May 7, 2018

REDBLACKS stockpiling young O-line talent

Jason Halstead/CFL.ca

OTTAWA — Marcel Desjardins has a formula for the CFL Draft and he’s sticking to it.

The Ottawa REDBLACKS general manager picked an offensive lineman in the first round for the fifth time in six years, nabbing Alberta’s Mark Korte with the fourth overall pick.

Stockpiling talent on the O-line is hardly a revelation in the Canadian Football League, but no team has drafted as many players at the position in the first round as the REDBLACKS.

Korte joins Evan Johnson, Jason Lauzon-Seguin, Alex Mateas and Nolan MacMillan, in addition to starting safety Antoine Pruneau, as first-round REDBLACKS draft picks since the franchise returns in 2014. So far all of them remain with the club.

“Korte, we felt, was the guy that was going to be the best choice for us, meaning he had the most talent, the most upside and a guy that we just like all his intangibles,” said Desjardins. “He’s smart, he’s articulate, he’s been a team captain. He has a lot of those attributes that you want.”

Asked whether Korte can step in and make an impact quickly, Desjardins replied: “Yep, absolutely.”

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Mark Korte was one of the most highly-touted O-line prospects going into the draft (Jason Halstead/CFL.ca)

Don’t expect Korte, only 21,  to be a day one starter in Ottawa, where the REDBLACKS’ O-line depth is among the league’s most impressive. In addition to now having five recent first round picks, Ottawa also has proven veterans in Jon Gott and SirVincent Rogers.

The influx of Canadian talent could give Rick Campbell more ratio flexibility if he chooses to start five Canadians up front. And the added depth of Canadian talent also gives the club some insurance in case of injury.

Whether it was Korte or someone else, the offensive line was always in the plans for Ottawa’s top decision-maker.

“We were zeroed in on the offensive line for sure,” said Desjardins. “If he hadn’t been there we might have taken another offensive lineman instead but we’re happy he was there.

“Of the guys that hadn’t signed down south, he was the next best option for us,” he added of Korte. “He’s a guy who’s not afraid to compete. He went down to the Shrine game and did a very good job against that level of competition. He has a tremendous ceiling, he’s only 21 years old so there’s a lot of room for growth there.”

In the second round it was between another O-line prospect in Andrew Pickett and a receiver out of Laval in Marco Dubois. Desjardins describes Dubois as a raw athlete with long-term potential as a pass-catcher, but perhaps more importantly the ability to make a strong special teams impact right away.

The REDBLACKS took Dubois, but when the third round arrived, the REDBLACKS were delighted to find their second-round target still on the board.

“A lot of people think it may be a bit of a stretch with Marco Dubois, but we just felt from a special teams standpoint he was going to be able to really contribute from the get-go,” said Desjardins. “And for a guy who hasn’t played a lot at receiver at Laval, he has such a high ceiling because of his athleticism that we just did not want to allow him to slip to the third round and then not get him.

“Our discussion was, in the second round, Pickett or Dubois, and we elected to go with him in the third round after we got Dubois and we’re happy to have him there.”

– With files from OttawaREDBLACKS.com