Across the CFL: Scouts cannot take eyes off Canadian RB Brown, QB Rourke in NCAA

Read Time:12 Minute, 58 Second

The rise of Canadians in basketball has been well-documented over the past decade or so.

In sheer numbers, the identical factor hasn’t occurred in soccer.

But lengthy gone are the times when seemingly a lot of the Canadians making massive impacts at U.S. schools have been offensive linemen toiling in relative obscurity due to the character of their place.

Just have a look at the NCAA nationwide leaders this 12 months. Illinois working again Chase Brown, a local of London, Ont., is the nation’s main rusher whereas Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke, brother of B.C. Lions star QB/Ohio grad Nathan and a product of Oakville, Ont., is fifth in passing.

“They’ve both been phenomenal,” Toronto Argonauts assistant normal supervisor Vince Magri stated. “With Chase, the form of season he’s placing collectively as a Canadian, it’s virtually Chuba Hubbard-like (the Sherwood Park, Alta., native led the nation in speeding in 2019 at Oklahoma State and now could be a Carolina Panther).

“He’s placing up monstrous numbers towards among the finest competitors in Division I soccer. It’s not simply the numbers, it’s the best way he’s doing it, the bodily nature of his capability to run the ball and all of the yards he’s racking up after contact. It’s spectacular and superior to see.

“Kurtis is coincidentally doing it the same year his brother had all the success in our league (before suffering a foot injury in August). He’s put up some remarkable numbers. And after watching his brother all those years at Ohio, it’s cool to see that offence kind of open up and really tailor the offence to Kurtis’s skill set. Seeing him throw the ball all over the field has been very impressive as well.”

Brown, a senior, has rushed for over 100 yards in every of his previous seven video games within the Big Ten – one of many Power Five conferences within the U.S. Illinois (5-1), ranked 24^th within the nation, is within the prime 25 for the primary time since 2011 heading into Saturday’s homecoming showdown towards visiting Minnesota (4-1). The guests have a working again with the one longer streak of 100-yard speeding video games — Mohamed Ibrahim has carried out it 13 occasions in a row.

After taking part in his freshman season at Western Michigan, Brown transferred to Illinois in 2019 to hitch his twin brother Sydney, a prime defensive again. The five-foot-11, 205-pound Chase Brown put up 1,005 speeding yards final 12 months and already is at 879 this season.

“He’s multi-dimensional. He’s not a big guy but he runs with power. He breaks tackles and he’s also got excellent vision,” stated Calgary Stampeders draft co-ordinator/defensive backs coach Dwayne Cameron, whose son Greg performed towards the Brown twins in minor soccer rising up in southern Ontario.

“He sees holes before they seem to develop and he’s able to find daylight where there appears to be none. He’s got a good combination of vision and patience waiting for things to unfold in front of him. If you’ve had the opportunity to watch highlights of him or you have the opportunity like we do to watch his film on a weekly basis as it comes in, he really does an excellent job of breaking tackles and making defenders miss.”

Chase Brown is ranked No. 1 on the CFL Scouting Bureau’s rankings for the 2023 Canadian Draft, whereas Sydney is No. 3. Don’t count on Chase to go first total, nevertheless.

“He’s the nation’s leading rusher. He’s going to be in the NFL. … Whoever chooses to draft Chase from a CFL standpoint is not going to get an immediate return,” Crawford stated.

“There’s not going to be immediate dividends. There’s always a risk you’ll never see him In the CFL because of his talent level. If you were just going to take the best player, if we didn’t have to worry about the NFL aspect of everything, Chase Brown would be at the top of everybody’s draft board.”

Rourke (1,944 yards), in the meantime, is on tempo for greater passing numbers than his brother (2,820) in Nathan’s career-best 2019 senior season.

The six-foot-four, 216-pound Kurtis Rourke has accomplished 70.9 per cent of his passes and thrown 14 touchdowns and two interceptions for Ohio (3-3), which is at Western Michigan (2-4) on Saturday. He was sensible final week, finishing 24 of 27 passes for 427 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Akron. Last month, he threw for a school-record 537 yards in a victory over Fordham.

The six-foot-one Nathan is extra of a dual-threat quarterback. The greater Kurtis makes use of his arm as his greatest weapon.

“They definitely have different playing styles, different in stature — Nathan being naturally a better runner,” Magri stated. “But at this point in his career, Nathan wasn’t as developed as a passer. It was a different offensive system as well. Ohio back then was running the ball a lot with the quarterback by design.”

