Warriors, Hawks selected in CFL draft
Gray and Burnam played high school football in Waterloo Region
WATERLOO— Kurtis Gray’s name was still on the draft board when the call came through.
Dwayne Cameron, a first-year linebackers coach with the Calgary Stampeders, was on the other end and he had one simple but important question for Gray.
Minutes later, with the question answered, the Stampeders selected the hard-hitting Waterloo Warriors linebacker in the fourth round of the Canadian Football League draft with the 31st overall pick.
“Basically, he asked me one question. I was thinking it was going to be something about a measurable or one last thing they wanted to know about me, but he just asked if I wanted to be a Stampeder,” said Gray.
“Of course, my answer was ‘absolutely, yes’ and he congratulated me and said we’d talk more (Friday) and he’d give me some more information.”
Gray, a Waterloo native and Resurrection Catholic Secondary School alumnus, was one of seven players with local connections selected in Thursday night’s Canadian Football League draft. The Warriors and
Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks both had three players drafted, and Cambridge native Keiran Burnam of St. Francis Xavier X-Men was also selected.
Wilfrid Laurier defensive lineman Samuel Acheampong went in the third round, 20th overall, to the Toronto Argonauts; Waterloo receiver Tyler Ternowski went in the third round, 27th overall, to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats; Waterloo running back Dion Pellerin was selected in the fifth round, 42nd overall, by Toronto; Wilfrid Laurier linebacker Brad Cowan was picked by the Ottawa Redblacks in the sixth round, 47th overall; the Winnipeg Blue Bombers selected Wilfrid Laurier linebacker Tanner Cadwallader in the seventh round, 64th overall; and Burnam, a kicker out of Jacob Hespeler Secondary School, went in the seventh round, 61st overall, to Calgary.
The six-foot-three, 200pound Gray went higher than expected in the online draft and he figures that is because of
Cameron, who spent seven seasons at Wilfrid Laurier as defensive backs coach, specialteams co-ordinator and recruiting co-ordinator.
“From the beginning, Calgary was one of the top places I wanted to end up because the coaching staff there, with Dwayne, would give me the best chance for success early on,” said Gray.
“He knows me well as a player and knows what I can do, so I hope I get put in good situations there that help me show my abilities. I went a little bit earlier than people thought but I’m very happy to be taken in the fourth round.”
The CFL season is currently on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so Gray has no idea of whether he’ll even see a training camp this year. If the season is a bust, he is eligible to return for a fifth year at Waterloo if the Ontario University Athletics season takes place.
Acheampong, a six-foot-five, 272-pound bruiser from
Brampton, will be surrounded by familiar faces when training camp eventually opens. Toronto has selected Laurier players in five of the past six CFL drafts and the current roster boasts former Hawks Chris Ackie, Kurleigh Gittens Jr., Robbie Smith and Nakas Onyeka.
“I get to play at home, so I’m happy really about that ... my friends and family will be able to come and see me play and, if I was in Winnipeg, there’d be no chance of that,” said Acheampong with a laugh.
“I know all those guys, I work out with Ackie, and Robbie was my roommate in first year, so it’s nice to know I’ll always be able to talk to those guys and I’m not going to feel out of place.”
The draft also served as a homecoming for Ternowski, a six-foot, 185-pounder from Hamilton who ended up where he wanted to be from the start. The Tiger-Cats made him sweat it out, taking three players before him, but the wait turned out to be worth it.
“It’s the place I wanted to go the whole time, I could just never come out and say it. It’s the perfect fit for everything, for football, for family, and it’s good for the Ticats to have the hometown kid on their roster,” said Ternowski.
“The coaches seem pretty high on me and I think they’re going to give me a shot on the offensive side of the ball, not just special teams.”
The Tiger-Cats have now selected Waterloo players in the past two drafts, having selected offensive lineman Jesse Gibbon with the second-overall pick in last year’s event. Ternowski and Gibbon also played junior football together with the Hamilton Ironmen.
“That’s huge,” said Ternowski. “He texted me and he was so pumped, so happy.”
CFL rookies were originally scheduled to report to their new teams May 11, with rookie camps set to begin two days later. Full camps had been scheduled to start May17, but all those dates have been pushed back indefinitely because of the pandemic.