Mississippi State Athletics
TORONTO — The Canadian Football League Scouting Bureau published on Thursday its first edition of the top-20 ranked prospects eligible for the 2017 CFL Draft.
Montreal’s Justin Senior from Mississippi State comes in as the number one ranked prospect. Senior has been a mainstay on the Bulldogs’ offensive line. The 6-foot-5, 310-pound lineman has appeared in 38 games and has started in 28, including both games so far this season. During his career in the Southeast Conference he has been named to the Academic Honour Roll for three consecutive years.
Ranked second, the highest-ranked CIS player is defensive lineman Kwaku Boateng from Laurier, who is also the highest-ranked defensive player on the list. In his first two games this season, the Milton, Ont. native has racked up eight tackles including three sacks during Laurier’s 2-0 start.
McMaster’s Danny Vandervoort ranks fourth on the top-20 ranked prospects eligible for the 2017 CFL Draft (Alistar Boulby/McMaster University)
Nevada running back Akeel Lynch checks in at the third spot. The Toronto native transferred from Penn State after three seasons where he compiled 1,318 rushing yards on 262 carries (5.0 yards per carry) and seven touchdowns. He has five carries for 28 yards (5.6 yards per carry) this season with the Wolf Pack.
In the fourth slot is McMaster receiver Danny Vandervoort. Through three games, Vandervoort has three touchdowns on 11 receptions for 354 yards. The native of Barrie, Ont. notched back-to-back 100-plus receiving yard games to begin the season against Carleton and Toronto.
Rounding out the top five is Eli Ankou, a UCLA defensive lineman from Ottawa. The redshirt senior started UCLA’s two games versus Texas A&M and UNLV where he compiled five solo tackles and nine assisted tackles to begin the season.
BY THE NUMBERS
The ranking includes six offensive linemen, five defensive linemen, three receivers, three linebackers, a defensive back, a running back, and a tight end.
A total of 15 schools are represented on the list, and Calgary, Carleton, Laurier and Laval each have two prospects represented.
Navada’s Akeel Lynch rounds out the top three of the rankings (John Byrne/Nevada Athletics)
Josiah St. John, the first overall selection in the 2016 CFL Draft, was ranked sixth in last year’s Fall Scouting Bureau Rankings.
Last year’s fall rankings saw 18 of 20 prospects selected in the CFL Draft with five of the top eight being selected in the first round.
| Rank | Name | Position | School | Hometown |
| 1 | Justin Senior | OL | Mississippi State | Montreal, QC |
| 2 | Kwaku Boateng | DL | Laurier | Milton, ON |
| 3 | Akeel Lynch | RB | Nevada | Toronto, ON |
| 4 | Danny Vandervoort | REC | McMaster | Barrie, ON |
| 5 | Eli Ankou | DL | UCLA | Ottawa, ON |
| 6 | Christophe Mulumba | LB | Maine | Laval, QC |
| 7 | Rashaun Simonise | REC | Calgary | Vancouver, BC |
| 8 | Nathaniel Behar | REC | Carleton | London, ON |
| 9 | Qadr Spooner | OL | McGill | Brossard, QC |
| 10 | Antony Auclair | TE | Laval | Notre-Dame-des-Pins, QC |
| 11 | Geoff Gray | OL | Manitoba | Winnipeg, MB |
| 12 | Robert Woodson | DB | Calgary | Calgary, AB |
| 13 | Junior Luke | DL | Montreal | Montreal, QC |
| 14 | Faith Ekakitie | DL | Iowa | Brampton, ON |
| 15 | Mason Woods | OL | Idaho | Port Coquitlam, BC |
| 16 | Nakas Onyeka | LB | Laurier | Brampton, ON |
| 17 | Kay Okafor | DL | St. FX | Enugu, Nigeria |
| 18 | Jean-Simon Roy | OL | Laval | Quebec, QC |
| 19 | Kwabena Asare | OL | Carleton | Brampton, ON |
| 20 | Corey Williams | LB | Toronto | Mississauga, ON |
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.
