The last major event before training camp goes this Sunday when the CFL holds it’s annual Canadian College draft. TSN will broadcast the first two rounds of the draft, beginning at 9:30 a.m. PDT and we’ll be live blogging the draft starting with some pre draft chat at 9:00am.

The BC Lions hold the 3rd overall pick in 5 of the 6 rounds. They do not have a 2nd round pick, surrendering that to the Calgary Stampeders when they acquired offensive lineman Jesse Newman last season. The club will be looking to add some depth to a young and emerging roster and will be aiming to have a better success rate in the draft than in recent years. Last year’s top pick Danny Watkins recently went in the first round of this year’s NFL to the Philadelphia Eagles while other recent picks have had to be released due to lack of roster space or plucked by other teams of practice rosters.

That said, 2010 was a productive draft for the Lions. As CFL.ca’s Jim Mullin writes, a total of five drafted players suited up for the Lions last season. All will be back in Kamloops for training camp and looking to play a bigger role in 2011.

Looking at the Lions biggest need you have to look at the receivers and in particular non-import depth at the position. The team has Paris Jackson, Shawn Gore, O’Neill Wilson, Akeem Foster and Matt Chapdelaine on the roster, and while they list Andrew Harris as a wide receiver he’s a running back at heart. Paris Jackson is coming off a sub par season after knee issues hampered his game, and the Lions are hoping for big things from Gore in his first full season with the team. Akeem Foster will also look to play a bigger role, but it’s plain to see the Lions have needs to address here, leading most to predict they will take a receiver with the 3rd overall pick. Calgary Dino’s Anthony Parker and Nathan Coehoorn are possibilities, as is Marco Iannuzzi out of Harvard.

The Lions also need help on the defensive line. Cameron Wake left a void that may not be filled for quite some time. Canadian Brent Johnson returns but isn’t getting any younger, so the Lions could be in the market for a defensive lineman in the draft.

Offensive line is always an option, but I can’t see the Lions taking one with the first pick unless Rice’s Scott Mitchell drops down to the Lions. They do need to start planning for a successor to Angus Reid and while Baylor’s Philip Blake may be intriguing, he’s also on the NFL radar for 2012 and it remains to be seen if BC is willing to take a chance on him like they did with Watkins last year. That uncertainty saw Blake drop in the final CFL rankings.

To get an outside point of view, I asked two people whose opinion I really respect to provide as an outsiders look at the Lions draft needs.

Kurt Ridley of Ridley Scouting provides scouting and player preparation services out of Airdrie, AB. He’s also the author of an extensive 2011 CFL Draft Guide (Available for download for $4.99) and has participated in CFL E-Camps in the past.

Jack Bedell writes an Eye on the East column for BCLionsDen.ca and also writes for the Montreal Alouettes web site.

Each of them had some thoughts on what the Lions might do on Sunday.

Kent Ridley

Review of 2010:

Interesting results from last year’s grab of college players. Danny Watkins is out of the picture and has been much talked about so we won’t dig into that. Shawn Gore had a run with the Packers that likely sent him to Vancouver a little more polished than straight out of Bishop’s. From testing highlight reel to a contributor in the offense is what is expected of him. Nate Binder has bounced around the CFL since his release in BC. Joash Gesse will move into a learning role behind James Yurichuk, a former first round pick, who extended his contract this spring. Akeem Foster is a guy who will need to make strides this year but has the skill set to do it.

Looking ahead:

Everyone knows the Henoc Muamba’s, Anthony Parker’s, and Matt O’Donnell’s of the Draft Class. I would like to bring up some names that you might have heard about and forgot or maybe never knew. Picking the first 4 is easy, picking the last 4 of the day is much, much harder.

BC enters the weekend with 5 picks. Their first chance to select comes in the first round at third overall. From there they sit back until the third round and select nineteenth overall. Their last three picks come at 26, 34, and 42. Don’t worry if your math is off because some media outlets count the Calgary forfeited pick as being #22 while others bump #22 down to Toronto. Hope they decide one year which way will become the standard.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Philip Blake (Baylor, C/LT) go to the West Coast after their time spent scouting Danny Watkins. Building depth for the future and being able to work with it is a key there. Moe Petrus (UConn, C) could be another futures pick that may or may not draw NFL interest next year. Currently he is ranked in the top ten for centers, one spot ahead of Blake, but the average NFL draft has only 5 or so selected. Alex Krausnick-Groh (Calgary, C) is a three year starter with the Dinos and could draw interest.

Jadon Wagner (BYU, LB) is another one that could fit the profile in BC. I know some BC fans will go “not another LB” but to create the competition it would make sense. Yurichuk, Gesse and Wagner could turn into a nice trio of defenders.

