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Auclair skyrockets in December CFL Scouting Bureau Rankings

While the CFL Combine painted most of the draft picture, not all prospects participated. Marshall Ferguson looks at some of the individual pro day results.

TORONTO — The Canadian Football League (CFL) Scouting Bureau has released its second of three rankings of the Top 20 eligible prospects for the 2017 CFL Draft.

Montreal’s Justin Senior, a 6-foot-5, 310-pound interior lineman out of Mississippi State, has retained his spot as the number one-ranked prospect but there’s been plenty of movement elsewhere since this year’s inaugural list was put out in September.

In the end, no one had more to gain than Laval’s Antony Auclair, who jumped eight spots from No. 10 on the list to second overall.

The 6-foot-5, 254-pound tight end was a part of the Rouge et Or squad that won the Vanier Cup in Hamilton in late November over the Calgary Dinos. In the championship game, Auclair recorded six receptions, including a touchdown, and accumulated 70 yards.

Defensive lineman Eli Ankou from UCLA jumped up two spots into third overall. The Ottawa native appeared in 10 games for the Bruins and started in eight of those games, compiling 46 tackles, three sacks and five tackles for a loss. In his career with UCLA, Ankou notched 87 tackles including 15 for a loss.

The top-ranked Senior, a native of Montreal, appeared in all 12 games for the Bulldogs this season and started all of those games at right tackle. Since joining Mississippi State he has appeared 48 games (starting in 38). He will play one last game this season when the Bulldogs play in the St. Petersburg Bowl on boxing day versus Miami (Ohio) University.

The entire ranking can be seen below:

Rank

Name

Position

School

Hometown

1 (1)

Justin Senior

OL

Mississippi State

Montreal

2 (10)

Antony Auclair

TE

Laval

Notre-Dame-des-Pins, Que.

3 (5)

Eli Ankou

DL

UCLA

Ottawa

4 (7)

Rashaun Simonise

REC

Calgary

Vancouver

5 (11)

Geoff Gray

OL

Manitoba

Winnipeg

6 (2)

Kwaku Boateng

DL

Laurier

Milton, Ont.

7 (3)

Danny Vandervoort

REC

McMaster

Barrie, Ont.

8 (6)

Christophe Mulumba

LB

Maine

Laval, Que.

9 (13)

Junior Luke

DL

Montreal

Montreal

10 (15)

Mason Woods

OL

Idaho

Port Coquitlam, B.C.

11 (14)

Faith Ekakitie

DL

Iowa

Brampton, Ont.

12 (8)

Nathaniel Behar

REC

Carleton

London, Ont.

13 (9)

Qadr Spooner

OL

McGill

Brossard, Que.

14 (18)

Jean-Simon Roy

DL

Laval

Quebec, Que.

15 (–)

Dariusz Bladek

OL

Bethune-Cookman

Kissimmee, Fla.

16 (–)

Jordan Herman

LB

SFU

Winnipeg

17 (12)

Robert Woodson

LB

Calgary

Calgary

18 (16)

Nakas Onyeka

LB

Laurier

Brampton, Ont.

19 (17)

Kay Okafor

DL

St. FX

Enugu, Nigeria

20 (–)

Mitchell Picton

REC

Regina

Regina

By the Numbers

The December rankings include six offensive linemen, five defensive linemen, four receivers, three linebackers, a defensive back and a tight end.

There are 17 universities represented on the list with three schools featuring multiple selections: Calgary (2), Laurier (2) and Laval (2). 10 U Sports schools and seven NCAA schools are represented on the list.

Three new prospects joined the Scouting Bureau rankings in December: Dariusz Bladek (No. 15), Jordan Herdman (No. 16) and Mitchell Picton (No. 20).

Josiah St. John, the first overall selection at the 2016 CFL Draft, was ranked third in the December rankings a year ago.

19 of 20 players from last season’s December’s CFL Scouting Bureau rankings were selected in the 2016 CFL Draft including six of eight first round draft selections.

The CFL Scouting Bureau releases its rankings three times each year: in September, December and April.

The CFL’s Scouting Bureau is comprised of CFL scouts, player personnel directors and general managers from the league’s nine teams.

Akeel Lynch, ranked third in September’s rankings, has retired.