With the 2015 CFL Draft set to go Tuesday at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2, CFL analyst Duane Forde previews each team heading into the big day. Forde takes a look at the BC Lions in this edition.
Current National Roster - Nationals Under Contract (as of May 7, 2015): 29 players
| NAME | POS | HT | WT | DOB | COLLEGE/JUNIOR TEAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fabien, Kirby | OL | 6'6" | 295 | 9/7/1990 | Calgary |
| Husband, Cody | OL | 6'7" | 307 | 3/19/1988 | UBC |
| Norman, Matthew | OL | 6'3" | 317 | 6/20/1988 | Western |
| Player, T-Dre | OL | 6'6" | 275 | 2/4/1992 | Northwestern State |
| Steward, Hunter | OL | 6'6" | 315 | 12/23/1991 | Liberty |
| Thorn, Cameron | OL | 6'5" | 290 | 4/16/1990 | Guelph |
| Valli, Dean | OL | 6'5" | 300 | 10/5/1983 | Simon Fraser |
| Adekolu, Stephen | REC | 6'4" | 200 | 1/20/1989 | Bishop's |
| Collie, Austin | REC | 6'0" | 204 | 11/11/1985 | BYU |
| Gore, Shawn | REC | 6'0" | 198 | 4/12/1987 | Bishop's |
| Iannuzzi, Marco | REC | 6'1" | 195 | 5/21/1987 | Harvard |
| Poblah, Kito | REC | 6'2" | 209 | 9/18/1987 | Central Michigan |
| Tomusiak, Whitman | REC | 6'1" | 190 | 9/1/1991 | V.I. Raiders (Jrs.) |
| Harris, Andrew | RB | 5'11" | 213 | 4/24/1987 | V.I. Raiders (Jrs.) |
| Lochard, Pascal | RB | 6'0" | 215 | 9/17/1990 | Laval |
| Antwi, Akwasi | FB | 6'0" | 254 | 5/9/1985 | Mount Allison |
| Lumbala, Rolly | FB | 6'2" | 238 | 1/30/1986 | Idaho |
| Doege, Steven | DL | 6'3" | 230 | 1/22/1991 | Okanagan Sun (Jrs.) |
| Menard, David | DL | 6'1" | 265 | 7/15/1990 | Montreal |
| Westerman, Jabar | DL | 6'2" | 285 | 5/13/1989 | Eastern Michigan |
| Arakgi, Jason | LB | 6'2" | 205 | 5/12/1985 | McMaster |
| Chin, Casey | LB | 5'10" | 215 | 8/27/1992 | Simon Fraser |
| Lokombo, Bo | LB | 6'2" | 233 | 10/15/1990 | Oregon |
| McGarva, Matt | DB | 6'0" | 192 | 5/26/1991 | Windsor |
| Parker, Keynan | DB | 6'0" | 183 | 11/17/1989 | Simon Fraser |
| Rwabukamba, Chris | DB | 5'11" | 192 | 1/5/1987 | Duke |
| Shott, Steven | P/K | 6'4" | 210 | 1/1/1990 | Okanagan Sun (Jrs.) |
| McCallum, Paul | K | 5'11" | 185 | 1/7/1970 | Surrey Rams (Jrs) |
| Benson, Mike | LS | 5'10" | 238 | 5/13/1987 | Acadia |
How They Were Acquired
Drafted by Lions: 16
Signed as Undrafted Free Agents: 1
Free Agents with CFL/NFL Experience: 7
Signed from CJFL: 4
Acquired via Trade: 1
Five-Year Draft History (2010-2014)
| YEAR | OVERALL | NAME | POS | COLLEGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 12 | Tchissakid Player | OL | Northwestern State |
| 2014 | 14 | Pascal Lochard | FB | Laval |
| 2014 | 27 | Casey Chin | LB | Simon Fraser |
| 2014 | 32 | David Menard | DL | Montreal |
| 2014 | 41 | Alexander Fox | WR | Bishop's |
| 2014 | 50 | Dylan Roper | DL | Simon Fraser |
| 2014 | 59 | Guillaume Bourassa | RB | Laval |
| 2013 | 6 | Hunter Steward | OL | Liberty |
| 2013 | 12 | Seydou Junior Haidara | WR | Laval |
| 2013 | 21 | Boseko Lokombo | LB | Oregon |
| 2013 | 33 | Matt McGarva | DB | Windsor |
| 2013 | 42 | Matthew Albright | OL | Saint Mary's |
| 2013 | 50 | Matt Walker | DB | British Columbia |
| 2013 | 58 | Cameron Thorn | DL | Guelph |
| 2012 | 2 | Jabar Westerman | DL | Eastern Michigan |
| 2012 | 7 | Kirby Fabien | OL | Calgary |
| 2012 | 22 | Matt Norman | OL | Western Ontario |
| 2012 | 37 | Jordan Verdone | LB | Calgary |
| 2012 | 6th round | Alex Ellis (2011 Sup. Draft) | DT | Wilfrid Laurier |
| 2011 | 6 | Marco Iannuzzi | WR | Harvard |
| 2011 | 11 | Hugh O'Neill | K/P | Alberta |
| 2011 | 19 | Michael Carter | DB | Maryland |
| 2011 | 37 | Yannick Sage | OL | Sherbrooke |
| 2011 | 42 | Chris Hodgson | DL | Saint Mary's |
| 2010 | 4 | Danny Watkins | OT | Baylor |
| 2010 | 10 | Shawn Gore | WR | Bishop's |
| 2010 | 16 | Joash Gesse | LB | Montréal |
| 2010 | 20 | Hamid Mahmoudi | DB | Montréal |
| 2010 | 24 | Nate Binder | WR | Tusculum College |
| 2010 | 25 | Akeem Foster | WR | St. Francis Xavier |
| 2010 | 34 | Cauchy Muamba | DB | St. Francis Xavier |
| 2010 | 41 | Adam Baboulas | OL | Saint Mary's |
| 2010 | 42 | Matthew Chapdelaine | WR | Simon Fraser |
Canadians to Watch
- Hunter Steward: Dating back to their first round selections of Justin Sorensen (2008) and Danny Watkins (2010), B.C. has had visions of starting at least one homegrown offensive tackle for years. They’re counting on Steward to build on his rookie season and make that a reality.
- Austin Collie: Joining the likes of Shawn Gore, Marco Iannuzzi, and Kito Poblah, the NFL veteran could put the Leos in a position to start three Canadian receivers, should they need the ratio flexibility.
- Chris Rwabukamba: The former Hamilton Tiger-Cat and Edmonton Eskimo was signed as a free agent to bolster the team’s Canadian options in the secondary.
In the Pipeline
- None
Picks in 2015 CFL Draft
- 8 selections
- 5th, 14th, 23rd, 32nd, 41st, 43rd, 49th, and 58th overall
Random Thought
The Lions took their share of criticism for selecting Danny Watkins fifth overall in 2010, after his junior season, as many had already projected him as a future NFLer. A year later, when the Philadelphia Eagles picked the Kelowna native in the first round of the NFL Draft, it seemed to confirm that B.C. had made a big mistake. However, it became apparent over the course of his three-year pro career that Watkins, despite his obvious physical skills and aptitude for the game, craved more of a balance between football and his other passion of firefighting than the NFL culture offers. In hindsight, the Lions were the only organization in pro football that was right about Danny Watkins - he was perfectly suited to play in the CFL, where he hardly would’ve been the first player to balance those two careers.
