get me makes me feel wanted and appreciated, and now I’m going to play my heart out for them.”

Greenwood’s grades at a recent evaluation camp spiked interest in the youngest of Peter and Lana’s two children. Out of a group of about 50 hopefuls, he was fourth-fastest over 40 yards (4.5 seconds), third-highest at the vertical leap (40 inches) and posted the furthest broad jump (10 feet, 4 inches). He bench-pressed 225 pounds … 24 times.

Like Williams — who admitted he almost quit football after his final year at Houston — Greenwood’s journey to the pros has run into a detour or two.

In the first game of his penultimat

e season at Regi, he sustained a hip flexor in the opening game and did not return until the playoffs.

Despite a terrific final high school campaign, scholarship offers from universities, even general acceptance letters, did not roll in. His marks and SAT scores were simply insufficient.

He spent the next 18 months out of school, framing houses, apprenticing as an electrician, and anchoring the defence for the Kingston Grenadiers.

Glen Williamson, who coached him at Regi, said Greenwood steadily improved on the gridiron and came back “bigger, faster and stronger” for his final season.

“He had unbelievable hands and he was one of those special players who could see everything as a play developed,” Williamson said.

“Even when he started with Regi, we had him pegged as a future university player,” added Williamson, now a recruiting specialist with the Golden Gaels. “It was all there for Cory — the understanding of the game, the speed, agility, toughness, those hands.”

Greenwood celebrated Sunday’s selection by working out. “Just another day,” he said, noting that Argo training camp is less than a month away, a camp that promises to be, in terms of raw competitiveness, unlike any he’s experienced.

“This will be very different from school (training camps),” he acknowledged. “First of all I’ll be trying to take a job from someone, trying to earn a pay-cheque,” he reasoned.

He won’t be alone. Queen’s quarterback Danny Brannagan, Concordia teammate Adrian Davis are all Argo property.

“It’s crazy how many guys from Kingston are getting drafted and playing professional ball,” Greenwood said. “It says a lot for football in Kingston.”

Added Sheahan: “Kingston has the Grenadiers and a nice tight high-school league, not to mention the OPP and Thousand Islands minor football programs.

“It used to be that Grade 9 kids had to first figure out how to put the equipment on. Now they come in with some semblance of the game and skill development.”
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From Kingston to the CFL

Kingston area products signed or playing in the CFL: Brent Johnson, Mike McCullough, Matt Kirk, Rob Bagg, Mike Giffin, Dee Sterling, Taylor Robertson, Osie Ukwuoma, Neil Puffer, Scott Valberg, Cory Greenwood.

Out-of-town Queen’s players in the pros or headed that way: Bryan Crawford, Brad Smith, Thane Carter, Kevin Scott, Danny Brannagan, Shomari Williams, Chris Smith.

Quote: “We’ve signed five or six players from this area and some of them have the potential to play pro football,” Queen’s coach Pat Sheahan.
Article ID# 2560865