Coming to the CFL unlikely for Jesse Newman
Courtesy Regina Leader Post:
Leo Blanchard is an unlikely story himself, an Edmonton kid who never played football in high school but later developed into a two-time CFL all-star and a five-time Grey Cup champion. Yet the former Edmonton Eskimo offensive lineman believes that Jesse Newman’s road to the CFL is even more implausible.
Newman’s former offensive line coach with the junior Victoria Rebels, Blanchard frankly is mystified that his former charge has turned into a pro prospect. Though Newman wasn’t selected in the two-day NFL draft that ended Sunday, the left tackle from Powell River, B.C., by way of Louisiana-Lafayette is a possibly first-round pick in Wednesday’s CFL Canadian college draft.
B.C. Lions, with the No. 6 pick in the first round, are serious about obtaining more offensive line depth. And it would shock no one if Newman is their man, though 2008 could be one of most fluid drafts in recent memory.
“I’m quite shocked that he (Newman) ended up in the NCAA and did so well,” Blanchard admits. “To be able to go to a major American college, especially coming from where he did, it just blows me away. For a guy who never showed anything to end up playing there is pretty significant.”
Newman is an oddity, not only because he hails from Powell River, which lacks both high school and community football, but because he ended up at Louisiana-Lafayette, where he became the first Canadian to play for the Ragin’ Cajuns. A rock on the offensive line, Newman was a four-year starter and the school’s top pass protector. In his senior year, in 2007, the six-foot-four, 309-pound tackle was picked as a Sunbelt Conference first-team all-star and selected as Louisiana-Lafayette’s best pro prospect. However, Culley Curran, Newman’s agent, said the player’s poor performance on NFL Pro Day — when graduating seniors work out individually for scouts — was a result of mononucleosis.
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