Offensive lineman first pick in draft for Redblacks
Offensive line grabs team’s attention as GM makes the most of CFL draft I think I’m a great pass protector, I have good feet, good punch, I’m athletic. I’m still, I think, a bit raw.
When Jason Lauzon-Séguin was living in tiny St-Eugene, just outside of Hawkesbury, he couldn’t play football. There was no football team at his high school.
Fast forward seven or eight years and the 6-foot-4, 294-pounder is an Ottawa Redblack, taken in the first round — seventh overall — of Tuesday night’s CFL draft.
Lauzon-Séguin, who first played football in CEGEP in Valleyfield, was one of three Laval Rouge et Or offensive linemen (Philippe Gagnon went to Montreal with the second pick and Charles Vaillancourt went to B.C. fifth) taken in the first round.
“I’m super happy to be closer to home,” said the 25-year-old Lauzon-Séguin who, before it was announced on TSN, got a call from the Redblacks to give him a heads up that he had been chosen by Ottawa. Lauzon-Séguin was sitting at a draft party at a Boston Pizza in Quebec City with his teammates.
“Charles and Phil were expecting to be picked in the first round,” said Lauzon-Séguin. “I didn’t think I’d go in the first round, I thought realistically second round. They did a lot of mock drafts putting me in the first round, but I wasn’t looking at the mock drafts too much.”
Once he got to play football, Lauzon-Séguin caught on fast.
“I played a bit of basketball in high school, but I was taking too many penalties,” he said. “I found my sport when I started playing football. I think I’m a great pass protector, I have good feet, good punch, I’m athletic. I’m still, I think, a bit raw.”
Redblacks GM Marcel Desjardins was happy to add more offensive line depth a year after taking Alex Mateas first overall.
“There were a number of those offensive linemen who were kind of graded in the same ballpark for us and probably for most teams,” said Desjardins. “So it was just a function of who had the higher pecking order based on that group of grades. If there wasn’t one (offensive lineman) there we liked (still available), we would have gone to a different position, but we were always leaning that way, for sure.”
The Redblacks spent time with Lauzon-Séguin at the CFL Combine and followed up with a phone call.
“He’s a guy with a quiet demeanour in terms of how he goes about his business,” said Desjardins.
“He’s very respectful, all those types of things. In terms of him as a player, it’s his size, athleticism and flexibility in terms of centre/ guard/tackle and he’s a guy who we feel will fit in very well.” He will get a fair shot in training camp, but it’s not a lock the Redblacks will go with four Canadian offensive linemen to go with all-star left tackle SirVincent Rogers, an American.
“Potentially, but it’s not something we’re locked into, not something we have to do,” said Desjardins.
“We just signed Tommie Draheim — he’s going to have an excellent chance to be our starting right tackle. We’ll see how it plays out. A lot of things happen that we can’t control during camp so there’s no need to start pegging guys into certain positions right now.
“Let’s just see how it plays out. That always has to be a position of strength for us — it has to be.”
One player the Redblacks had their eyes on — linebacker Alex Singleton — was snagged by Calgary in the sixth spot, right before Ottawa’s pick. Last year, the Redblacks had Singleton, who played at Montana State, on their negotiation list as an American. But Singleton’s mom is Canadian, so he applied for Canadian citizenship, which made him eligible for the draft and also likely due for a much bigger paycheque.
University of Virginia defensive lineman Trent Corney, who is from Brockville and played a year with the Ottawa Sooners, was taken ninth overall by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. University of Buffalo offensive lineman Dillon Guy, who also spent a season playing with the Sooners, was selected 30th overall by the B.C. Lions.
The draft certainly lacked some of the dramatics of two years ago when the Redblacks dealt their first overall choice to Calgary for centre Jon Gott, then dealt QB Kevin Glenn to get back into the first round, where they made another swap and grabbed Antoine Pruneau.