Matt Smith/CFL.ca
TORONTO — CFL Combine season kicks off this week as prospects get set to show their skills for team personnel ahead of the 2024 CFL Draft.
This is the second year that the CFL Invitational Combine, taking place at the University of Waterloo on Friday, March 8, has replaced the Western, Eastern and Ontario-specific regional combines of past, bringing together draft-eligible prospects that will compete for invites to the CFL Combine presented by New Era, which runs from March 19-24 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Participants will put in a full day of measurements, testing and one-on-one showcases for CFL scouts, coaches and general managers, before finding out at the end of the day which of them will make the trip to Winnipeg for further evaluation and an increased chance of being selected in the 2024 CFL Draft on April 30.
CFL COMBINE presented by New Era
» View: Invitational Combine Roster
» O’Leary: Jordan Williams stands as a combine success story
» Rosters Set: CFL reveals list of Combine participants
» View: 2024 CFL Draft Order | 2024 Global Draft Order
The Invitational/Regional Combine has become an important tool in the scouting cycle leading into the CFL Draft. There’s been plenty of talent that has taken this route to get to the CFL.
You can get live event updates from Waterloo on Friday here at CFL.ca, with additional coverage of the day on our social media channels. But while you wait, here are five current players who have earned their way from a regional combine to the CFL Combine.
JORDAN WILLIAMS | LB | 2020 ONTARIO REGIONAL COMBINE
Jordan Williams was a stand out at the 2020 Ontario Regional Combine. Due to the pandemic, the two other regional combines and the CFL Combine later that month were cancelled (with the 2020 season eventually falling to the same fate). Because of that, Williams technically didn’t earn an invitation because of the cancellation, but his performance at the Ontario Regional likely would have garnered one if it was allowed to continue.
Williams showed off his physicality in front of scouts and general mangers at University of Toronto’s Varsity Stadium, posting the best 40-yard dash (4.48 seconds) of the day. He also showed a 39-inch vertical while going for 20 reps on the bench press and recording a 10-foot, 8.5-inch broad jump.
The BC Lions selected Williams first overall in that year’s CFL Draft, where he played two seasons before heading to Toronto via. trade in 2023. Over those three seasons with the Leos, the 29-year-old played in 46 games and racked up 229 tackles, a sack, an interception, and three forced fumbles. This year the middle linebacker will make his debut in black and gold after a trade sent him to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats earlier this off-season.
JESHRUN ANTWI | RB | 2019 WESTERN REGIONAL COMBINE
A few years before his successful on-side punt went viral during the 2023 campaign, running back Jeshrun Antwi was a participant at the Western Regional Combine.
The current Montreal Alouette impressed scouts and GMs at that regional, he notched 16 reps on bench and a 4.22-second shuttle time and 7.19-second three-cone time, finishing third overall in both categories. With that performance, he earned himself an invitation to the big show a few weeks later in Edmonton. Antwi went on to be drafted in the sixth round, 48th overall, by the Montreal Alouettes in 2019 CFL Draft.
The 26-year-old has now played in three seasons with Montreal, winning a Grey Cup with the team in 2023. He’s tallied 1,005 yards and a touchdown on the ground over 50 games to go along with 321 yards on 47 catches.
KIAN SCHAFFER-BAKER | REC | 2020 ONTARIO REGIONAL COMBINE
Kian Schaffer-Baker was at the same Ontario Regional as Williams and also impressed scouts and general managers, despite not technically earning an invitation to the big show. He posted the day’s best vertical jump at 40.00″ and the second best broad jump (10′ 7 1/2″) just behind Williams. The six-foot-four, 205-pounder finished with the fourth-best shuttle (4.40) and 3-cone (7.01) times.
Schaffer-Baker went on to get selected by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the fourth round, 30th overall, in the 2020 CFL Draft and has remained with the team ever since. The 25-year-old has played in 39 game with the Riders, hauling in 153 catches for 1,953 yards and 10 touchdowns.
ADRIAN GREENE | DB | 2022 ONTARIO REGIONAL COMBINE
ADRIAN GREENE THE KID OUTTA @SMUHuskies WITH THE PICK
Thanksgiving Weekend, presented by @PurolatorInc pic.twitter.com/80KKipmdNN
— CFL (@CFL) October 7, 2023
Adrian Greene was one of four players selected to go to the CFL Combine in Toronto in 2022 from the Ontario Regional Combine. He finished his regional combine third among DBs in the 40-yard dash (4.67), fourth-fastest overall. At the big stage, he was second among DBs in the 40, ninth overall, with a 4.62 time and was second to only quarterback Tre Ford in the 3-cone drill (6.91).
He went on to get selected in the fourth round, 32nd overall, in the 2022 CFL Draft by the BC Lions. 2023, his second season with the team, Greene suited up in 17 regular season games while eventually earning a starting safety spot. He tallied 16 defensive tackles, ten special teams stops, one interception and a pass knockdown.
JAYDEN DALKE | DB | 2018 WESTERN REGIONAL COMBINE
Jayden Dalke attended the 2022 CFL Combine in Toronto and went on to get selected in the sixth round, 54th overall, by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in that year’s CFL Draft. But that wasn’t the first time Dalke was at a CFL Combine.
The 27-year-old attended the 2018 Western Regional Combine as a CJFL invite/territorial exemption before he went on to U SPORTS and then became draft eligible. He improved his numbers from that 2018 regional to the CFL Combine four years later, adding four more reps on the bench (6 reps in 2018, 11 in 2022), cutting his 40-yard dash from 5.04 to 4.86, and leaping 31″ on vertical jump (two inches more than in 2018).
