Western’s Waud, Connop & Huggins selected in CFL Draft

TORONTO – Western Mustangs players Daryl Waud, Rory Connop, and Preston Huggins are three of the newest members of the Canadian Football League after they were all selected in the 2015 CFL Canadian Draft held Tuesday evening. The three Mustangs become the 31st, 32nd, and 33rd Western players to be selected in the CFL Draft in the past 15 years.

Waud was the first Mustangs player off the board as the Toronto Argonauts selected him in the second round, 12th overall. The defensive lineman joins a Toronto squad that features three former Western players on the roster including Zander Robinson, Jeff Keeping, and Jonathan Hood.

A Hamilton native, Waud has been a dominant force on the Mustangs defensive line over the past few seasons, racking up 81 total tackles, including 55 solo stops, along with seven sacks and two interceptions throughout his time in purple and white. This past season he earned OUA First Team All-Star and CIS First Team All-Canadian honours after recording 14.5 tackles and three sacks in eight regular season contests.

In addition to being selected by the Argos, Waud has received interest south of the border as well. In January Waud played in the East-West Shrine Game and he also earned two NFL mini-camp invites, spending last week with the New York Giants before heading to Washington this week.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders were the next team to select a member of the Mustangs roster, choosing Connop in the third round at 26th overall. The defensive lineman is certainly familiar with the CFL game as his father Rod Connop enjoyed a 16-year career as an offensive lineman with the Edmonton Eskimos, and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

Playing in all eight regular season and two playoff games for the Mustangs this season, Connop made 10.5 tackles and three sacks in the regular season before adding another 6.5 tackles in the post-season. He’ll be the second Mustang on the Roughriders roster, joining former teammate Dylan Ainsworth who was selected in last year’s draft.

Huggins rounded out the Mustangs selected in 2015, going in the seventh round, 61st overall, to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He’ll be far from the only member of the purple and white on the Ticats roster, with Andy Fantuz, Craig Butler, Beau Landry, and Pawel Kruba already suiting up at Tim Hortons Field.

In his first full season as a starter in 2014, Huggins led the Mustangs defence with 33 tackles, 23 solo, while also recording one sack and five tackles for loss. The linebacker’s team-leading performance earned him OUA All-Star honours for the first time as he was named to the First Team defensive unit alongside three fellow Mustangs.

The Mustangs were among 44 CIS players selected on Tuesday, including 13 from OUA teams. Western’s three selections rank first in the OUA alongside Guelph and Laurier, while also tying the purple and white for fourth among all CIS institutions.

NOTES: Tyler Varga, who played one season for the Mustangs in 2011 before transferring to Yale, was selected by the Calgary Stampeders in the third round, 19th overall…This marks the third consecutive year that multiple Mustangs have been selected in the CFL Draft, with two players chosen in 2013, four in 2014, and three this year…It’s also the second straight year that Western has been tied for the most players drafted among OUA teams, sharing the title with Laurier and Guelph in 2015 and Toronto and Queen’s in 2014.