Esks make most of topsy-turvy draft

It didn’t take long for draft boards across the CFL to get turned upside down Thursday.

After Calgary traded away the No. 1 pick to get their guy, defensive end Isaac Adayemi-berglund, in the No. 3 spot, Toronto spun the draft on its ear when they didn’t take Tomas Jack-kuryla at No. 2.

That left Edmonton picking fourth overall with the top-rated offensive lineman — the top one not signed to an NFL contract, anyway — landing in their lap.

One drafter not in the Eskimos or Argos camps called it the surprise of the night with, “Edmonton getting the O -lineman Toronto should have taken, passing on the Buffalo guy from just three hours south.”

And it wasn’t the only pleasant surprise for Eskimos GM Brock Sunderland, who may just have scored big with a couple of late additions, taking Fort Hays State kicker Dante Brown in Round 5 (41st overall) and Wagner offensive lineman Chris Gangarossa in Round 6 (50th overall).

“Those are the kinds of lateround picks that can make a

difference,” said one league personnel man, pointing out Gangarossa had been pegged as high as going in the top 20. “I didn’t think he was going to go in the first round, but I thought he would go in the second round, or at worst, an early third-rounder.”

But the sixth round? Sometimes there are sleeper picks, and other times it’s the ones doing the picking who fall asleep at the switch.

“I don’t think Gangarossa’s a sleeper, I’m actually shocked that he was available,” Sunderland said. “We had him pretty high. He was one of those guys where, as we were selecting where we took him, we were a little baffled that he was there.”

And in a position almost exclusive to one race, Brown stands out for more than his kicking ability. Not to sound obtuse, but there just haven’t been a lot of African-american kickers, not to mention African-canadian kickers. A native of Mississauga, Ont., Brown made 47 of 56 field-goal attempts in 35 games, 134 punts for 5,684 yards and 91 kickoffs for 5,339 yards, being named the Don Hansen Football Committee national special-teams player of the year in back-to-back seasons.