Brett Holmes/CFL.ca
Up the list, down the list. Treading water.
We will soon find out what each draft-eligible player will do with their standing when they test themself against all the other hopefuls at the CFL National Combine, March 21 to 23, in Regina.
Explosive drills. Speed drills. Strength and agility drills. One-on-one tussles. Along with the gauntlet of interview rooms set up by CFL clubs, pro football hopefuls will be put through the ringer. Who will shine?
Before we look ahead, let’s glance over our shoulders at the recent past.
Here are ten current CFL players who raised their stock at the combine.
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TUNDE ADELEKE | DEFENSIVE BACK | 2017
DB Tunde Adeleke was selected 25th overall by the Calgary Stampeders in 2017 (Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca)
When the Ottawa REDBLACKS signed Tunde Adeleke to a free agency contract a few weeks ago, we all knew they were getting a talented veteran who can plug in and play anywhere in the secondary and at SAM linebacker too.
Eight years ago, though, he was an unranked defensive back out of Carleton University hoping to earn some attention.
Here’s what CFL.ca’s Marshall Ferguson wrote when he presented his 2017 mock draft list:
“(Adeleke) blew me away on the bench (16 reps) and has earned the right with his tests and his padded play to be included in the first three rounds. Something I didn’t expect to write after initial evaluation in December.”
Third round, indeed. The Calgary Stampeders selected Adeleke 25th overall.
DREW DESJARLAIS | OFFENSIVE LINEMAN | 2019
OL Drew Desjarlais was picked fourth overall in the 2019 CFL Draft (Brett Holmes/CFL.ca)
Ottawa REDBLACKS’ guard Drew Desjarlais is now regarded as one of the best offensive linemen in the CFL. But in 2019, he was on the outside looking in when it came to top prospects leading up to testing.
Not listed in the top 20 heading into the combine, Desjarlais had a splendid weekend, hitting 25 reps on the bench press (fourth) and finishing first among linemen in the vertical and the shuttle, and second in the 40-yard, with a respectable big-man time of 5.19 seconds.
Desjarlais jumped from off the list to number seven in the post-combine spring rankings.
He would go even higher, with Winnipeg selecting him fourth overall in the draft.
REDHA KRAMDI | DEFENSIVE BACK | 2021
DB Redha Kramdi was selected in the second round of the 2024 CFL Draft (Jason Halstead/CFL.ca)
The 2021 National Combine was held remotely during Covid, with draft-eligible players being tested individually wherever they could.
Kramdi’s numbers were pretty good, including a 6.76 time in the 3-Cone drill, which landed him just outside the top 10 in the event, all-time.
It was during the interview process, across the distance in a virtual meeting, where Kramdi shone brightly, at least to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Kramdi’s passion for football came “leaping out of a computer screen in a Zoom call,” wrote Ed Tait on the Blue Bombers’ website.
Never once had Kramdi cracked the top 20 on the scouting lists, but he was selected by Winnipeg in the second round that year, 16th overall.
BEN HLADIK | LINEBACKER | 2021
LB Ben Hladik was selected 22nd overall by the BC Lions in 2021 (Matt Smith/CFL.ca)
Back in 2021, Marshall Ferguson’s mock draft assessment included calling linebacker Ben Hladik the “star of the combine season” who had “looney tunes numbers.”
He needed a good combine, having fallen out of the top 20 when the Winter Edition of the CFL Scouting Bureau Rankings were released. Hladik delivered.
The UBC linebacker ran a 4.66 forty, placing him second in the group, and he led all linebackers in every other test, putting up a terrific 29 reps in the bench press.
Hladik was drafted 22nd overall by the BC Lions.
TYRELL FORD | DEFENSIVE BACK | 2022
DB Tyrell Ford was picked early in the second round by the Blue Bombers in the 2022 CFL Draft (BlueBombers.com)
It’s not that Tyrell Ford was a struggling athlete toiling in the weeds, begging for some attention.
Nevertheless, the newly-signed Edmonton Elk and the man we now know as one of the premier lockdown corners in the entire CFL was in the shadow of his brother, Tre, when combine testing got underway in 2022.
