Regina’s Julan Lynch had a simple answer Thursday when asked about appearing on the CFL’s national stage.
“What does it mean? Pretty much everything,” the 22-year-old University of Saskatchewan Huskies receiver said at the Credit Union EventPlex, where he was one of five players to earn a transfer from the CFL’s western regional combine to the league’s national combine.
“It’s what we’ve been working for, so it’s exciting to get a chance to move on and get at it again. Hopefully it goes well tomorrow too.”
The four other players who advanced from the regional combine to the national event were Huskies receiver Mitch Hillis, University of Calgary Dinos defensive back Adam Laurensse, Simon Fraser University Clan running back Ante Milanovic-Litre and UBC Thunderbirds receiver Alex Morrison.
The national combine begins Thursday night with player interviews. Testing begins Friday and continues Saturday.
The two Huskies will join U of S teammate Evan Johnson, an offensive lineman, at the national combine. Two University of Regina Rams — slotback Mitchell Picton and offensive lineman Jeremy Zver — also are to participate.
Lynch, a product of Michael A. Riffel High School, admitted he was nervous going into the regional combine. Once the drills started, he settled down.
Now he and the other players who moved on will go right into the national combine while those who participated in the league’s other regional combines earlier will have had time to recuperate.
“They’ll probably have a bit of an advantage with their fresh legs, but I did most of the stuff today and we’re going to be doing it tomorrow,” Lynch said. “If it’s not as good as it was today, at least (scouts) will know we went all out today.”
Hillis, a 22-year-old product of Saskatoon, had hoped to be invited to the national combine during the off-season. Instead, he had to go the regional route and face the prospect of not moving on.
Luckily for Hillis, nerves didn’t dash his hopes.
“The butterflies are out now after getting to participate in this whole thing, with all the scouts there,” he said. “At the start of the day, it was pretty nerve-wracking, but getting the first tests out of the way was nice. Then you come out here and do what you can.
“You’ve prepared all you can, so whatever’s going to happen is going to happen.”
Hillis thought he did well in the physical testing, but admitted that others did better than him. If he had to make up ground to earn an invitation to the national event, he did so in the regional’s afternoon session.
“The on-field stuff is where I feel the most comfortable,” he said, “so I think I excelled at that.”
U of R linebacker Zack McEachern thought he tested well — his 20 repetitions on the 225-pound bench press led his position group — although he wasn’t happy with his 4.98-second time in the 40-yard dash.
McEachern was pleased with his performance in special-teams drills, but it wasn’t enough to earn him a ticket to the national combine.
“There’s a lot of quality guys here, a lot of good receivers and some excellent talent,” he said. “It’s a little disappointing not to move on because that was obviously the goal, but I still think I showed well. I was happy with my performance.”
The Rams also were represented at the regional combine by receiver Andrew Bennett, offensive lineman Matt Degelman, defensive tackle Bryce McKinnon, defensive back Jeff Propp and linebacker Michael Stefanovic. Two Rams prospects — linebacker Layne Hull and defensive lineman Ryan Warner — also participated.
Offensive lineman Caleb Eidsvik was the other U of S player at the regional combine.
Results of the testing can be found at the CFL website (http://www.cfl.ca/2017-cfl-western-regional-combine/)
