Champagne and jitters as B.C. players awaited CFL draft decisions
Will Watson was sweating. His drink cup was refilled once, twice, five times. His ice cream cake was melting.
Then his phone buzzed and life changed.
On the other end of the line was a friend of his, now the director of Canadian Scouting for the B.C. Lions, calling to say the Leos had selected him in the seventh round, 54th overall, in Thursday’s CFL draft.
“My first reaction was relief,” said Watson, the 5-11, 193-pound UBC Thunderbirds wide receiver.
“It was a long process. I was hoping to be taken a little earlier, but obviously, you can’t really predict anything to do with these drafts. Mock drafts say one thing … but nothing ’s really real until it happens in real life. Just sitting there, waiting as the rounds passed, I was getting a little anxious. I was thinking, ‘I better get drafted. I bought a cake for this.’ Then, once I saw the phone call and saw … Geroy ’s name pop up, I looked at the people I was with and said ‘I’m staying in B.C.’ ”
The Champagne was popped with his girlfriend and buddies, and the party began, much like it did in several other households around B.C.
Three of Watson’s teammates were also drafted. Dakoda Shepley, who’s signed a free-agent deal with the NFL’s New York Jets, was taken fifth overall by the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Defensive back Will Maxwell, a second team allCanadian and Canada West AllStar, went to the Calgary Stampeders at the No. 42 spot.
Wide receiver Marcus Davis was taken 31st overall in the fourth round by the Hamilton TigerCats. T
he Victoria native played only two regular-season games this year because of injury, but his previous body of work and the two touchdowns and 200 all-purpose yards he amassed in those two games was enough for the Ticats to pick the fourth-year wideout.
He’ll be joined on the Tabbies by SFU wideout Justin Buren, who was picked six spots later. Buren, a 6-1, 200-pound Centennial grad, was a graduate of a Clan program that has lost 33 straight games, went 2-38 in four seasons, and languished near the bottom of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in nearly every statistical category.
But Buren, who finished his 34game SFU career with 145 catches for 2,012 yards and nine touchdowns, was the No. 4 receiver in GNAC, catching 42 balls for 483 yards, averaging 4.7 yards per catch and was fifth with 53.7 yards per game.
In a league where game film serves as a resume, it was remarkable Buren spliced enough together to earn a look.
“It was tough, I’m not going to lie,” said Buren, who had a gut feeling Hamilton would draft him, as they had been in frequent contact since the end of last season.
“I just had to make plays. It wasn’t super-flashy, but it got the job done, and obviously was enough to get the attention of the GMs and scouts. It was a long time coming. I finally put all my stuff out there, and I think it shows my athleticism and my talent.
“The (CFL) combine was something I really needed, I really needed to solidify my spot as a top recruit. I performed really well at the regional, and that’s what really got their attention.
“And at the national, I proved that I could hang with the best athletes in my class.”
The highest-drafted B.C. player taken was the enigmatic Vancouver native Rashaun Simonise, who went at No. 12 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — a pick they’d acquired in a Thursday trade with the Lions.
The 6-4, 202-pound receiver was an all-Canadian with the University of Calgary in 2015, catching 65 passes for 1,013 yards and 11 touchdowns, and earned himself a tryout contract with the Cincinnati Bengals.
But he was hit with a four-game NFL ban after a positive drug test for an over-the-counter supplement he’d been taking with the Dinos, forcing him to defer his draft eligibility for a year, and ended up playing junior football with the Okanagan Sun and Chicago Eagles of the Champions Indoor Football League.
His numbers were unimpressive in the small sample size, but he did flash his athleticism and potential at the CFL combine.
“Physically, he’s different,” Bombers GM Kyle Walters told The Canadian Press. “When they showed the cutup of him catching a slant pass with a Bengals uniform running by the Baltimore Ravens, I said, ‘You don’t see that too often on a Canadian draft pick’s cutup.’ He’s just so talented.
“If we can get him back to that level, get him back committed to football in this building training, looking after his body, committing to football full-time I think his ceiling is very high.”
Simonise is just grateful he’s getting a second chance.
“I’ve grown up a lot, my maturity level has risen a lot,” said the Vancouver College grad.
“I’ve been through a lot of experiences and learned in situations that have helped me develop physically and mentally. I’m just glad the time is finally up and I’m able to get back on the football field again.”
Watson is ready to get back to work, as well. He was reached by phone Friday just moments before heading out the door, jokingly to work off the ice cream cake he’d gorged on the night before.
He’s been working on his speed and route running, something suggested to him by Simon, during the Game Ready Fitness events they ’d attended together during the past two years. The Surrey native knows the enormity of the task ahead of him, as the last pick the Lions made in the draft, to crack the roster at training camp in Kamloops.
“I’m confident in my abilities, whether I’m the first pick or the last pick, and I’m still going there with one goal in mind: to take someone’s job and earn my spot on the roster,” he said. “I’m not just there to be a practice squad guy or just a bench-rider.
“I want to come in and make an impact, wherever that may be. As a receiver, as a returner, as a special teams gunner, wherever, I’m going to go into camp and compete, and make sure everyone knows I’m there not just to be included, but to make an impact.”
Mock drafts say one thing … but nothing’s really real until it happens in real life.
WILL WATSON, Lions draft pick