Lions don’t fuss about missing cubs
CFL team departs to rookie camp short a handful of prospects
Some of our players are missing.
The B.C. Lions left Wednesday for the start of a three-day rookie camp in Kamloops, minus three prospects who never made it into Canada, never mind missing the bus.
Linebacker Victor Aiyewa, the oldest rookie camper at age 29, was hung up in Houston with passport issues, while defensive end candidate Jacques Smith never got out of Memphis, after his car broke down en route to the airport.
Another linebacker, Auston Johnson, the son of CFL Hall-ofFamer Alondra Johnson, is expected to be another late arrival.
He’ll be flying directly to Kamloops from his home in Southern California. The younger Johnson, whose signing was announced Tuesday by the Lions, plays as a Canadian, having been born in Calgary, when his dad played for the Stampeders.
“We wanted to draft a linebacker (in the 2016 CFL draft) and we didn’t,” explained Lions head coach and GM Wally Buono.
“A spot opened up (after the Lions traded the playing rights of quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. to Montreal), Auston has progressed nicely, so here we are.”
In a day with a lot of moving pieces — players arriving from hither and yon, undergoing physicals, filling out forms, checking out the practice facility — the Lions managed to announce the signing of seven of their eight draft picks.
The one hang-up was secondround pick (12th overall) Anthony Thompson from Southern Illinois, a defensive back who is represented by Jonathan Hardaway, a Washington D.C.-based agent who has played hardball with CFL teams in the past. Buono seemed nonplussed and said that Thompson should make it to the start of the mini-camp.
Some deals take longer than others ... He should be on a flight to Kamloops and working with these guys.
“He’s going to be in Kamloops,” Buono promised. “It’s like anything. Some deals take longer than others. We have resolved issues with him. He should be on a flight to Kamloops and working with these guys (Friday).”
For Charles Vaillancourt, the Lions’ first pick and fifth overall, Kamloops represents his third pro mini-camp in the span of a month. The 23-year-old offensive lineman from Laval University will line up at left guard, where he auditioned at a New York Giants rookie minicamp before the May 10 CFL draft. Vaillancourt also had another three-day trial with the Oakland Raiders.
“I wanted to show them that a little Canadian guy (Vaillancourt is 6-foot-4, 315 pounds) can compete with those (American college) guys, that’s for sure,” he explained. “The only concern is whether I could learn the system. The only feedback I got was positive.”
Third-round pick Brett Blaszko, a rangy slotback from the Calgary Dinosaurs, believes he’ll also make a seamless transition in Kamloops, having had a taste of the pro life in the same Giants rookie camp.
“It was the opportunity of a lifetime,” Blaszko said. “I wasn’t fearful of an NFL camp. I attacked it, like I’m going to attack this, to show that I deserve to be there. It defi- nitely resonated with the Giants that we (CIS players) can play, too.”
Offensive lineman Dillon Guy, the 30th overall pick in the draft, believes he would have received an NFL camp invite, had he not blown out his knee in his senior year at Buffalo. “I had a third-round NFL grade before I wrecked my knee,” Guy said. “It was a big hit for me. But if you keep looking back, you’ll never move forward.”
The Lions don’t know what their prized draft picks and free agents will amount to, but before he even steps on the practice field, Guy wears the face of certainty.