Naylor: A closer look into where the CFL finds its talent |
Where does Canadian Football League talent come from – be it here in Canada or south of the border?
Trying to answer that question led me to dust off an old idea this summer by doing a deep dive, breaking down the Week 1 CFL rosters of all nine teams.
Week 1 may be just a snapshot but it’s one that tells us which schools in Canada produce the most players, which conferences in the NCAA send the most talent north over the border, and what percentage of Canadians in the CFL are developed at home versus going to the U.S. for their college football experience.
So, what did we find? Here are a few of the revelations, some surprising and others not so much.
The University of Montreal led all Canadian schools with 14 players on opening-week CFL rosters, two more than any other school – one of which is Laval with 12.
The fact that the Montreal Carabins football program did not exist 25 years ago and Laval’s didn’t exist 30 years ago illustrates how quickly the development of French-Canadian talent has emerged over that time.
With 26 players collectively, the impact of the two programs has been immense, representing 11.5 per cent of all Canadian players in the league and 17.1 per cent of all players coming out of U Sports programs.
The rest of the top five include Guelph, which tied with Laval at 12, followed by Wilfrid Laurier and Alberta at 11 and 10, respectfully.
Among conferences, Ontario University Athletics leads........