The University of Waterloo defensive back blistered one of the fastest 40-yard dashes in combine history with a time of 4.42 (tied for seventh, all-time) and popped eyes in the one-on-ones.
Winnipeg selected him in the second round, 13th overall.
ZACK PELEHOS | OFFENSIVE LINEMAN | 2022
OL Zack Pelehos impressed in the 2022 CFL Combine (OttawaREDBLACKS.com)
Now a mainstay on the Ottawa REDBLACKS’ offensive line, tackle Zack Pelehos had quite the spring in 2022, going from a year of being very much unsung, to cracking the top 20 (15) in the final rankings, to being selected by the REDBLACKS with the second overall pick in the draft.
The former Ottawa Gee-Gee first knocked it out of the park at the Eastern Regional Combine, and when he was then invited to the National Combine, he did it again, rocketing his prospects into the stratosphere.
He ran a 5.28 forty, leading all offensive linemen in that test and besting them all in the vertical and the broad jump as well.
GAVIN COBB | RECEIVER | 2022
REC Gavin Cobb had a dominant performance in the 2022 CFL Combine (Geoff Robbins/CFL.ca)
Gavin Cobb might have been a late-round draft pick in 2022 and who knows? Might even have slipped right out of the selections.
But the former University of Manitoba and Simon Fraser receiver absolutely insisted that CFL executives and coaches take him very seriously when he arrived at the combine.
Cobb’s 40.5-inch leap in the vertical tied him for top spot, overall, and his broad jump leap of nearly 11 feet was a combine best. He was top three in the 3-cone and forty, and second in the shuttle.
What came next was a dominant showing in the one-on-one drills where Cobb grabbed just about every pass that came his way.
The Edmonton Elks took him 30th overall in the draft but Cobb missed the entire 2022 season with an ankle injury.
After getting limited targets in Edmonton in 2023 and 2024, Cobb gets a fresh start with Winnipeg in 2025.
DANIEL OLADEJO | RECEIVER | 2023
REC Daniel Oladejo was selected 17th overall by the Ottawa REDBLACKS (Christian Bender/CFL.ca)
A year after Cobb’s fine showing, unranked receiver Daniel Oladejo wowed combine onlookers with a dazzling performance of crisp route running and explosive separation from defensive backs during the one-on-one drills.
He popped on special teams too. And when a receiver puts up 20 reps in the bench press, that gets attention.
The Ottawa REDBLACKS took Oladejo with the 17th overall pick.
Like Cobb, Oladejo was limited to very few targets while he was with the team that drafted him. And like Cobb, he gets a fresh chance in 2025, having been signed by the Montreal Alouettes.
LAKE KORTE-MOORE | DEFENSIVE LINEMAN | 2023
DL Lake Korte-Moore went third overall to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2023 (Christian Bender/CFL.ca)
Lake Korte-Moore did so much on combine weekend that the Saskatchewan Roughriders felt they couldn’t gamble on waiting at all to select him in the draft, taking the former UBC Thunderbird with the third overall pick.
Heading into the combine, Korte-Moore was solidly ranked as the 10th-best prospect in the Winter Edition of the CFL Scouting Bureau Rankings and he took his stock even higher with his performance.
Testing was one thing. But it was in the practice sessions where the defensive lineman shone brightest, showing off explosive pass-rushing abilities again and again and again.
JOEL DUBLANKO | LINEBACKER | 2024
LB Joel Dublanko was a first overall pick in the 2024 CFL Draft after impressing at the CFL Combine (Timothy Atticus/CFL.ca)
This is a case of a guy impressing merely by showing up with a serious attitude. And then continuing to impress with performance.
Linebacker Joel Dublanko already had pro experience — a full training camp with the Seattle Seahawks and a season split between the XFL and the USFL.
After learning that he qualified for the CFL draft due to his lineage, Dublanko decided to go to the combine even though he’d already automatically become a pro-ready top prospect.
At the combine, he solidified his standing with a hard-working attitude and a 35-inch vertical as well as a 4.59 forty, despite being hampered by a groin injury.
A top-10 pick became even more than that when the Edmonton Elks took Dublanko first overall.
