Christian Bender/CFL.ca
EDMONTON — The Edmonton Elks announced on Friday that they’d signed Nationals Gabriel Appiah-Kubi and Derek Best, along with Americans Tony Gray, Quan Harrison and Ja’Darius Woods.
Appiah-Kubi has played 22 games of U SPORTS football over the last three seasons at York University, totalling 26 catches, including a team-leading 13 in 2021. The receiver from Brampton, Ont., had the fastest time in the 40-yard dash at the CFL Combine in Edmonton in March, stopping the clock at 4.44 seconds.
Edmonton selected Best with the 65th overall pick in the 2023 CFL Draft on Tuesday. The Surrey, BC native has played the last two seasons in the Canadian Junior Football League with the Langley Rams, rushing for 638 yards and six touchdowns in 15 regular season games and helped the Rams reach the Canadian Bowl in 2021. Best previously played two seasons at Western University.
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After anchoring the offensive unit at Jackson State in 2021, Gray was named Second-Team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Loganville, GA native previously played NCAA Division I football at UCF in 2019 and Ole Miss in 2018.
A native of Greeneville, TN, Harrison split four seasons of college football between the University of West Georgia (2019 and 2021) and East Tennessee State University (2017 and 2018). He was named Second Team All-Gulf South Conference as a wide receiver and return specialist in 2021 and Second Team All-Southern Conference as a return specialist in 2017.
Woods attended four years (2018-2021) at Baker University, where he was a three-time NAIA All-American and set NAIA career records with 6,666 rushing yards and 96 rushing touchdowns. The Lawrence, Kan., product went to Seattle Seahawks NFL rookie mini camp in 2022.
