Its Draft day!!!! Here is part three of our three part CFL Draft preview by riderville.com contributor, Luc Mullinder.
Sunday piece was an intro to the draft, yesterday was a preview of the top end players on offence, today, here is Luc with his top end defensive players.
Defensive Line
We couldn’t start off with the trenches and then not go to the defensive Line.
If you’re a fan that feels your team needs to take a defensive lineman early in Tuesday’s draft, you may be feeling a little bit of anxiety with David Onyemata looking like he’ll never see a down in the CFL, and Boston College DE Mehdi Abdesmad taking a shot at the NFL with the Tennessee Titans. I think the world of Onyemata, and really believe he’s got all the tools to be a productive pro in the NFL. Abdesmad may have some CFL teams still willing to gamble on whether or not he’ll be returning in the near future. At 6’6 and 285, with the ability to play Tackle and End, the Montreal native would be an absolute steal of a pick if he ended up in a CFL camp. A STEAL!!
Last Man Standing
With the recent NFL activity, it seems as though Trent Corney has been isolated as the premier defensive lineman available, but I’m here to tell you that Trent Corney was a premier defensive lineman even when Mehdi Abdesmad was still thought to be CFL bound in June. It hasn’t been talked about much, but Corney 
will actually be participating at the New York Jets mini-camp this weekend in a bid to land a shot at main camp. If he is successful, that will mean that the only three defensive linemen to appear on any Top 20 draft boards done by CFL.ca will be with NFL clubs come Tuesday. From there, it’s honestly anyone’s guess as to which defensive linemen end up being the first ones drafted. It’s not a terribly deep group but we will be talking about some of the guys during our draft show on Riderville.com this Monday.
In any event, if Corney doesn’t stick in the NFL, he’ll bring a physical edge to whatever CFL team drafts him, as well as a great motor. Those are two intangibles that put any defensive player in a position to be successful at the next level. He’s perfectly capable of holding the line of scrimmage and is quick to meet pullers with impact and stay upright in order to give himself a chance to still make a play on the ball carrier. Corney is a strong kid (34 reps on the bench during his pro day) but is also deceptively quick, and will demonstrate his 4.6 40 time through impressive bursts to the ball once it has declared. Coaches love high effort players!
His main objective once he determines where he plays in his first year as a pro will be to develop more of a dynamic pass rush menu. Right now, he’s good at sticking a long arm down the centre of an offensive tackle and using great leverage to create pressure on the QB, but he’ll benefit from a coach that teaches him how to counter off his go-to move, and then adds to his options using his willingness to engage physically.
To summarize, it’s going to be Trent Corney’s attitude as a pro that sets him up for success. He’ll be able to contribute on special teams right away, as he played consistently on ST’s as he worked his skills as an underclassman on through his junior year. When his opportunity to become a full time starter came in his senior campaign, Trent Corney excelled. His work ethic is going to give him a shot to be a solid pro and the attention he is garnering now is justifiable.
Defensive Back
The talk of the town amongst the draft eligible secondary players has been the big athletic safety from UBC Taylor Loffler (and for good reason), followed by the incredible case of Elie Bouka from Calgary who didn’t play a down of football in 2015 and is still considered to be one of the top players available. But before we all get caught up in trying to figure out whether Loffler will pan out with the NFL Giants there is one name that should be drumming up some serious interest in the back-end…
Anthony Thompson
Thompson actually accepted a scholarship to play at UCLA in the PAC 12 after high
school only to transfer after the team went through full scale coaching changes. That’s how he ended up ballin at Southern Illinois, but it shows that he had a significant pedigree coming out of high school in Canada.
Thompson attended the CFL Combine in order to participate in the drills, specifically the 1 on 1 periods where he did fairly well, especially considering it was his first time since high school defending the waggle. Coaches have to love a guy that ran a 4.4 in his pro day and still wanted to come in and compete against the best prospects in the CFL, but that probably didn’t surprise people either as Thompson comes across as quite the gamer.
