Courtesy Regina Leader Post:

For the second consecutive year, the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes have drafted someone who’s unlikely to make a career out of playing professional football.

This year, if it’s any consolation, at least it wasn’t their first-round pick.

The Als selected South Carolina offensive lineman Gurminder Thind in the fourth round (32nd overall) of Wednesday’s college draft. One problem: Thind missed spring practice with a back injury, prompting Gamecocks head coach Steve Spurrier to recently state the player’s career is “probably” over.

Predictably, this has led to some disparaging remarks from other CFL teams.

“They took him as a future pick, but they might as well have drafted a dead guy,” said one front office executive.

At least one other CFL team called the school and was aware of Thind’s injury. “With all the other players that were available, I disagree with that choice, from a common sense point of view,” said another executive.

Als assistant general manager Marcel Desjardins, however, said the organization was always aware of Thind’s injury, but felt it was worth the gamble for a variety of reasons.

“According to Spurrier, he’s suffering from a bulging disc. People have played with that,” Desjardins said. “Does it require surgery? In a lot of cases it doesn’t.

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