Six Carleton Ravens football players were taken in the 2017 Canadian Football League (CFL) Draft, which was held at the beginning of May in Toronto.
It is the first time since 1999 that a Raven has been selected in the draft to join the professional ranks, and the first opportunity for the program’s best to have their shot since its rebirth in 2013.
Nate Behar, the all-Canadian wide receiver, was the first Raven off the board. He was taken by the Edmonton Eskimos with the fifth overall pick.
“It’s all out of your control on draft day, so it’s kind of back and forth and people are telling you rumours of where they think you’re going to go,” Behar said.
Behar came into the draft ranked in the CFL scouting bureau’s top 10 prospects and was the second wide receiver taken in the draft, trailing only McMaster’s Daniel Vandervoort.
“It was a huge release,” Behar said. “It was an exciting feeling afterwards, just crazy nerves leading up to it.”
The next Raven off the board was defensive back Tunde Adeleke. The Calgary Stampeders drafted Adeleke in the third round after he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.58 seconds, the fastest time in this year’s CFL combine.
The B.C. Lions then drafted fellow Ravens defensive back and Ottawa-native Nathaniel Hamlin in the fourth round.
Hamlin said he was nervous during the draft process and that waiting to hear his name called was difficult. He said that he expected to have been drafted somewhere between the third and fifth rounds.
Prior to the draft, Hamlin said he had not received any indication from the Lions that they would be drafting him. Behar said similar things of the Eskimos, and that there was not anything special in their pre-draft conversations to lead him to believe the Eskimos would draft him.
Hamlin said based on talks he has had with the Lions, he expects to start practicing at safety, with the opportunity to transition to corner in the future.
On his favourite memories as a Raven, Hamlin said, “Beating OttawaU the last three years in a row has been one.”
Other Ravens taken in the draft include centre Zach Annen (taken in the fifth round by the Montreal Alouettes), defensive tackle Emmanuel Adusei (taken in the seventh round by the Saskatchewan Roughriders), and offensive lineman Kwabena Asare (taken in the sixth round by the Eskimos).
Asare’s slide to the sixth round came as a shock to many, as he was initially ranked among the top 20 prospects.
Former Raven Malcolm Carter, who played three seasons with the Ravens before transferring to the Ottawa Sooners of the Canadian Junior Football League, was also selected. He was taken in the sixth round by Montreal.
The CFL was not the only potential landing spot for Carleton players. Many had tryouts south of the border during the National Football League rookie mini-camps over the weekend of May 13. Behar, Hamlin, and Adeleke all attended the New York Giants’ rookie mini-camp as tryout players.
“I definitely felt I was one of the guys on the cusp, but it was a great experience, I really felt like I belonged,” Behar said.
The increase in difficulty from the university level to the professional level is huge, according to Behar.
“Playing receiver is not an isolated spot. You can’t always take a stat-based approach because it can be so different based on where you’re playing,” Behar said. “Personally I want to get up to speed as quickly as possible, I want to get rid of the rookie stigma, and make sure I’m in there helping run the offence as smoothly as possible.”
Hamlin said he feels the same eagerness as Behar: a mix of nerves and excitement.
“Going out there each week, especially the first week, is going to be nerve-racking,” Hamlin said. “It’s going to be different, it’s going to be a challenge.”
Infographic by: Mariamabdei Akher
