Wilfrid Laurier Athletics
TORONTO — The 2025 CFL Draft featured a couple of pivots being selected early on Tuesday night.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers picked Wilfrid Laurier’s quarterback Taylor Elgersma in the second round (18th overall), followed by the Saskatchewan Roughriders selecting pivot Kurtis Rourke in the third round (25th overall).
Elgersma threw for 4,011 yards and 34 touchdowns in 2024 with the Golden Hawks on his way to winning the Hec Crighton Award.
2025 CFL Draft
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The pivot topped the U SPORTS charts in touchdowns (20), yards per game (330.4), and total passing yards (2,659) in the 2024 regular season and earned an invitation to the Reese’s Senior Bowl.
The six-foot-five quarterback was part of the Canadian Football League QB Internship over the last three years, spending 2022 and 2023 with the Toronto Argonauts and 2024 with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
“(I am) excited for him,” said Bo Levi Mitchell in a conversation with CFL.ca about Elgersma. “I think he has the talent to play anywhere and be a starter.”
Elgersma joins a quarterback room in Winnipeg that features veterans Zach Collaros, Jake Dolegala, Shea Patterson and Chris Streveler.
Rourke meanwhile led the Indiana Hoosiers to an 11-1 regular season record and their first ever College Football Playoffs appearance in 2024 by throwing for 3,042 passing yards and 29 touchdowns.
The younger brother of BC Lions starting quarterback Nathan Rourke, Kurtis started his college career with the Ohio Bobcats, where he appeared in 36 games. Overall, Rourke had 10,693 passing yards and 79 touchdowns to only 21 interceptions in his college career.
Rourke was also selected in the NFL Draft on Saturday by the San Francisco 49ers, becoming the first Canadian born-and-raised quarterback to be selected since Jesse Palmer in 2001, according to TSN’s Dave Naylor.
The quarterback room in Saskatchewan features veterans Trevor Harris, Jake Maier and Tommy Stevens, alongside Jack Coan and Michael Hiers.
Quarterback Jonathan Sénécal also went off the board to the Montreal Alouettes in the seventh round (62nd overall).
The Montreal quarterback won the Hec Crighton Trophy in 2023 while leading the Carabins to a Vanier Cup championship with a win over UBC.
It’s the first time since 2001 that three quarterbacks were selected in the CFL Draft, according to CFL Stats. That draft class featured Jesse Palmer going 15th overall to the Montreal Alouettes, Will Grant going 44th to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Phil Côté being selected 47th by Alouettes.
