Ternowski eager for CFL draft
Waterloo receiver is 17th-ranked Canadian eligible for selection
WATERLOO — He’s posted outstanding numbers, collected numerous accolades and has been recognized as a model citizen during his four-year run with the Waterloo Warriors football program.
Tyler Ternowski, a fleet-footed receiver from Sir Allan MacNab in Hamilton, has checked off all the boxes as he prepares to hear his name called during next week’s Canadian Football League draft.
The eight-round draft for Canadian players takes place Thursday and will be broadcast live on TSN, starting at 8 p.m.
“I’m getting a little more nervous each day, not a bad nervous, just excited because I literally have no idea who’s going to draft me or where I’m going to be living in the upcoming years,” said Ternowski.
“I obviously want to go as high as possible because this is a career path now. I want the most money that I can get, the best contract, the best setup … but, at the end of the day, I just want to get drafted and have a chance to show that I can play.”
The CFL Scouting Bureau released its final top-20 pre-draft rankings earlier this week. Ternowski checks in at No. 17 and is the top-rated receiver to play at the U Sports level.
Ottawa native Neville Gallimore, a defensive tackle from Oklahoma, is the top-ranked player, ahead of Notre Dame receiver Chase Claypool from Abbotsford, B.C., and Alberta offensive lineman Carter O’Donnell from Red Deer, Alta.
Ternowski has been interviewed by seven of eight CFL teams ahead of the draft and has answered a wide assortment of questions as scouts and coaches do their final bit of homework before selection night.
One team even asked whether he’d spent time in jail, which Ternowski is happy to report he has most definitely not.
“The first couple, I’m not going to lie, I was a little bit nervous and coaches could probably hear the shakiness in my voice,” he said. “But, after the second one, I realized all the teams were basically going to ask the same questions.”
The six-foot, 185-pound Ternowski recently capped a stellar career at Waterloo by receiving a pair of prestigious awards from the university’s athletics department. The Shield of Excellence Award was bestowed upon the economics student for achieving an elite level of distinction throughout his career and he later earned the biggest prize of them all by being named Waterloo’s male athlete of the year.
“I was really surprised to be honest because, after getting the Shield of Excellence, I really thought Dion (Warriors running back Dion Pellerin) was going to get athlete of the year,” said Ternowski.
He said Pellerin was deserving of the award and he also feels his teammate was ripped off by not being recognized as an allCanadian this past season. “But I’m obviously very appreciative and very happy, and it was a nice time to reflect on my four years at Waterloo and what I’ve been able to do here,” Ternowski said.
“At the end of the day, though, it (athlete of the year) is a team award and I couldn’t have done it without Dion, Tre (Warriors quarterback Tre Ford), the Oline and coaches for putting me in the position to be successful.”
Ternowski goes out as a threetime Ontario University Athletics first-team all-star, a twotime U Sports first-team all-Canadian and holds Waterloo records for most receiving touchdowns (26) and receiving yards (2,949). He is 235 yards shy of the second-most receiving yards in U Sports history and four TDs away from sitting third all-time in U Sports receiving TDs. In his third season, he broke the OUA single-season record for TDs with 14.
Opposition defences paid special attention to Ternowski during the 2019 campaign and his numbers dropped as a result.
Not once, said Warriors head coach Chris Bertoia, did his star receiver complain about a reduced workload.
“His production on the football field at that position has been second to none and we were very fortunate to have him make that commitment to us four years ago, pulling him away from McMaster and Hamilton,” said Bertoia.
“I’ve had a close relationship with Tyler, I’ve really enjoyed my experience coaching him ... he’s been a great teammate and a tenacious competitor.”
The COVID-19 crisis forced a cancellation of the CFL Combine that was to have been held last month in Toronto but Ternowski is confident the body of work he’s produced at Waterloo should be more than enough to show what’s he all about. He’s more concerned with how the cancellation might affect linebacker Kurtis Gray and Pellerin, a pair of his Waterloo teammates who also qualified to participate in the showcase event. Defensive lineman Samuel Acheampong of the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks was also on the CFL Combine roster.
The possibility remains that Ternowski could return for a fifth season at Waterloo, but that will depend on which CFL team drafts him and what he’s told is best for his future.