Craig Butler (Western Ontario, S) could take over the empty spot left by the Tad Crawford departure and was an active ball hawk in the OUA. He should be available when BC returns to the table in the 4th. Jeff Hecht (Saint Mary’s, S) could be another second half of the draft target. He is a tweener that played as a linebacker for the majority of his stint with the Huskies but projects more as a safety in the CFL. Another option could be Michael Carter (Maryland, DB). He should be a later round pick that doesn’t come with a lot of stats in tow but has speed to burn and could make an impact on special teams early. Michael put up great numbers at the JuCo level and timed at a 4.33 at the JuCo combine before ending up at Maryland.

Jack Bedell

One fact flying under the radar of late is just how young, fast, and aggressive the Lions’ have gotten on special teams and defence the last couple of seasons. You could really see some of that roster overhaul coming to fruition down the stretch last season. As B.C. began to blend all that athleticism with game experience on the back nine of their schedule, the wins started to stack up, and the team made a heck of a playoff run after a dismal start.

I don’t see any reason for the Lions to back off their recent draft strategies this Sunday when they’re on the board. With one Muamba already on the roster, Safety Cauchy, you have to figure St. FX LB Henoc Muamba would be a prime pick for B.C. if he’s still on the board in the third spot when they’re on the clock. He’d certainly bring a high-motor and textbook aggression to the Lions’ D and teams.

Bishop’s Junior Turner might be another possibility in the same vein for B.C. Turner showed off some of the same kind of speed his brother, Argos’ WR Steven Turner, possesses during his e-camp testing. He’d be an impact player on kick coverages right away, and might work himself into the rush end rotation pretty quickly a la Saskatchewan’s Shomari Williams last season.

And since it’s the CFL Canadian Draft, you can’t overlook the prospect of the Lions going o-line with their early picks. Several quality players should be available in the first two rounds if B.C. were to go that way, Baylor’s Phil Blake and Tulsa’s Tyler Holmes to name a couple.

For your draft reading pleasure

Jim Mullin (CFL.ca) – Lions on a run of strong CFL drafts.

Lowell Ullrich (The Province) – Lions may take a receiver with the 3rd overall pick.

Mike Beamish (Vancouver Sun) – Will it be all in the family for Lions and CFL draft star prospect Henoc Muamba?

Duane Forde (TSN.ca) – CFL Draft Dictionary

Join us for a live blog and discussion for Sunday’s CFL Canadian College Draft. The Lions hold the third pick in the draft. Who will join the pride this season? Leave a comment here on who you think the Lions will pick for a chance to win a BCLionsDen.ca “Tailgate Empire” t-shirt. To double your chances RT this message on Twitter:

I’m joining BCLionsDen.ca to talk CFL Draft on Sunday May 8th: http://bit.ly/lIvlYO #BCLions #CFL #CFLDraft #TailgateEmpire

On the eve of the start of rookie camp, the BC Lions coaches and player hopefuls that will descend on Kamloops are in for a tough few days.

For rookies, these next few days may be their one chance to catch someone’s eye. It can mean the difference between a career in professional football, or the reality that it’s time for a career adjustment. Adding to the challenge is the fact that for most of these prospects, they are coming from south of the border, and have never seen, or played a down of Canadian football.

For the coaches, the pressure is on to find the next diamond in the rough and not let him fall through the cracks. They have a matter of days to decide who carries on to the main cam and who hands in their playbooks.

Sometimes the decisions are easy. As Lowell Ullrich of the Fifth Quarter writes, some players may not even get on the bus to Kamloops due to the logistics of getting into Canada. Some will make the trip, and head home the next day. One mistake, one brain cramp can be the difference. Of course, none of the players would be invited if the Lions hadn’t seen something already and it’s now up to the players to show what they’ve got, and for the coaches to recognize it.

BCLionsDen.ca will have coverage from Kamloops June 6th to June 10th. Make sure to follow us on Twitter for the latest!

Kent Ridley is an athletic scout and owner of RidleyScouting.com. A service based in Alberta that identifies top athletes in football, basketball, lacrosse, soccer and hockey, helping them acheive their goals of getting noticed by pro scouts. They set up and distribute player profiles, organize scouting systems and do scouting of their own.They’ve recently stepped up their efforts to help bridge the gap between playing professionally and hiring an agent. We met Kent at Grey Cup in Calgary this year, and after following him on Twitter and seeing the knowledge he has about CFL prospects, we asked if he would like to do a piece for BCLionsDen.ca, and he graciously agreed. Hopefully he’ll check in from time to time offering his opinions on the top prospects to watch for possible careers in the CFL.

You can’t look ahead without first looking back. For BC that includes 3 draft picks in the first 5 picks of the 2009 CFL Draft. Those three picks turned into running back Jamall Lee, special teams leader/linebacker James Yurichuk and speedy receiver Matt Carter. The Leos followed that up in the third round with a coaches son in big Matt Morencie. In the fourth round they chose safety Tang Bacheyei from Kansas and in the fifth round the final BC pick was Jonathon Pierre-Etienne.