Said Crawford: “One of the questions about Nathan coming out and maybe the reason he wasn’t given an NFL opportunity, and there may have even questions about him in the CFL, is that his offence was very much tailored around kind of the RPO (run-pass option) and him running the football. There were some questions about his ability to be a dropback quarterback. He’s certainly answered those to this point in time. With Kurtis, they are using more of a traditional based offence. You can see all the things he can do as a pocket passer that maybe you didn’t see on film in terms of Nathan’s development.”

Kurtis gained’t be draft-eligible till 2024. Crawford says within the NFL, Power Five quarterbacks sometimes are favoured in draft evaluations – moreso than at different positions. But that doesn’t imply Kurtis gained’t have an opportunity.

“Based on what his brother has shown us, I wouldn’t doubt the kid in any shape or form,” Crawford stated. “I’m confident Kurtis is going to have a successful pro career regardless of what league it happens to be in …. I expect nothing but big things, just like we’re seeing with Nathan.”

What we preferred in Week 18

• The play of Hamilton Tiger-Cats working again Wes Hills (25 carries, 132 yards) in an enormous win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Since being elevated from the follow roster final month, Hills has been a distinction maker.

• The Ottawa Redblacks’ response to a training change. The Redblacks beat the host Montreal Alouettes 24-18 in interim coach Bob Dyce’s debut. The playoffs aren’t out of the query simply but for Ottawa.

var adServerUrl = “”;
var $el = $( “#video_container-648721” );
var permalink = $el.closest(‘.snet-single-article’).information(‘permalink’);

/*
if ( “1” == true && ‘undefined’ !== typeof window.getIndexAds ) {
var so = preroll:1:1:siteID:191888,2:siteID:191889;
adServerUrl = window.getIndexAds( ‘http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?sz=640×360&cust_params=domain%3Dsportsnet.ca&iu=%2F7326%2Fen.sportsnet.web%2FVideo&ciu_szs=300×250&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&env=vp&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&ad_rule=1&vid=6313578473112&cmsid=384’, so, permalink);
} else
adServerUrl = “http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?sz=640×360&cust_params=domain%3Dsportsnet.ca&iu=%2F7326%2Fen.sportsnet.web%2FVideo&ciu_szs=300×250&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&env=vp&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&ad_rule=1&vid=6313578473112&cmsid=384”;

*/
adServerUrl = “http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?sz=640×360&cust_params=domain%3Dsportsnet.ca&iu=%2F7326%2Fen.sportsnet.web%2FVideo&ciu_szs=300×250&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&env=vp&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&ad_rule=1&vid=6313578473112&cmsid=384”;
var adServerUrl_result = adServerUrl.contains(“cust_params”);
var queryString=”;
if(adServerUrl_result)
var gettheDUFI = localStorage.getItem(“theRED_loc”)

if(gettheDUFI)
queryString += “dufiid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
queryString += “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
var ppid = “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;

var DUFI_IP = sessionStorage.getItem(“DUFI_IP”)

if(DUFI_IP)
queryString += “dufiip=” + DUFI_IP + ‘&’;

adServerUrl = adServerUrl.change(/cust_params=/, ppid + ‘cust_params=” + encodeURIComponent(queryString) );

$el.after( unescape(“%3Cscript src=”” + (document.location.protocol == “https:” ? “https://sb” : “http://b”) + “.scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js” %3E%3C/script%3E”) );

$( doc ).one( “prepared’, operate()
$( “#video_container-648721” ).SNPlayer(
bc_account_id: “1704050871”,
bc_player_id: “JCdte3tMv”,
//autoplay: true,
//is_has_autoplay_switch: false,
bc_videos: 6313578473112,
is_has_continuous_play: “false”,
adserverurl: adServerUrl,
part: “”,
thumbnail: “https://www.A-Z Eventz/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/6313578473112-1024×576.jpg”,
direct_url: “https://www.A-Z Eventz/cfl/video/cfl-highlights-redblacks-24-alouettes-18/”
);
);

var adServerUrl = “”;
var $el = $( “#video_container-609338” );
var permalink = $el.closest(‘.snet-single-article’).information(‘permalink’);

if(gettheDUFI)
queryString += “dufiid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
queryString += “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;
var ppid = “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’;

var DUFI_IP = sessionStorage.getItem(“DUFI_IP”)

if(DUFI_IP)
queryString += “dufiip=” + DUFI_IP + ‘&’;

adServerUrl = adServerUrl.change(/cust_params=/, ppid + ‘cust_params=” + encodeURIComponent(queryString) );

