RAMS’ SOMBACH AMONG EIGHT EARNING CFL NATIONAL COMBINE INVITES
Photo: CFL
It wasn’t his best performance, but it was good enough to earn Nicholas Gendron a spot in the CFL’s national combine.
The Ottawa Gee-Gees receiver was among eight players from the league’s invitational combine Friday to secure spots at the national event. Gendron punched his ticket by posting the second-best times in both 40-yard dash (4.59 seconds) and shuttle (4.13 seconds).
“Honestly, I think I could’ve done better in all of the tests, I’ve done better in training,” Gendron said. “I’m happy I got another chance at the national combine and there’s a small (feeling of accomplishment).
“But the job isn’t even close to being done. I’ve still got time before the national combine and so I’m going to make sure I put in the work.”
The national combine will be held March 19-24 in Winnipeg. Also earning berths were: Guelph receiver Kaine Stevenson; offensive linemen Ethan Kalra of Waterloo and Owen Mueller of Windsor; defensive backs Dawson Marchant (Southwestern Oklahoma State), Jackson Sombach (Regina) and Yani Gouadfel (Bishop’s) along with York defensive lineman Jason Janvier-Messier.
In Winnipeg, Gendron will compete against some of the CFL draft’s top receiving prospects. Dhel Duncan-Busby (Bemidji State), Ajou Ajou (Garden City Community College) and Laval’s Kevin Mital — who were all on the league scouting bureau’s winter list of the top-20 draft prospects — will all be in Manitoba.
But Gendron isn’t concerning himself about that.
Sombach had combine-best results in the 40-yard dash (4.58 seconds), vertical (36 inches) and three-cone drill (6.97 seconds). McMaster defensive lineman Mitchell Price led the bench press with 30 reps while Marchant registered the top broad jump (10 feet three 5/8 inches) and Waterloo receiver Justin Succar led the shuttle (4.07 seconds).
Seventy-three players auditioned at the University of Waterloo’s Feridun Hamdullahpur Field House. But a notable absentee was DK Bonhomme, a six-foot-two, 237-pound Ottawa native who played linebacker at the University of South Alabama.
CFL officials said they weren’t given a reason why Bonhomme didn’t participate.
Chris Jones, the Edmonton Elks head coach/GM, was intent on evaluating those players who were present Friday.
“I love coming to these, it’s like Christmas to me,” he said. “I get to see some of these kids I’ve watched on film and watch them move around and you can start to maybe pencil them in to where you’d try to utilize them.”
Jones intended to see “a couple of lineman and a (defensive back),” go through their paces. Predictably, though, he wouldn’t divulge who those players were or if they advanced to the national event.”
(Canadian Press)
