A year ago it was his younger brother, Oshae, going through the draft process in the NBA, ultimately signing as an undrafted rookie with the Toronto Raptors. Now it’s Dejon Brissett’s turn.

Dejon, a wide receiver coming out of the University of Virginia, is No. 5 on the CFL Scouting Bureau Rankings ahead of next week’s draft. Just a week away from joining the pro ranks, the Mississauga, Ont., native said he would be excited to play in the same city as Oshae.

“Yeah, definitely,” the older Brissett said. “I haven’t lived with my brother for a long time, so we definitely talked about getting a place to live together if I were to land in Toronto.

“Playing in Toronto would be pretty cool, especially because my family is there. My brother plays for the Raptors, so that would definitely be an interesting story.”

Brissett left home early to pursue his sports dreams, attending high school in Illinois. He played four seasons at the University of Richmond before joining Virginia for a year as a graduate transfer. Brissett is no stranger to playing in new places and said he’d be happy to go anywhere in the CFL Draft.

“I’ve been away from home for a long time, so there’s really no preference for me on where I end up. I’ve been in Virginia the past five years and I was in Illinois before that, so I really have no preference in where I play.”

Before Dejon left home, he and Oshae played sports together all the time, with basketball being their first passion. Oshae stuck with basketball, playing two years at Syracuse University before signing with the Raptors organization. He split this past year between the Raps and their G League team Raptors 905.

Dejon recalled when he started shifting his focus to football.

“Basketball was the main thing [growing up]. When I went away to high school in Illinois, I came back for summer break and all of a sudden my brother was taller than me. His basketball career took off and I kind of veered off to football. But definitely, growing up sports was all we ever did.”

Brissett’s best collegiate season came in his third season at Richmond in 2017. He finished the year with 63 receptions for 896 yards and seven touchdowns. A season-ending injury three games into his senior year allowed Brissett to transfer to Virginia as a graduate, where he appeared in 12 of 14 games in 2019.

Brissett admitted his pre-draft process the past couple months, affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, has been challenging. But he said his brother has helped keep him in the right frame of mind ahead of the draft.

“His process didn’t go the way he wanted it to go. He was expecting to be drafted at least in the second round and it didn’t work out. So his thing was just always stay positive, stay hopeful, and whatever happens is supposed to happen. And that’s been helping me throughout this whole process.”