These are always such fun articles to put together and so cringe to look back on.
Judging the stock of a player headed towards the CFL Draft on April 29 after a few short but intensive days at the CFL Combine is a fantastic challenge.
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The snap judgments are far from outlining the full story of a player with all the variables, which eventually determine draft positioning.
But if you take the temperature of the imaginary selection room, you can often get a feeling for whether a player is driving up the charts or down team big boards.
Let’s dive into the trenches for the first of three CFL Draft Stock Assessments.
OFFENSIVE LINE
DANIEL HOCEVAR
GUELPH
STOCK: UP ⬆
At just under six-foot-two and 297 pounds, Daniel Hocevar has the size and proved the movement skills he’s shown on tape aren’t a mistake. While combine testing can be misleading at times due to some school’s strength and conditioning staff being better equipped to prepare their athletes than others, I don’t believe this is a red flag for either Guelph pass blocker listed here.
Hocevar should land somewhere in the second to fourth round in my rough estimation, which is not something I would have predicted outright before the combine.
CONNOR KLASSEN
REGINA
STOCK: UP ⬆
At six-foot-three and 311-pounds, Connor Klassen sits almost smack in the middle of this lineman class for size but his speed, change of direction, and jump tests all showed an athlete with much more potential ready to be tapped into. All three of those areas were in the 80th percentile of invited combine offensive lineman over the last two decades.
CODY NEUMANN
ALBERTA
STOCK: DOWN ⬇
In a solid offensive line draft class, Cody Neumann is far from falling off the deep end but as one Canada West lineman jumped the charts in Klassen, Neumann tested lowest of any CFL Combine road grater. He will have to make the most of his late draft opportunity, which I fully expect he will.
DANIEL DOVE
WATERLOO
STOCK: DOWN ⬇
Daniel Dove is a BIG man at all of six-foot-four and a little over 300 pounds. He didn’t run the 40-yard dash and struggled in the change of direction tests at the combine. Even if he’ll never run a shuttle or three cone in a game, sometimes you just want to see an athlete move fluidly to imagine them pulling around to lead Brady Oliveira or William Stanback through the hole. That wasn’t Dove’s strength in Regina at the combine. The upside: he has long arms and an impressive bench that will likely make up for it.
ETHAN VIBERT
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
STOCK: STABLE
Ethan Vibert is low, thick, and smart with hands that could push a boulder up a hill. Vibert is a solid all-around athlete with a good sense for the game and went out of his way to be in Regina to speak with teams, which always adds to stability and future employment opportunities.
ETHAN PYLE
GUELPH
STOCK: SLEEPER
Ethan Pyle went from Invitational Combine to National showcase without missing a beat. He’s undersized, but has earned a chance to make some noise in camp.
DRE DOIRON
KANSAS
STOCK: MYSTERY
Without a lot of reps recently, this London, Ontario native looked smooth in the combine setting but what will he be as a CFLer in the next few years? Where will Dre Doiron play on the line and what are his greatest attributes? There’s plenty to be answered, but those questions are an intriguing proposition.
DEFENSIVE LINE
JEREMIAH OJO
MONTREAL
STOCK: UP ⬆
There’s testing well, and then there’s what Jeremiah Ojo did. Running a 4.59 second 40-yard dash at six-foot-one and 246 pounds got the party started, but from there on it was a testing showcase. He matched that with on-field energy and confidence in Regina while using his 90th percentile reach advantage to great success often.
MAX VON MUEHLDORFER
WESTERN
STOCK: UP ⬆
Everybody loves the scrappy underdog defensive tackle. Max von Muehldorfer is that in spades and happens to be incredibly athletic as well, which led to him taking multiple reps at a variety of positions on both sides of the ball. Arguably the biggest surprise in a good way at the combine, he’ll go somewhere quickly in the second or third wave of defensive players that I expect to come off the board in this year’s draft.
NOBODY
STOCK: DOWN ⬇
Seriously, nobody. I could grasp at straws here for a name but there’s no player who disappointed in testing or on-field enough to validate being mentioned. This class of pass rushers and interior run stuffers have a staggering amount of athleticism, padded smarts and consistency. All of which makes picking the right player from the deep group that much tougher.
CHISANEM NSITEM
LAURIER
STOCK: STABLE
Chisanem Nsitem is one of those guys you watch 10 reps of and know exactly what you’re getting. His stock might be the safest of any player in this draft based on his build and expectations snap-to-snap.
LIAM HOSKINS
WINDSOR
STOCK: SLEEPER
While Jeremiah Ojo got the headlines, Liam Hoskins casually and quietly dominated the headlines himself ripping around his equally impressive 240-pound frame in a way that suggests he could end up being the most respected member of this combine class by the time the 2025 group hit their five-year combine anniversary.
GABRIEL MAISONNEUVE
MONTREAL
STOCK: MYSTERY
The Carabins pass rusher has a frame unique to this class which leads me to wonder where he slots into the big picture. With many prototypical body types available, the six-foot-three (73rd percentile) and 236 pound (15th percentile) chassis on this engine should go late and work his way onto a roster, but could someone see the appeal of perhaps adding linebacker or special teams responsibilities to Gabriel Maisonneuve’s portfolio and take him higher?
