With five months to go before the Carleton Ravens football team’s first kickoff in over a decade, quarterback Jesse Mills got a taste of the CFL at the league combine March 22-24.
While it’s not his draft year, Mills was invited to the combine as a guest thrower, tossing footballs for CFL prospects.
“It was definitely a good experience to be able to play with those calibre of athletes,” Mills said. “It was a good look at what I could be playing with in the future.”
The combine was yet another chance to boost the visibility of both the fledgling football program. It was also a chance for Mills to gain some more exposure.
“To be able to represent Carleton at an event like that was really good,” he said. “And it was good to get my name out there.”
Most of the receivers and running backs Mills threw for were players he could very well meet in regular season competition with Carleton. The majority of the combine roster was made up of Canadian university athletes, including three players from the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.
Mills participated in some of the testing and drills but didn’t pass the testing because he wasn’t draft-eligible. Nonetheless, he said the experience armed him with a few things to take back to Carleton.
“Just a few basic things that the quarterback coach for the day taught us,” he said. “Some stuff with mechanics and reading defences that will make things better.”
“If you can use them at the CFL level and bring them back to the [university] level it will make things a lot easier for you,” Mills added.
With the school year winding down, Mills now has his sights set on a summer of training in preparation for his first season leading the Ravens.
“Everything’s starting to get into perspective now because the season’s pretty close,” he said. “I’m excited because it’s been such a long wait.”