So walking out of the draft it looked like BC would be sitting pretty with the non-import talent. However this grouping of seven players only participated in 22 regular season games in Lion colours. Jamall Lee returned from his tryout with the Carolina Panthers to suit up in 4 games with his only scratch on the scoresheet being a 10 yard reception. Given a full training camp and time to learn the playbook completely he will contribute in a much bigger way this year. James Yurichuk suited up in all 18 games and it looks like it’ll be more of the same this year.

The next three picks however finished the year in different uniforms. Both Matts (Carter and Morencie) found a road that ended up in Hamilton, while Bacheyei also went to Ontario but into the SkyDome locker room. Finally Pierre-Etienne spent the year on the practice roster hoping to make a big impression on coaches this spring.

Now unlike the big spectacle that is the NFL Combine and NFL Draft that follows, which takes up hundreds of hours of programming on various sports networks and sees more folks sign up for NFL Network than any other stretch during the year, the CFL Draft is a different beast all together. Rather than spending a lot of time in analysis of your year ending roster the CFL draft is a lot more of bringing in top non-import talent regardless of need at a specific position.

This year you’ll see teams doing weird things based on some formula that they hold to in their war room and on their draft boards. For example last year Montreal drafted 8 players that combined for a total of 8 regular season CFL games and saw 4 of the players picked retire before the season.

That all said let’s look to the upcoming camps and see who the Lions might just be bringing to camp this spring.

The first round sees the Lions pick third overall. Of the first 7 picks (Hamilton forfeits their first round pick due to the Supplemental Draft last year) potentially 5 will come from the NCAA with all of those having another year of NCAA play available to them. The cream of the crop right now prior to the combines in no particular order are:

Joe Eppele (Washington State) a 6’8” 306 lb offensive left tackle with Vancouver ties already. Big body that has done well in a program that hasn’t done as well during that time. Has mentioned in previous interviews that he wouldn’t be returning to Washington State for a final season but that door is still open.

Danny Watkins (Baylor) a 6’4” 310 lb offensive left tackle that is also a BC native. His path is a little different as Danny played hockey growing up and his first game of organized football occurred at Butte Junior College in California while taking forest fire fighting courses. Since getting into the pads all he has done is become a regional all star and has started every game he’s played in 3 years (2 at Butte and 1 at Baylor).

John Bender (Nevada) a 6’8” 325 lb offensive right guard that has a knack of taking care of his quarterback. Nevada set an NCAA record with 3 thousand yard rushers this year. Big John was a key to that offensive line that simply pushed defenses around.

Shomari Williams (Queen’s) a 6’2” 245 lb defensive force. Spent time at University of Houston as a linebacker but lined up in Kingston mostly as a defensive end. Had a fantastic run through the OUA playoffs, bowl game and Vanier Cup.

Cory Greenwood (Concordia) a 6’2” 235 lb linebacker that earned the 2009 CIS Defensive Player of the Year award. Was in on 72 tackles (52 solo and 20 assists) in 8 games and added 2 sacks to the mix.

Brian Bulcke (Stanford) a 6’4” 273 lb defensive tackle that entered the 2009 NCAA season as the #1 prospect on the CFL Scouting Bureau Top 15. A broken wrist will send him back to Stanford for a 5th year as he earned a medical red shirt. Otherwise he was a strong bet to go first overall in the 2010 CFL Draft. As a junior he had 18 tackles and 4 sacks in the Pac-10.

What would the CFL Draft be without some top receivers. A pair of All-Canadians are leading the pack. Concordia’s other Cory. Cory Watson is an inside receiver coming in at 6’2” and 204 lbs. This second team All-Canadian pulled down 52 passes for 821 yards in only 8 games (1 of only 4 CIS players over 800 yards) with 6 touchdowns.

Akeem Foster (St. FX) a 6’5” 208 lb wide side receiver. Perhaps didn’t have the draft year season that grabbed the spotlight but Akeem did snag 37 catches for 595 yards over the 8 game CIS season to earn first team All-Canadian accolades.

Another receiver to toss into the mix is Jordan Sisco (Regina). A 6 foot 210 lb receiver that earned an invitation to the annual Shrine Bowl thanks to a 52 catch year for 700 yards. He is a between the 20s receiver though with only 2 touchdowns and a 13.5 yards per catch average for the Rams.

For those that need more names here’s an interesting list – Taurean Allen (Wilfrid Laurier, CB); Charlie Houghton (Georgetown, RB); Steven Hughes (Ottawa, WR) and speedy Steven Turner (Bishop’s, RB).

With 5 months to the first snap that matters things are very liquid at this point. Look to the National Invitational Combine and the CFL run E-Camp to change positions and no one is a lock. Between the one on one drills for the linemen and the famous 40 yard dash for the ball handlers and ball hawks things will shimmy and shake some more.

Ridley Scouting

Owner: Kent Ridley
Website: http://www.RidleyScouting.com
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E-Mail: rids@ridleyscouting.com
Phone: (403) 863-8643