Groulx is No. 5 in CFL draft rankings
Says he’ll be happy to be in CFL or the NFL
Danny Groulx says he has done everything he can. Ditto Lemar Durant and Chris Ackie.
All they want is a chance to make it in professional football.
“I don’t really know what’s going to happen, but my goal is to play professional football,” Groulx said during a teleconference on Friday.
“It’s not NFL or CFL, it’s professional football. Whatever league it is, I’m going to be happy.”
Out of University of Laval’s Rouge et Or football factory, Groulx was No. 5 on the Canadian Football League final pre-draft rankings released Friday and tops among players from Canadian Interuniversity Sport programs.
Ahead of him were four who played for U.S. colleges: Vancouver’s Christian Covington, a Rice defensive lineman who is the son of former Hamilton Tiger-Cat Grover Covington; Saskatoon’s Brett Boyko, an offensive lineman at University of Nevada-Las Vegas; Ottawa’s Alex Mateas, a centre at Connecticut; and Kitchener’s Tyler Varga, a running back at Yale.
Durant, a receiver from Coquitlam, B.C., played NCAA Division II football with the Simon Fraser Clan, is No. 8. Ackie, a Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks defensive back from Cambridge, Ont., is No. 11.
Ottawa Gee- Gees defensive tackle Ettore Lattanzio, who had been No. 20 in the December rankings, was not on the final list.
The Ottawa Redblacks have the first pick in the May 12 college draft and they plan to make that selection.
Redblacks GM Marcel Desjardins says the Redblacks have a good idea who they’d take with that first pick and that the choice probably wouldn’t be affected by the National Football League draft on April 30-May 2 or the usual frenzy of free-agent signings that follow those proceedings.
“Going No. 1, it’s always something that you want,," said Durant, a 6-2, 231-pound receiver who, like Groulx and Ackie, had talked with all nine CFL clubs during the March 27-29 assessment camp in Toronto.
“That would be a huge thing, but, at the same time, I’m really just happy to be in the draft, and wherever I go it will work out.”
Groulx’s former Laval linemate, Pierre Lavertu, went first overall last year. That pick also belonged to Ottawa until draft night, when it was sent to the Calgary Stampeders for veteran centre Jon Gott.
“I’m just aiming to go somewhere where they want me and where I can contribute,” said Groulx, who was also invited to the NFL’s “super-regional combine” in Arizona in March.
“If it’s first or ninth, I’m just going to be happy to play in a professional football league.”
It’s unlikely Groulx’s name will be called in the NFL draft, but the 6-6, 325-pound lineman might receive an offer to sign as a free agent, just as David Foucault ended up with the Carolina Panthers after being drafted fifth overall last year by the Montreal Alouettes.
Mateas, who did not attend the CFL “combine” in Toronto, is also hoping there might be NFL interest.
Covington was not included in the previous CFL scouting bureau rankings released in December, but became eligible for the CFL and NFL drafts after announcing in January that he would forgo his last year of NCAA eligibility.
Boyko and Mateas had been 1-2 in those rankings, while Groulx was eighth.
Besides No. 1 overall, the Redblacks have the first pick in five other rounds except the third. That pick was sent to the Stampeders as part of a trade for defensive lineman Justin Phillips.