FEELING THE DRAFT: Here’s a rundown of the Ottawa Redblacks’ selections

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CFL training camps are around the corner; rookie camp will begin next Wednesday, but the impact of Tuesday night’s CFL Draft may not be immediate for the Ottawa Redblacks.

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Redblacks general manager Shawn Burke says it’s important to be patient, not to rush things when it comes to the development of the newbies. Let the players come to camp and learn.

Burke and the Redblacks say they’re plenty happy with the results of this year’s draft — with the team winding up with two offensive lineman, three linebackers, a receiver, a defensive back, a tight end/long snapper and a running back during the eight rounds of selections.

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There was quantity and quality and some nice local content tossed in as well. After the Montreal Alouettes traded to get into the No. 1 spot to take Syracuse linebacker Tyrell Richards, the Redblacks got University of Ottawa offensive lineman Zack Pelehos, who’s from Gananoque at second overall. They got more local content later — taking Carleton Ravens receiver Keaton Bruggeling in the third round. At the end of the second round, the Redblacks cashed in on a territorial pick — awarded to the two worst teams from the season before — to take a local player — Jesse Luketa, who was selected in the seventh round of last week’s NFL Draft. It’s possible Luketa will have a long NFL career and never play in the CFL. But, at that point it was worth a home-run swing.

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Draft day was also great for Ottawa universities. The Gee-Gees had six players selected: Pelehos, defensive back Chris Ciguineau (Winnipeg), running back running back JP Cimankinda (Montreal) and defensive linemen Fredenick Eveillard and Adam Wallace (BC) and Michael Pezzuto (Toronto). The Ravens had two players taken: Bruggeling, defensive back Cedrick Lavigne (Winnipeg)

“We added some players that fit into what we were looking for,” said Burke. “When we got to a certain point in the draft, we wanted to address some special teams needs. We wanted guys we felt athletically could play and with physicality could bring us the brand of football we’re looking for. We think we serviced all three sides — offence, defense and special teams. There are always ups and downs (in the draft). But we got a lot of quality guys that were ranked very high on our board.”

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It was hard to turn away from the talented offensive linemen at the top of the draft.

“When you get opportunities to bring athletic, physical offensive linemen into the building, that’s going to bode well for your offense,” said Redblacks offensive co-ordinator/head coach Paul LaPolice. “This gets us some really young, talented physical football players and allow us to start building the brand of football we want to play. We never expect early-round draft picks to step into starting roles, but that’s up to them.”

Here’s a player by player look at the Redblacks’ draft haul.

1st Round: Zach Pelehos, OL, Ottawa (2nd)

Said Burke: “I like a lot of things about Zack. You don’t get that 6-foot-5 size with all linemen in this league. He plays with a (mean) streak, he plays with confidence. He lets guys know when he beats them up. And there’s nothing wrong with that as long as you do it within the whistle and it doesn’t cost your team anything. He has athleticism. Getting to know him; it’s about football and it’s about family. He loves being a part of the community. We talked and I asked him, ‘Who are some athletes coming from Gananoque and he said, ‘I don’t really know.’ I said, ‘Well, you can be a trailblazer.’ He’s just a great kid and we’re excited to get him in the building.”

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“His film put him in a position for people in the league to take notice,” said LaPolice. “He’s athletic, he can move. He’s got great feet and he is as physical as anybody in this draft. A lot of teams had him on the radar. He may not have had the media accolades and all that, but I know a lot of teams were very excited about him. We’re excited he’s a local guy. We hope he has a long career here.”

2nd Round: Cyrille Hogan-Saindon, OL (centre), Laval (11th)

Said Burke “Talking about our DNA, our physicality, there’s a big arrow up on (Hogan-Saindon). He’s a one-year starter. A lot of guys that come out of Laval and Montreal are a bit older because of the CGEP program, but he’s a little younger in age. He’ll take some time to develop, but he’s got huge upside. He’s extremely intelligent, an academic all-Canadian. He’ll come in and bring an edge to that position. To get him extremely with that pick, we’re excited.”

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“You always want depth, we feel he’s got the ability to play both guard and center,” said LaPolice. “That makes those guys more valuable than maybe a guard who has never snapped.”

2nd Round: Jesse Luketa, LB, Penn State (20th)

Said Burke: “You look at it and when you can get a player of that caliber with what you would maybe call an additional pick – we hope not to have that pick anymore in the future – but let’s take advantage of it. We looked at a couple other local kids. I think it’s important to acknowledge what Jesse’s doing for this community and football and to have him associated with the Redblacks brand and give hope and inspiration to our football community means a lot. I called Jesse right after and congratulated him. I said, ‘There aren’t too many guys that can say they were drafted twice in one week.’ He was jacked to be drafted by his hometown team. We talked about, ‘Hey, we don’t expect you here. We want you to make it as far as you can. But we want you to be an ambassador for not only the City of Ottawa, but our country and the sport we all love.’ ”

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3rd Round: Keaton Bruggeling, WR, Carleton (22nd)

“You look at him and he’s 6-foot 3, 220 pounds,” said Burke. “He’s got the body for this. You see the speed on the field when you watch his film of him. It’s still coming together for him. He took a big jump this season where he became more of your go-to guy. He’s still got some teaching to come along. Coach LaPolice and (receivers) coach (Alex) Suber, they’ll get him there. He’s a guy who’s passionate about football. And he’s excited to get in our building as well.”

4th Round: Daniel Valente, DB, Western (31st)

“He’s a guy that just kept rising and rising as we got through the draft process,” said Burke. “It was always, ‘What about that Valente kid, what about that Valente kid?’ He was just a guy we kept talking about and we knew there was a certain point in the draft where it was like, ‘We’ve got to take this guy.’ ”

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5th Round: Woody Appolon, LB, Tuskegee (40th)

“He started at Northern Illinois, and then made his way down (to Tuskegee) with his (twin) brother (Wesly),” said Burke. “He’s something different. You don’t see 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5 225-pound guys, that type of size. You’re always looking for size and athleticism. And he brings it. He it’s something we do n’t have in that group right now. He’s not going to be here this year, he’s going back to school. But he seems genuinely excited for the opportunity and we’ll track him for the year.”

6th Round Subomi Oyesoro, LB, Calgary

Said Burke: “He’s definitely a special teams guy, but he has some potential which I don’t think he’s reached yet. (University of) Calgary went through a bit of a difficult season; usually they’ve been a powerhouse and they fell back a little. It’ll be exciting to see how he reacts to the pro camp and what he learns from that. But in terms of athleticism, he’s a body type we’re looking for. We thought we were a little lacking in that.”

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7th Round: Connor Ross, TE, St. Francis Xavier (58th)

“Connor is a fullback but he’s also got some long-snapping skills,” said Burke. “When we looked at our roster, we obviously have LP (Louis-Philippe Bourassa) who is great at what he does, but Maxime (Latour) got picked up by Toronto late last year and we thought we were a little light there. He’ll likely get a chance to go back to school. (Special teams co-ordinator) Jim Daley’s (at St. FX) and he’s a great special teams coach.”

8th Round: Luca Perrier, RB, Laval (67th)

“When we looked at special teams rankings, he just kept rising. He plays big — 210, 5-foot 11, and comes from a winning program. We do have two great special teamers as Canadians at running back – Gilly (Brendan Gillanders) and Jackson Bennett. Over the course of a season, you’re always going to have some ups and downs injury-wise and I believe (Perrier) gives us a chance that if he was sitting there available and ready to play, we wouldn’t see a huge fail off.”