Canadians hope to hear NFL’s call
The Canadian with the best hope of being selected in this week’s NFL draft is an offensive right tackle, Justin Senior of Montreal.
A three- year starter at Mississippi State, the 22- year- old helped to protect current Dallas Cowboys starter Dak Prescott during his last two years as a Bulldog.
The NFL draft runs Thursday to Saturday. Senior is one of four Canadians who have the best shots at being drafted.
The other three Canadians: tight end Tony Auclair of Notre- Damedes- Pins, Que. ( a Laval University product); offensive guard/ tackle Geoff Gray of Winnipeg (University of Manitoba), and defensive lineman Eli Ankou of Ottawa (UCLA).
Senior, the son of Jamaican immigrants, faced many of U. S. college football’s best edge rushers at Mississippi State, as the Bulldogs compete in the Southeastern Conference ( SEC) against the likes of Alabama, LSU and Florida.
“Like they say, the SEC is the closest thing to the NFL,” Senior said at the NFL scouting combine. “It really makes me feel good about what I’m doing. It’s like, ‘ Oh, I’m not that far off.’ ... Now it finally feels like something I can attain.”
Although some pegged Senior to be a middle- round draft pick, his stock apparently has slipped.
“I like Justin Senior,” NFL Network’s lead draft analyst Mike Mayock said last Friday. “I’ve got him at the top of the sixth round right now. He’s got size. He played at a major college in a major division.”
Mel Kiper, ESPN’s l ongtime draft analyst, said Monday he sees Senior either as a “late- round” pick or a priority free-agent signee shortly after the draft ends early Saturday evening.
If his NFL dream fails to materialize, Senior has an impressive fallback. Since September he has been rated the No. 1 CFL draft prospect.
Auclair, the Laval tight end, and Gray, the Manitoba O- lineman, were invited to take part last January in a U. S. college all- star bowl, the East-West Shrine Game in St. Petersburg, Fla. There, both caught the eyes of NFL talent evaluators.
Auclair played quarterback as a youngster growing up in a parish municipality in the Chaudière-Appalaches region of Quebec. Auclair — who said he prefers Tony to his given name Antony — sees himself as a prototypical tight end who can block as well as catch.
Now 6- foot- 5 3/ 8 and weighing 257 pounds, the 23-year-old said he has been hoping to play in the NFL since he was eight. Ranked the No. 7 CFL draft prospect, Auclair said he has visited with 10 NFL teams.
“Auclair is really interesting to me,” Mayock said. “He’s a big, strong kid that’s athletic and tough. But he also happens to face the deepest tight- end class in years ... There is a chance he could go late in the draft.”
Gray, 22, started his last three years with the Manitoba Bisons — mostly at right guard.
A competitive weightlifter on the side the past four years, Gray has studied mechanical engineering at UM and hopes some day to specialize in thermo-fluids.
Pro football is his focus now. He’s the No. 3 ranked CFL prospect, but has NFL aspirations.
“I’ve got Gray as a priority free agent,” Mayock said. “Don’t think he’s going to get drafted. But I think he’s going to be in somebody’s camp.”
The Green Bay Packers two weeks ago f l ew t he 6- f oot- 6, 315-pounder down for his lone NFL team visit. Gray fits the bill as quiet and unassuming off the field, but ferocious on it.
“I would say that I’m definitely someone who plays with an aggressive edge,” he said. “It’s not a conscious decision. I just put the pads on, go out there and, uh, things happen for a couple of hours.”
Ankou is the No. 2 CFL draft prospect. After attending U. S. football camps as a teen, Ankou compiled his own YouTube highlights video. UCLA bit. In four years with the Bruins, he played every position along the defensive line. That versatility should help him.
“I’ve worked out for the ( L. A.) Rams, ( L. A.) Chargers and Dallas Cowboys, and I’ve visited the ( Indianapolis) Colts and Green Bay Packers,” said the 22-year-old.
Asked to assess the draft chances of Auclair, Gray and Ankou, ESPN’s Kiper said: “The tight end has a chance, maybe, late. But I’d say, for me, the way I grade them out: lateround or priority free agents, (and) I would shade priority free agent for all of them, pretty much.”
Other Canadians — i ncluding the CFL scouting bureau’s No. 4 prospect, Danny Vandervoort of McMaster — similarly hope to score at least a free-agent contract.