On film, one will see all the elements of a good man defender. He has great hip mobility and is able to convert out of his back pedal with relative ease. The SIU product also demonstrates nice closing speed that he uses to take away space created by receivers that use contact in order to create separation.
Thompson is more than willing to come down and play up on the run and doesn’t shy away or dive at the feet of a would be one vs. one ball carrier. A big part of earning his keep in the pro game will be to show his coaches that he is willing and able to be a physical presence down in and down out.
Hailing from Montreal, Quebec, this 205 lb defender is suited to play corner or safety in the CFL, and will add even more to his draft value because he can contribute in all aspects of Special Teams.
Anthony Thompson is a more than an adequate replacement for a team that had their heart set on drafting Taylor Loffler and now may unwilling to gamble on whether the former Thunderbird is going to be around come June.
Linebackers
It’s hard to get a find a more polished pro linebacker than a guy that has already been in the NFL. Such is the case of Alex Singleton out of Montana State, but that’s only where he went to college. In reality Singleton has already toured a couple of pro spots having signed with the Seattle Seahawks as an UFA in 2015, and then went on to have short stints with the Deflategate Patriots, and the Minnesota Vikings.
Only in the CFL where passports, birthplaces, and parents play funny little mind games with everyone can a player leave college, play in the NFL, and still get drafted in the following year. It’s a long story but he’s gone from “International” to “National” in the last few months which means that Alex Singleton goes from potential try-out free agent, to potential ratio-breaker!!! #Canadia
Football wise, Singleton isn’t just garnering attention because he’s ahead of the learning curve. He’s a solid football player that reads and reacts nicely to things he diagnoses in front of him, and can make tackles in space. He’s a playmaker whose speed and explosiveness stick out on the film that we’ve got on him. LB coaches will like the way he recognizes pulling Olinemen and fills holes, while defensive coordinators will be breathe easy because he has shown the ability to play in coverage. He’s actually got a pretty decent set of hands on him.
Kudos to Singleton’s agent or whoever found this avenue for the 6’2 linebacker to go down. Right now he’s projected to be the first LB off the board so regardless of methodology, he’s going to make one coach a happy camper.
After that..
A player that may come to mind is Taylor Loffler’s teammate at UBC, Terrell Davis. Davis is an athletic kid that averaged over 7 tackles a game at linebacker in 2015, and IT WAS HIS FIRST YEAR PLAYING THE POSITION.
The first thing pro coaches are going to be able to pick-up from a transition from RB to LB, is that Davis is clearly a quick study that retains information. The former Thunderbird has sweet sideline to sideline speed and covers a lot of ground quickly. One can tell he enjoys the physical parts of the game and UBC took full advantage of that speed and toughness by blitzing him as much as they could in 2015.
Something that is going to have to be taught very quickly to Davis is the technique that is involved in taking on pulling offensive linemen properly. Davis is going to see a load of pulling linemen at the CFL level and the faster he becomes a student of the pro game, the faster he’ll be able to use his athletic gifts and tenacity to his advantage.
Davis is “raw” but as we stated in the beginning of this primer, this draft class possess some talented athletes that may need some moulding in order to get the most bang for an organization’s buck.
In Conclusion
Hopefully we’ll be able to go even deeper into the rest of the 2016 CFL Draft Class in the coming days. I know Dan Plaster and I have something special cooked up for Ridernation next week, but I think that this draft is going to be interesting considering the cross section of players that are available unlimited potential that some of the guys have in them. I hope this helps you guys out when you’re reading all the pre-draft articles and projections as they continue to pour in. Having been privileged enough to have gone through this process that some of these athletes are going through right now, the main thing that these youngsters need to know is that it’s not about where you get taken or even if you get selected at all. It’s all about how one reacts when they are given their first opportunity by their coaching staff .
Good luck to all the future draftees! Stay Healthy and BALL OUT when your number is called.
#ProPerspective
