CFL Draft Televised Live on TSN

[Mike Hunt]

I won't go into too much detail about the players selected but I thought it was cool that the CFL actually had their 2009 draft televised from 11AM to 1PM on Saturday. There was a draft day trade (#3 to BC from Hamilton for #6 and #13. There was a surprise pick at #6 (some big WR who's expected to switch to FB). There were highlights from the players' college games. There were combine results so you could compare those numbers to the NFL combine results. They had a few college coaches on to give better incite into the selections. All in all, I thought it was pretty well done for something that usually gets very little coverage.

For those who missed it: Hamilton selected Simeon Rottier 1st overall. He's a 6'6", 290lbs OT from the University of Alberta. According to the guys on the show, he's pretty athletic for a guy his size. He did 19 reps of 225lbs which suggests he needs to get a little stronger, but not that much (Elite NFL guys usually float around the 25-30 range). Toronto picked 2nd overall and got Etienne Legare, a DT from Laval. He's 6'3" and 265 lbs (which seems small but it's actually ok in the CFL. They called him a bit of a freak and the combine numbers kind of supported that. I don't remember the bench reps but I do remember his broad jump number being good and his 40 time being in the 4.8 range which is very good for a DT (it's what you want out of DEs actually). The third pick was made my BC. They took a RB out of Bishop who's currently in camp with the Carolina Panthers by the name of Jamall Lee. From what I gathered of the combine numbers, this guys measurables would be elite even by NFL standards. He's 6'1", 215 lbs. He benched 225lbs 19 times. He ran a 4.38 and his shuttle time apparently also set a CFL record.