The honour will recognize club football operations personnel for outstanding achievement in scouting, player identification, roster building, and leadership. Goveia passed away in September at the age of 55 following a battle with cancer. The native of Burlington, Ont. won three Grey Cups with the Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers prior to being hired by the Tiger-Cats in 2025.

The award will be presented at a new annual event called the Coach of the Year Celebration. The inaugural proceeding will take place at The Westin Edmonton on March 25 and serve as a fundraiser for Football Alberta. A silent auction will be held with all proceeds going to support local amateur football programming and initiatives.

The event will also unveil the CFL’s Coach of the Year for 2025, which is between finalist Corey Mace of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Jason Maas of the Montreal Alouettes. 53 members of the Football Reporters of Canada (FRC) voted for the winner in November, though the results have yet to be unveiled.

The Hugh Campbell Distinguished Leadership Award will also be presented. Created in 2006, the award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated great leadership in making significant contributions to the game. Past winners include Campbell, Wally Buono, Normie Kwong, Bob Ackles, Rick LeLacheur, and John Hufnagel.

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The 2026 CFL Draft for Canadian prospects will take place on Tuesday, April 28, at 7:00 p.m. EST. However, the 2026 Global Draft, its counterpart for international players, will no longer occur on the same day. It will instead be spaced out a day later, on Wednesday, April 29, at 1:00 p.m. EST, to give teams more flexibility.

Other key dates in the lead-up to the draft include the CFL Kicking Showcase in San Diego, Calif., on Sunday, February 22, and the Invitational Combine in Waterloo, Ont., on Friday, March 6. The 2026 CFL Combine will take place in Edmonton, Alta., from March 27 to 29.

Once players have been selected, rookie camps will officially open across the league on Wednesday, May 6. Teams will then have to trim their rosters to 85 players, excluding non-counters, by Saturday, May 9. Training camps will officially commence the next day on Sunday, May 10, before another cut down to 75 players on May 12. Training camps officially conclude on May 30.

Before any of that can occur, teams will have to flesh out their rosters in free agency. The free agency communication window will officially open on Sunday, February 1, at 12:00 p.m. EST and close at the same time on Sunday, February 8. Teams will then have 48 hours to try to retain their own pending free agents before free agency opens on Tuesday, February 10, at noon.

The CFL regular season will kick off on Thursday, June 4, when the Montreal Alouettes visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. A full offseason breakdown can be found below.

2026 OFFSEASON KEY DATES
​(Times in ET unless specified otherwise)

February 1 at noon to February 8 at noon – Free Agency Communication Window

February 10 at noon – Free Agency opens

February 22 – CFL Kicking Showcase in San Diego, Calif.

March 6 – CFL Invitational Combine, followed by the CFL Free Agent Camp, in Waterloo, Ont.

March 25 – GM/Head Coach Media Day at CFL Combine

March 27-29 – CFL Combine presented by Anytime Fitness in Edmonton

April 28 – CFL Draft at 7 p.m.

April 29 – CFL Global Draft at 1 p.m.

May 6 – Rookie Camps open

May 9 at 11:59 p.m. (local) – Rosters reduced to 85 players, excluding non-counters.

May 10 – Training camps open

May 12 at 11:59 p.m. (local) – Rosters reduced to 75 players, excluding non-counters

Preseason Week 1

Preseason Week 2

Preseason Week 3

May 30 – End of training camp

Regular season Week 1

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The event is slated to begin on Friday, March 27,  when participants will take part in official testing, including the 40-yard dash, the 3-cone shuttle, the short shuttle, the broad and vertical jumps, and the bench press.

On Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29, players will put on the pads and participate in competitive practices for the general managers, coaches, and scouts in attendance ahead of the CFL Draft.

All told, 70 players have been invited to Edmonton — 67 Canadian prospects and three players eligible for the Global Draft. 21 prospects on the initial list hail from NCAA institutions, including quarterback Christian Veilleux, who attended Georgia State, Pittsburgh, and Penn State. He appeared in 25 combined games in his college career, throwing for 4,017 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 22 interceptions.

A full list of prospects can be seen below.

NAME | POS | SCHOOL

ASSELIN, Charles | RB | Ottawa
BASALYGA, Evan | FB/TE | Waterloo
BELL, Darius | OL | East Carolina
BLACKWOOD, Devaughn | WR| St. Francis Xavier
BOULIANE, Charles-Elliot | LB | Montreal
BOUTIN, Emeric | FB/TE | Laval
BRASHEAR, Jaxxon | DB | Ottawa
BURKE, Brody | DL | Carleton
CARABATSAKIS, Nathan | DL | Robert Morris College
CLARK, Brody | LB | York
CROMWELL, Devynn | DB | Michigan State
CUMBERBATCH, Patrick | DB | Ottawa
DALEY, Harrison | DB | Windsor
DEMONTAGNAC, Nate | WR | North Dakota
DENIS, Jonathan | OL | Louisiana Tech
DIBULA, Ebenezer | DL | Kennesaw State
DIOUF, Alassane | OL | Montreal
DJETE, Dylan | WR | Alabama State
DOBSON, Benjamin | LB | Calgary
FERDINAND, Denny | DB | Ottawa
GAGNE, Loik | LB | Concordia
GAUTHIER, Louis-Philippe | DB | Montreal
GRAHAM, Ethan | OL | Regina
HENNING, Niklas | OL | Queen’s
HOOPER, Carter | DL | South Dakota
IBELO, Franklin | DL | Calgary
JACK, Joshua | WR | Saint Mary’s
JANSSEN, Josh | QB | Ottawa
JANVIER, Jez | OL | Southern Mississippi
KEMENI, Pierre | DB | Ohio
KETTYLE, Carter | WR | Alberta
KINGDOM, Arthur (G) | LB | Prague Lions (ELF)
LAING, Kyler | DL | Mercyhurst
LARRY, Yunus | LB | Guelph
LATENDRESSE REGIMBALD, Eloa | QB | McGill
LOUIS, Shakespeare | DB | Southeastern Louisiana
MAROIS, Tristan | DL | Colorado
MCBEAN, Shemar | WR | UBC
MCGARRELL, Cyrus | DB | Northern Illinois
MCKENZIE, Darius | LB | South Alabama
MILES JR, Barron | WR | Grambling State
MOMBO, Weagbe | RB | Windsor
NOTICE, Aamarii | DL | Coastal Carolina
O’NEIL, Keegan | OL | Western University
OBOBI, Chinazo (G) | OL | Munich Ravens (ELF)
ODEMWINGIE, Osasere | LB | Calgary
OJUTALAYO, Jesulayomi | WR | Wilfrid Laurier
ORAGUI, Chidera | OL | St. Francis Xavier
PACE, Justin | LB | Queen’s
PARKS, Charlie | DL | Saskatchewan
PARSALIDIS, Sebastian | FB/TE | Wilfrid Laurier
PENE, Wilfried (G) | DL | Virginia Tech
RANCOURT, Jerome | FB/TE | Western University
RASCOE, Eric | LB | Angelo State
RONDEAU, Marc | LB | Ottawa
SANGMUAH, Benjamin | DB | UBC
SCHECHINGER, Mitchel | OL | Guelph
SCHEFFER, Riley | OL | UBC
SMITH, Isaiah | RB | Guelph
SOMBACH, Carson | DB | Regina
STUART, Carter | OL | Alberta
STUART, Ethan | DB | McMaster
SZEMAN, Brayden | OL | Calgary
TOMLINSON, Trae | DB | Louisiana
UDOH, Nathan | WR | Manitoba
VACCARO, Giordano | OL | Purdue
VEILLEUX, Christian | QB | Georgia State
VREUGDENHIL, Frank | OL | McMaster
WALSH, Spencer | OL | Wilfrid Laurier
WARRACK, Jack | OL | Saskatchewan

Prospects not invited directly to the national event will have a chance to earn their way to Edmonton through participation in the Invitational Combine in Waterloo. That event will take place on Friday, March 6, with 77 players currently slated to attend.

NAME | POS | SCHOOL

AMISIAL-CHATELIER, Jeffrey | RB | McGill
BARBARAS, Ilan | LB | McGill
BARNETT, Scott | QB | Toronto
BENJAMIN, Jordon | RB | Kenyon College
BHULLAR, Sahil | OL | Towson University
BLAKE, Jhavaun | RB | Gannon
BRIONES, Jason | LB | Presbyterian College
BROWN, Tariq | DB | Okanagan Sun
BUCHANAN, Jude | LB | Western University
BUSSEY, Malcolm | RB | St. Francis Xavier
BUTLER, Ryan | DB | Saint Mary’s
CHIZDA, Jordan | DB | Calgary
CHORNEY, Kyle | DB | Bishop’s
CIRIELLO, Nicholas | LB | Geneva College
CLOUTIER, Zachary | OL | Ottawa
COBB, Jack | LB | Guelph
CONNORS, Josh | LB | Wilfrid Laurier
CORSCADDEN, John | DB | Queen’s
DAVIES, Brian | FB/TE | