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Videos: NFL scouts take in Manitoba DT David Onyemata's historic pro day

andrew bucholtz
Videos: NFL scouts take in Manitoba DT David Onyemata's historic pro day

While there are more and more CIS-trained players winding up in the NFL, it's still rare to see that league coming to them. That's what happened Monday with University of Manitoba Bisons defensive tackle David Onyemata, though. Onyemata, currently the second-ranked CFL prospect, had already drawn significant buzz south of the border thanks to an impressive performance in the East-West Shrine Game,and the NFL interest in him led to his decision to stage a pro day Monday at the U of M, the first pro day in Bisons' history, and one of the first ones in CIS history. A pro day, where a prospect works out on his own field instead of at a central combine, can be a great edge for players, but there usually isn't enough NFL interest to make it worthwhile for CIS players. That's not the case with Onyemata, though; up to 21 NFL scouts were at his pro day, and he put on a pretty impressive performance for them. Here are some videos from his drills:

It's been a remarkable journey for Onyemata, who was born in Lagos, Nigeria and later came to Canada with his family. He told Sportsnet's Justin Dunk earlier this year that he had never heard of football until high school, and never played it until walking on at Manitoba:

I applied to the University of Manitoba because the agency I used knew the university well and it was faster to get my acceptance letter, and I travelled to Winnipeg in May 2011. Once classes started in the fall I went to Coach [Brian] Dobie’s office. I walked in like I was one of the players. He sized me up, checked my height and weight, and he told me to come to practice that same day.

For the whole first year I was pretty much on the sidelines practising getting in my stance and get-offs. I did a couple one-on-ones, but it was mostly just individual position work. After training camp in second year I got a grasp for the technical aspects of playing defensive line and started to understand defensive schemes—that’s when I officially made the team.

It was pretty neat to get an opportunity to put on the jersey and go out there and play. My first year dressing I would sometimes go to the wrong gap. So our defensive coordinator told the linebackers to wait until I went to the wrong gap and have them go to my gap. Essentially they let me pick one and the linebacker behind me would fill the other one.

Since then, Onyemata evolved into one of the best players in the Canadian university ranks, and his 2015 season was particularly strong. He notched five sacks, a forced fumble and 38.5 tackles in eight games, was named a first-team All-Canadian, and won the J.P. Metras Trophy as the top down lineman in CIS. That led to his selection as one of the Canadian players in the Shrine Game, and he impressed against American competition there, showing speed and versatility at defensive end despite his 6'4'', 300-pound frame and recording one sack and at least one solid pressure. Onyemata's long been on the CFL radar, but now he's well on the NFL radar too, as shown by the interest in attending his pro day. That's great for him to be able to work out on home turf with so many NFL scouts in attendance, and it bodes well for his NFL draft stock. We'll see just how much NFL interest there is in him when the draft and the post-draft signings roll around, but for now, he looks likely to wind up in that league.