THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO – The team with the greatest needs stirred the pot the most Sunday in the CFL Canadian College draft.
The Toronto Argonauts, looking to dramatically improve their Canadian content, made two huge first-round deals to ensure they came away with hulking six-foot-eight, 309-pound offensive lineman Joe Eppele of Washington State and athletic Concordia linebacker Cory Greenwood.
Toronto dealt the first and eighth selections to the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the second and fourth picks and Canadian punter Jamie Boreham, a deal that was reached Friday. Then the Argos and B.C. Lions swapped a total of eight picks, the most important being the two teams swapping the third and fourth overall selections.
With that, after Saskatchewan took Queen’s linebacker Shomari Williams – the top-ranked prospect by the CFL’s amateur scouting bureau – first overall, Toronto were able to select Eppele and Greenwood, players Argos head coach Jim Barker coveted.
“We have some real issues and to draft at No. 1 and No. 8 we could’ve got one of the guys wanted,” Barker said. “But we felt ‘Let’s try to move up and try to get the guys we want.’
“You can’t be afraid, you have to be willing to take a chance. I’m sure there are fans out there who think we made a mistake giving up the No. 1 pick. But you just have to do what you think is right and what you think is good for your organization.”
Toronto also got great value later on in the draft at No. 11 with Saskatchewan’s Grant Shaw, an all-star defensive back who also has a strong kicking leg. The Argos also fared well in the fourth round by taking Waterloo Warriors offensive lineman Joel Reinders, a projected first-round pick before signing with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, at No. 26, then grabbing Bishop’s special-teams dynamo Steven Turner four picks later.
Turner fills a need for Toronto with the off-season departure of kick-returner Dominque Dorsey. Turner, Canadian university’s leading punt returner last year, turned heads at the CFL evaluation camp in March, posting a record 40-yard dash time of 4.31 seconds and a sparkling 43.5-inch vertical jump.
“You don’t put up the numbers Turner has put up unless you care about being a football player,” Barker said. “There’s a number of particular places he can make our roster and that’s what we try to do, find guys who have a chance to make our roster.”