CFL.ca
Photo: Johany Jutras
TORONTO — For some teams, what matters most at the CFL Combine can’t be measured.
The league’s annual testing of Canada’s top amateur prospects wrapped up Sunday, leaving two months for teams to assemble a puzzle that includes bench presses, 40 times and various jumps and measurements among other things.
What makes the perfect prospect is no exact science, but something at the combine might be bigger than anything timed, measured or filmed: character.
“The biggest thing for us is getting to know the players as individuals,” said REDBLACKS general manager Marcel Desjardins.
Like most teams going to the combine, Desjardins and his staff already had a pretty good idea of who’s the fastest or strongest, or who does what well or struggles where. And with less than two months between now and the CFL Draft, film will continue to influence the REDBLACKS’ decisions.
What Desjardins and many others were keeping a close eye on was mental makeup – something that can’t be captured in any game film or combine results.
“We like to come here and obviously we’ve done our homework and watched a lot of film,” Ticats assistant general manager Drew Allemang told Ticats.ca. “But you like to see them again and see how hard they’ve been working since their season’s ended, see how they come in here and test.
“It’s a difficult environment for them – it’s high-stakes, there’s pressure, there are a lot of people looking at them that have a say in their future. We just like to watch how they handle that.
“The testing results are important but you’re also looking for those aspects of the event as well.”
How will a player respond when the hill gets steep and the going gets tough? Is he lazy, will he take shortcuts? Is he a natural fit for the locker-room? Among many others, these are the types of questions teams want to know.
Whether it’s watching a player compete on the field or take criticism from the GM in the interview room, the CFL Combine for many evaluators is about more than the numbers and more than the film.
“It’s always impressive and it’s always interesting to see exactly who performs under the lights,” said Eskimos defensive coordinator Mike Benevides.
“You see a little bit about their personality, too – you see the kid who has a little confidence and you see the kid who might be a little bit shy.”
“You see the kid who has a
little confidence and you see the
kid who might be a little bit shy.”
The interview sessions are a big part of the process, where players are grilled by coaches, executives and scouts with a varying degree of questions. Argos safety and 2013 second-round draft pick Jermaine Gabriel remembers sitting in a room facing almost 20 people at one pre-draft interview.
“I remember, I could have made a play when I was with the Calgary Colts that would spring us forward into the next game and somehow the receiver caught the ball and we didn’t end up winning,” said Gabriel. “And they asked me, ‘how did that feel’.
“And no one’s asked me that. I was like, man, they’re digging deep right now.”
In 2015, the Argos told Chris Ackie, eventually a fourth overall pick of the Montreal Alouettes, three play calls as soon as the interview started.
“I went through the whole interview and at the end, they asked me to repeat the three play calls,” said Ackie.
“That was a good one, just to make sure you were paying attention.”
Ackie said the test was no issue for him, but it’s easy to see why others may have been caught not paying attention. It’s a nervous time for 50-or-so young prospects, all of whom know what’s at stake.
The interviews aren’t everything, but they mean plenty — to the players and their potential suitors.
RECAP: 
PROSPECTS PUT
ON THE PADS IN
FINAL SHOWCASE
“One of the biggest things is we get a chance to sit down with the kid for 15 minutes and talk to him,” said Argos defensive coordinator Rich Stubler. “That’s really, really an important part of our deal.
“For us, we get to meet the kids and see what their personalities are like.”
For CFL all-time leading receiver Geroy Simon, now a pivotal part of the BC Lions’ front office, the combine is also about seeing how prospects tee up physically – another aspect that doesn’t always translate on paper.
“It gives me an opportunity to see them in shorts and t-shirts and see how their body-types are, see them as far as lifting weights and how they can jump and how explosive they are,” said Simon.
“Body types are really important because you’ve got to look at the guy physically, see how they’re built,” he added. “Little things like the size of their calves, the size of their shoulders, how wide their backs are.
“And it also shows what these guys have put into training for this. Some guys come in and their bodies are a little bit softer, showing they might be lifting but they might not have the right diet. There are a lot of things you can see coming to a combine and seeing these guys in shorts and t-shirts.”
There are a lot of things you can see coming to a combine and seeing these guys in shorts and t-shirts.
And of course, like most other teams, it all comes back to the mental makeup.
The Lions are a veteran team led by Ryan Phillips, Adam Bighill and Emmanuel Arceneaux, while on offence a young gunslinger has started taking over in Jonathon Jennings. The locker-room dynamic is as important for the Lions as anything.
“They have to fit into a locker-room and that’s more important than what they do on the field – how they’re going to interact with their teammates,” said Simon. “You want to bring good guys into your locker-room, guys that are going to fit in and guys that are going to fall into place.
“You have a bunch of different guys, probably 50 different personalities on a team and as long as guys aren’t too bad, you want them to be themselves but you also want them to fall in line with the team goals.”
