What do the Tiger-Cats look like now?
Five different positions in the first five choices; MacNab’s Ternowski selected in third round
As anticipated, Thursday night’s CFL draft did reflect the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ diversity of Canadian content — their first five selectees play five different positions — but spoke more loudly to the team’s overall draft philosophy.
“I don’t think (five different positions) was by intention, it was just the way the board fell,” Ticats co-manager Shawn Burke said, referring to the team’s core principle of picking the best player available rather than just clustering players at a few “national” positions.
“Our first three picks were players we had ranked very high,” he said.
The Ticats had even more reason — call it a luxury — to go best-on-board this year, because they’ve got an established veteran lineup with few apparent holes and lots of returning Canadians who can fill starting roles at a variety of positions. They weren’t compelled to find a surefire starter or two, which doesn’t necessarily mean they didn’t find any.
With their first choice, fifth overall, obtained from Montreal
in the Johnny Manziel trade that just keeps on giving, the Ticats selected six-foot-five, 305-pound guard Coulter Woodmansey, a second-team all-Canadian.
It was their first of two opening-round selections and, according to a CFL spokesperson, no other Guelph Gryphon has gone higher since eventual Hall of Fame linebacker Mike O’Shea was taken fourth 27 years ago by Edmonton and quickly traded to the Ticats.
Woodmansey will join an offensive line that boasts a lot of talented young depth but, with Chris Van Zeyl and the resurgent Mike Filer on the shorter end of their careers, will soon require some starting replacements.
“It’s amazing,” the 22-year-old Woodmansey said of his topfive selection. “I tried to go into this with no expectations at all, so I was ready to sit there all night. I’m just happy to get with this team that is a great fit for me.”
The Toronto native roomed at Guelph with his younger brother Curtis, “who also played across the line from me every single day at practice.” He’s considered an aggressive, gusting up to angry, blocker.
With the eighth pick overall,
Hamilton landed six-foot-four, 235-pound defensive end Mason Bennett, the holder of both the career and single-game quarterback sack records for the University of North Dakota since the Fighting Hawks moved up to NCAA Division-1 play in 2009.
At No. 17 overall, they opted for linebacker Bailey Feltmate, who played for former Ticat Jeff Cummins at Acadia. The Ticats feel he could step immediately into four different special teams.
And, at No. 27, they took Waterloo Warriors wide receiver Tyler Ternowski, who played at Sir Allan MacNab and minor ball with the East Mountain Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He was a teammate on the Hamilton Ironmen and at Waterloo with Jesse Gibbon, the Ticats’ top draft pick last year, and is a high-upside piece of that offensive-line depth.
The fleet Ternowski, coming off an outstanding university career, moves into an ideal situation for a young receiver who could initially challenge for a roster spot via special teams: The Ticats Canadian receiving corps is very thin on CFL experience.
“This is unreal,” Ternowski beamed right after his selection. “My hometown. It’s what I wanted, but I could never say it until now. I’m super pumped. I’m excited to go to an organization that is so developed and with a winning culture.”
With their fifth pick, in the fourth round at 36th overall, the Ticats went with UBC defensive back Stavros Katsantonis, whom they had regarded highly for last year’s draft, but his eligibility was later deferred a year for a doping violation. They’re suddenly very deep with homebrews in the secondary, always a promising indicator of lineup flexibility and special-teams strength.
Burke says that Bennett, their second choice, “has the frame to move into middle, but has speed to come off edge” on the defensive line. If he is able to make the rotation sometime during his first year, it would offset the loss of Canadian Connor McGough to free agency.
“I couldn’t begin to explain my excitement,” Bennett said from Grand Forks, N.D. “I did have a gut feeling it might be Hamilton. They (through co-manager Drew Allemang) had the longest Zoom call with me and it was a lot more personal than the others were. I’m excited to get to work and bring the Grey Cup back there.”
Hamilton selected offensive lineman Joseph Bencze from the McMaster Marauders in the fifth round, defensive back Jean Ventose from UBC in the sixth, used the seventh round for a kicker in UCLA’s JJ Molson, who will challenge recently signed American Matt White, and closed it out with UBC defensive lineman and long snapper Tom Schnitzler in the eighth.
“We’re very happy with our draft,” Burke said.
“One of the things we wanted to address was our special teams and we think we’ve really done that.”
Other McMaster Marauders chosen Thursday night included defensive back Noah Hallett (18th to Winnipeg), offensive lineman Jakub Szott (29th, Ottawa) and St. Mary’s grad receiver Tyler Middlemost (34th, Calgary).
Ohio quarterback Nathan Rourke of Oakville will join Mike Reilly and the B.C. Lions after he was chosen 15th overall. Steve Milton is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email at smilton@thespec.com.