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Mar 12 '18
With the 2014 CFL Draft set to take place next Tuesday in Toronto, CFL on TSN analyst Duane Forde breaks down the top prospects. Julian Weigl Jersey . Today, he looks at the offensive line. 1. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (OT, McGill) You Should Know: Over the course of his university career, Duvernay-Tardifs commitments to medical school and the family business frequently limited him to one practice per week, yet he was still the Metras Trophy winner as the Top Lineman in CIS football in 2013. The Good: His combination of size, athleticism, strength, intelligence, and untapped potential make him the most intriguing offensive line prospect produced by the CIS since Mike Schad in 1986. The Bad: Hes projected as a 4th round pick in the NFL Draft so whoever picks him wont have him for at least another year - if ever - especially considering his desire to finish med school. 2. David Foucault (OT, Montreal) The Good: At 67 and a relatively lean 320 lbs., he moves well, making him a potential ratio-breaking offensive tackle. The Bad: Despite all of his obvious tools, Foucault has yet to be consistently dominant at the university level. 3. Matthias Goossen (OC/OG, Simon Fraser) The Good: Combining toughness and intelligence, this three-time All-GNAC selection has played every position on the O-Line during his four years as a starter. The Bad: Despite having always played in Canada, he has never faced defenders who are a yard off the ball, as SFU and British Columbia high schools both play under American rules. 4. Pierre Lavertu (OC, Laval) The Good: Quick, strong and smart, he was a three-time All-Canadian and four-time All-RSEQ selection while anchoring the nations best collegiate O-Line. The Bad: His ceiling likely isnt as high as those ranked ahead of him. That said; hes as CFL ready as any prospect in the Class of 2014. 5. Tchissakid Player (OG, Northwestern State) The Good: Although he played at a smaller school, this 66, 300 lbs. guard is the only NCAA Division 1 player in the entire draft class. The Winnipeg-born, Texas-raised lineman was a three-year starter for the Demons. The Bad: A hamstring injury suffered at the Toronto Regional Combine prevented him from participating in the main CFL Combine, which kept scouts from comparing him head to head with other top prospects. Other Contenders: - Jas Dhillon (OG, British Columbia) - 2013 Canada West All-Star; former DL, 2013 was his only year on offence- Terry Hart (OG, St. Francis Xavier) - 2013 AUS All-Star; 32 bench press reps tied Lavertu atop O-Line group at CFL Combine- Kyle Paterson (OG, Regina) - from same hometown (Weyburn, SK) and college as CFLers Brendon LaBatte and Brett Jones; 5.22 second 40-yard dash and 30 bench press reps at CFL Combine- Quinn Everett (OG, Mount Allison) - college defensive lineman shows potential as a guard; dominated the O-Line testing at the Montreal Regional Combine - Aaron Wheaton (OG, Toronto) - 65", 295 lbs.; participated in 2013 East West Bowl Also On The Radar (alphabetically): Ahmed Abusafeyeh (Tiffin/Windsor AKO Fratmen), Kwinton Albino (Manitoba), Stephen Armstrong (Mount Allison), Lane Bryksa (Saskatchewan), Renaud Lafrance-Longtin (Sherbrooke), Fréderik Landry-Simard (Concordia) Analysis: During the 2013 season, the CFL made two significant changes to the leagues draft eligibility rules. Under the old system, all players became draft eligible four years after joining a college program. Now, prospects at U.S. schools become draft eligible upon completion of their college eligibility, eliminating redshirt juniors ("futures") from the draft. Those at Canadian schools now become draft eligible three years after using their first year of CIS eligibility. In other words, if a player redshirts in his first university season, his draft year gets postponed by a year (i.e. hed now be draft eligible after his fifth year instead of his fourth). In this "transition year", no position group was impacted more by the rule changes than the offensive line. No fewer than five NCAA Division 1 O-Linemen, including outstanding UNLV tackle Brett Boyko, and a handful of top CIS hogs, like Calgarys All-Canadian guard Sukh Chung, were reclassified from 2014 to the 2015 draft class. In addition, a CFL policy requiring "non-resident" Canadians to apply for their non-import status (even when they clearly qualify) led to Penn States Winnipeg-born star guard John Urschel also being excluded from this draft class. As a result, what wouldve been a bumper crop of high end offensive line prospects was reduced to just four (Duvernay-Tardif, Foucault, Goossen, and Lavertu), followed by a lot of uncertainty about the next tier of prospects. Bear in mind that while the eligibility rules have changed, the CFLs need