$el.after( unescape(“%3Cscript src=”” + (document.location.protocol == “https:” ? “https://sb” : “http://b”) + “.scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js” %3E%3C/script%3E”) );

$( doc ).one( “prepared’, operate()
$( “#video_container-609338” ).SNPlayer(
bc_account_id: “1704050871”,
bc_player_id: “JCdte3tMv”,
//autoplay: false,
//is_has_autoplay_switch: false,
bc_videos: 6313578473112,
is_has_continuous_play: “false”,
adserverurl: adServerUrl,
part: “”,
thumbnail: “https://www.A-Z Eventz/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/6313578473112-1024×576.jpg”,
direct_url: “https://www.A-Z Eventz/cfl/video/cfl-highlights-redblacks-24-alouettes-18/”
);
);

.acf-block-preview .br-video-thumbnail::earlier than
content material: “”;
place: absolute;
prime: 50%;
left: 50%;
rework: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
-moz-transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
-ms-transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
-o-transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
-webkit-transform: translate3d(-50%, -50%, 0);
width: 20px;
peak: 24px;
border-top: 14px stable clear;
border-left: 22px stable #fff;
border-bottom: 14px stable clear;
margin-left: 3px;

What we didn’t like in Week 18

• The Roughriders giving up seven sacks towards Hamilton. QB Cody Fajardo is getting pounded this 12 months.

• The CFL’s command centre not calling for a evaluate of a possible go interference name on the Redblacks within the remaining three minutes of their win over the Alouettes. Looked like a missed penalty from right here.

Week 19 picks

Montreal Alouettes (-3.5) at Ottawa Redblacks, Friday, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT

Ottawa has misplaced 21 of its previous 22 at residence. The Als, after final week’s shocking setback, nonetheless want a win to clinch a playoff spot. PICK: Montreal

Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Calgary Stampeders (-7.5), Friday, 9:45 p.m. ET / 6:45 p.m. PT

Interesting matchup. The Ticats will get within the playoffs in the event that they win their remaining three video games. The Stampeders are battling B.C. for second within the West. PICK: Calgary

Toronto Argonauts (-5.5) at Edmonton Elks, Saturday, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT

If the Alouettes lose, an Argos win right here would safe first place within the CFL East. Edmonton has misplaced a league report 15 losses in a row at residence. PICK: Toronto

Winnipeg Blue Bombers at B.C. Lions (-2.5), Saturday, 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT

With first within the West wrapped up, the Blue Bombers gained’t play star QB Zach Collaros. The Lions look to bounce again after a 23-20 loss final week in Toronto. PICK: Winnipeg

Odds from FanDuel as of Thursday night time.

2022 report: 36-33

Power rankings

1. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (14-2, Last week: 1): For the second season in a row, the West Final will probably be in Winnipeg. A 3-peat seems to be very doable.

2. Calgary Stampeders (10-5, Last week: 2): Do not personal the tiebreaker on the Lions, so they should end with a greater report than B.C. to get second within the West.

3. Toronto Argonauts (9-6, Last week: 3): Even in the event that they don’t win this week, they’ll solely want a cut up in a season-ending home-and-home with Montreal to take first within the East for the second 12 months in a row.

4. B.C. Lions (10-5, Last week: 4): Nathan Rourke practised this week for the primary time since present process foot surgical procedure in August. If he returns, the CFL panorama adjustments.

5. Montreal Alouettes (7-8, Last week: 5): Hot streak snapped with disappointing loss to visiting Ottawa on Thanksgiving.

6. Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5-10, Last week: 7): Control their very own future after clutch win at residence over Saskatchewan final week.

7. Saskatchewan Roughriders (6-10, Last week: 6): Losers of 5 in a row, the Grey Cup hosts now need assistance to make the playoffs.

8. Ottawa Redblacks (4-11, Last week: 8): Dyce goes to have an excellent likelihood to have the interim tag eliminated if the workforce finishes sturdy.

9. Edmonton Elks (4-12, Last week: 9): Blasted in Winnipeg final week, Elks now return residence to a stadium the place they haven’t gained since 2019.