 Saskatchewan Huskies offensive lineman Ben Heenan was the No. 1 overall selection in Thursday's CFL Draft. (REUTERS) |
Ben Heenan going first to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Thursday’s CFL draft was pretty much a slam dunk for GM Brendan Taman.
Heenan is a big farm boy from nearby Grand Coulee, Sask., who starred for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. Taman didn’t have much of a choice to go out on a limb. In fact, Riders CEO Jim Hopson officially announced they were taking Heenan six hours before the draft began, likely much to the chagrin of TSN, which was airing the first two rounds. Hopson presented Heenan with a Riders jersey at the Huskies’ annual fundraising breakfast in Saskatoon on Thursday morning.
“It means a lot to be selected here by the Riders, and for it to be announced the way that it was was really awesome,” Heenan said.
It was after pick No. 1 where the fun really began. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers were hoping to move up from eighth to third to grab Eastern Michigan defensive end Jabar Westerman. In fact, they had a deal in place with the owners of the No. 3 pick, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, to get Westerman.
However, the B.C. Lions weren’t about to let the Blue and Gold swoop in and steal the object of their affections. The defending Grey Cup champs traded the fourth, 14th and 38th picks to the Eskimos for No. 2 and No. 20 overall.
Then they plucked Westerman, much to the chagrin of the Bombers.
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“I knew (the Lions) were interested, but I didn’t know I was going to end up there because a lot of teams were saying they really wanted me,” said Westerman, whose older brother Jamaal plays for the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. “But at the same time B.C. was lower down in the draft, so once they traded up that’s when I kind of figured that they were going to try to get me.
“It felt great. To go this early is just something … wow. Right now I’m kind of choking up. I’m kinda speechless about this whole situation.”
The Bombers still went through with the deal to get the third overall selection from the Ticats, giving up the eighth and 13th overall selections, and they went off the board a bit to grab Washington State Cougars offensive lineman Tyson Pencer.
The Eskimos got the man they wanted at No. 4, Virginia offensive lineman Austin Pasztor, and the Calgary Stampeders did the same at No. 5, snagging defensive lineman Ameet Pall.
Edmonton grabbed speedy Wilfrid Laurier receiver Shamawd Chambers, who has an NFL tryout scheduled for next weekend with the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Lions finished off the first round by taking Calgary offensive lineman Kirby Fabien.
THE DRAFT
Round 1
1 Saskatchewan
Ben Heenan, Saskatchewan OL
2 BC via TOR Via Edm
Jabar Westerman, E. Michigan DL
3 Winnipeg Via Ham
Tyson Pencer, Washington State OL
4 EDMONTON via MTL Via BC
Austin Pasztor, Virginia OL
5 Calgary
Ameet Pall, Wofford College DL
6 Edmonton
Shamawd Chambers, Laurier WR
7 BC
Kirby Fabien, Calgary OL
Round 2
8 Hamilton via SSK Via WPG
Courtney Stephen, N. Illinois DB
9 Toronto
Cleyton Laing, Iowa State DE
10 Hamilton
Frederic Plesius, Laval LB
11 Montreal
Pactric Lavoie, Laval RB
12 Saskatchewan Via Cal
Samuel Hurl, Calgary LB
13 Hamilton Via WPG
Carson Rockhill, Calgary OL
14 Edmonton Via BC
Justin Capicciotti, Simon Fraser DL
Round 3
15 Calgary Via Ssk
Keenan MacDougall, Sask. DB
16 Winnipeg via TOR
Johnny Aprile, Queen’s WR
17 Hamilton
Amaud Gascon-Nadon, Laval DL
18 Montreal
Bo Adebayo, Western Kentucky DL
19 Calgary
Billy Peach, Jacsonville Uni. OL
20 HAMILTON Via BC Via EDM
Michael Atkinson, Boise State DL
21 Winnipeg
Christo Bilukidi, Georgia StateDE
22 BC via Hamilton
Matthew Norman, Western OL
Round 4
23 Winnipeg via SSK
Rene Stephan, Harding LB
24 Toronto
Herve Tonye-Tonye, N. Colorado LB
25 Hamilton
S. Charbonneau-Campeau, Sherbrooke WR
26 Montreal
Lance Milton, UBC DB
27 Calgary
Bradley Erdos, Simon Fraser OL
28 Toronto via EDM
Quincy Hurst, Manitoba WR
29 Winnipeg
Jake Thomas, Acadia DL
30 Calgary via BC
Adam Berger, Simon Fraser DB
Round 5
31 Calgary via WPG via SSK
Mike Filer, Mount Alison OL
32 Toronto
Luke Wilson, Rice TE
33 Hamilton
Daronn Palmer, Simon Fraser SB
34 Montreal
Bryn Roy, Texas A&M Commerce LB
35 Saskatchewan Via Cal
Kevin Regimbald-Gagne, Sherbrooke LB
36 Edmonton Eskimos
Hasan Hazime, Akron DE
37 BC via WPG
Jordan Verdone, Calgary LB
38 Edmonton Via BC
Ryan King, Saint Mary’s LB
Round 6
39 Saskatchewan
Ismael Bamba, Sherbrooke WR
40 Toronto
Aaron Crawford, Saint Mary’s LB
41 Toronto via HAM
Shea Pierre, Windsor DB
42 Montreal
Kaynan Parker, Oregon State DB
43 Calgary
Jordan Spence, E. Oregon Uni. DL
44 Montreal via EDM
Ryan White, Bishop’s OL
45 Calgary via WPG
Wilkerson Desouza, Toronto LB