for non-import offensive linemen hasnt, and the effect on this years draft process will be twofold. First, with Duvernay-Tardif most certainly NFL-bound, the demand for the other top linemen will be intense. For teams whose need is more immediate, theyll look to Lavertu and Goossen, as their learning curves wont be as steep as Foucaults. Regardless of the order, those three could easily be the first three players off the board and will surely all be Top Five selections. Secondly, with the leagues constant need for non-import O-Linemen, teams looking for OL depth will be forced to reach for lower ranked prospects (i.e. draft them earlier than their ability suggests they should be picked). As for Duvernay-Tardif, the gap between the top four or five O-Line prospects and the rest of the class means that his NFL interest shouldnt cause him to fall as far as he would have in a deeper draft pool. As a precedent, Ill point to the 2005 CFL Draft. Much like the Class of 2014, there werent a lot of "cant miss" offensive line prospects. A few days before that draft, the clear No. 1 prospect, Toledo tackle Nick Kaczur, had been selected in the 3rd round of the NFL Draft. Despite the limited supply of upper echelon O-Linemen, the demand for non-import blockers remained the same, as eight of the first nineteen selections were offensive linemen, including Kaczur, who went 9th overall. Simply put, the Toronto Argonauts, who chose him, felt that the likelihood of Kaczur returning to Canada within a few years was greater than the likelihood of the linemen who were still available developing into quality starters within the same time frame. In the same draft a similar line of thinking led to the second-ranked O-Lineman, Chris Best, going 4th overall despite having already committed to a Masters degree program that would keep him from turning pro until two years later. Godfrey Ellis was chosen 10th overall even after measuring in at 510 at the Combine. The fact that Jeff Keeping, a college tight end, had never played O-Line didnt stop him from being drafted - as a guard - 18th overall. John Comiskey went one spot later even though he hadnt played a single snap in the previous season. Fast forward to 2014, where the point is this. The top offensive linemen will be snapped up early. Once Lavertu, Goossen, Foucault, and Player are gone, teams will have to evaluate the likelihood and timeline of Duvernay-Tardif becoming a CFL lineman vs. the likelihood and timeline of the same happening for the remaining O-Linemen on the board. The "tipping point" could be reached by the end of Round 1 and probably no later than Round 3. Andre Schurrle Jersey . -- Aaron Rodgers isnt out for revenge in Green Bays season opener. Lukas Podolski Jersey . Every. Single. Game. Thats 1,230 in total to cover the regular season. The man is Corey Sznajder, a soft-spoken 23-year-old Salisbury University grad who lives in Annapolis, Maryland and has been charting zone entries and zone exits throughout the NHL. I love big projects, he said. No kidding. At the 2013 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, I met Eric Tulsky, who presented research on the value of controlled zone entries (short answer: about twice as valuable to enter with control of the puck rather than dumping it in) and Sznajder had charted a couple hundred games that were included in that study.PHILADELPHIA - A pair of victories made a long day for the Braves pretty enjoyable. Ryan Doumit homered and Tommy La Stella had two doubles and drove in two runs to lead the Atlanta Braves to a doubleheader sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies with a 5-1 victory in the nightcap Saturday. La Stella hit a three-run triple in Atlantas 10-3 win in the opener. Chris Johnson had three hits with an RBI and Justin Upton had two hits and drove in a run for the Braves, who have won five of six. Atlanta finished with 13 hits in the nightcap and had a combined 15 runs and 20 hits on the day. "Its a long day, definitely a long day and its not something you look forward to, playing two in one day," Johnson said. "But to come out with two wins, you cant complain at all." Cameron Rupp had two hits with a double for the slumping Phillies, who have lost seven of nine. Philadelphia totalled four runs in the two games and now have scored three runs or less 41 times, dropping to 7-34 in those contests. The Phillies also fell to 18-26 at hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park, where they entered Saturday batting .229 as a team. "We had tough going on the offensive side and couldnt get anything going," Philadelphia manager Ryne Sandberg said. "Its disappointing. We came in with some momentum, but the last three games it was lack of offence and not many good plays on defence. We have to do things differently, we have to score more runs and put the pitching and defence together." Atlanta right-hander David Hale (3-2) made his first start since being moved to the bullpen on April 30 and allowed one run on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk in five innings. Anthony Varvaro, Jordan Walden and Gus Schlosser combined to pitch four scoreless innings of relief. The four pitchers limited Philadelphia to six hits. "David Hale gave us everything he had," Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He gave us what we wanted and gave us an opportunity." The Phillies called up Sean OSullivan (0-1) from Triple-A Lehigh Valley for a spot start and the right-hander lasted 5 2-3 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits with three strikeouts. OSullivan, who has had stints with the Angels, Royals and Padres, made his 38th big league career start. "I wouldve liked to have gone deeper in the game, but I thought I came right after them," OSullivan said. "I tried to eat as many innings as I could." Uptons RBI single in the first staked Atlanta to a 1-0 lead. The Phillies tied it in the third on Jimmy Rollins sacrifice fly before the Braves used a three-run sixth to take the lead for good. OSullivan retired the first two batters before three straight singles, the last, a run-scoring base hit to right field by Johnson, ended his night. Left-hander Mario Hollands relieved OSullivan and surrendered a two-run double to La Stella that gave the Braves a three-run lead. The Phillies got a chance in the sixth when a leadoff single by Marlon Byrd and an error by second baseman La Stella on Ryan Howards grounder put runners on first and second with no outs against Varvaro. Benedikt Howedes Jersey. . However, unlike in the opener when two straight Howard errors in the fourth inning led to a pair of pivotal, game-tying runs, Philadelphia couldnt take advantage of Atlantas miscue. John Mayberry Jr. popped out and Cody Asche and Cesar Hernandez flew out to left. In the opener, Ervin Santana (6-5) snapped a four-game winless streak, allowing two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and one walk in 6 2-3 innings. Santana had lost his last three starts with a 5.89 ERA in those outings. But he was strong after the first two innings, retiring nine straight during one stretch and surrendering just three hits after the second inning. "It was a great effort," Gonzalez said. "We were looking for that kind of outing to be able to save the bullpen." Said Santana, "In the first inning, a couple pitches were up. After that, I just made a good adjustment and kept the ball down for the most part." Howard made two costly errors in the fourth inning, resulting in two unearned runs that allowed the Braves to tie the game at 2. Freddie Freemans hard-hit grounder went through Howards legs and the error put runners on second and third. "It was a possible double-play ball and we wouldve been out of the inning," Sandberg said. "It changed the whole game." The next batter, Upton, hit a medium grounder to first but reached safely when Howard bobbled and then lost control of the ball. Andrelton Simmons scored on that error and Freeman, who went to third on the play, then scored on Jason Heywards groundout to first. Fans gave a sarcastic cheer when Howard made the putout. "You make an error and give teams extra opportunities, and sometimes theyll make you pay for it," Gonzalez said. "We only got two runs out of those errors, but it got us back in the game. You have to take advantage of those. If you give opportunities to good baseball teams, theyre going to get you." Atlanta then went ahead in the sixth on Uptons two-run double off the wall in left. Roberto Hernandez (3-7) didnt allow a hit through 3 1-3 innings and ended up giving up just three hits in seven innings with two strikeouts and three walks. Two of the four runs he allowed were unearned. NOTES: Evan Gattis was out of the lineup for both games on Saturday. The Braves catcher left due to back spasms after striking out swing in the first inning of Fridays game. Christian Bethancourt was called up from Triple-A Gwinnett before the game. Bethancourt, who arrived at the ballpark an hour and 15 minutes before the game, hit an infield single in the sixth for his first major-league hit. To make room for Bethancourt, the Braves sent right-hander Juan Jaime to Triple-A. ... Philadelphia Flyers goalie Steve Mason, in town for the NHL draft at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday and Saturday, was in attendance for the opener on Saturday. ... The teams will conclude their four-game series at 1:35 Sunday afternoon with Atlanta RHP Aaron Harang (6-6, 3.78) facing Philadelphia RHP David Buchanan (4-3, 4.79). Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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