Strong numbers of combine invitees from regional events show impressive Canadian depth

After a week of regional combines, the final roster is all set for the CFL's national draft combine this weekend—and it's a roster with a strong component of those who worked their way in. Four players from Thursday's regional combine in Toronto earned invitations to the main event, joining the five added after the Montreal regional combine Wednesday and the five who earned spots thanks to strong showings in the Edmonton regional combine Monday. That makes for 14 players who weren't initially invited to the national combine, but impressed enough in the regional ones to convince CFL teams to take a further look at them. While they'll still be in the minority this weekend ( approximately 40 players were offered invites to the national combine without having to work their way in through regionals), that's a higher number than the six to twelve regional invitees the league initially predicted, and it's over four times as many as the three players who worked their way in last year (two from the Edmonton regional combine, one from the Quebec one). That's a positive sign for the league's regional combine approach (next thing you know, we'll all be caring about Christmas pageants and regionals!), and it also speaks well of the depth of Canadian talent out there.

Of course, it's not like last year was dismal. 2013 was the first time the CFL had tried regional combines, and the two the league held went off very well despite only three players receiving invites to the full combine. Part of that was that there were less spots remaining in the full combine, but it's also notable that the three players who did work their way in shone there. A particularly impressive showing came from Concordia DB Kris Robertson, who worked his way in through the Quebec combine, then won the broad jump, the vertical jump and the 40-yard-dash at the main combine, a big part of why he wound up being taken 11th overall in the draft. Jermaine Gabriel and Michael Klassen also impressed on the big stage after earning their berths through the Edmonton combine, and they were selected 17th and 32nd overall in the draft respectively. That's remarkable for three players who weren't even invited to the national combine initially, and their showings were a key reason why the league opted to expand the regional combine model this year. We'll see if any of these new 14 players make the impact those three did at the national level, but the increased numbers of invitees show that plenty of gems are being found at the regional events.

That says good things about the depth of Canadian talent out there, too, especially considering that some top prospects who are attracting NFL interest (including top-ranked prospect Laurent Duvernay-Tardif) elected not to attend the CFL's combines this year. Even without them, there still are plenty of talented players out there, and the strong showings at these regional combines indicate that. Keep an eye on some of the guys who worked their way in from regional combines this weekend, including York defensive end James Tuck (who led his position group in four categories in Toronto), SFU receiver Tore Corrado (who ran the fastest 40 time of anyone in Edmonton), Sherbrooke receiver Francis Lapointe (who posted Montreal's best 40 time and highest vertical) and Concordia linebacker Travis Bent (who tied for the fastest 40 amongst linebackers and posted the second most bench-press reps at his position in Montreal). They may not have been among the few initially invited to the national stage, but they've shown they belong there, and with further strong performances, they might work their way up CFL draft boards.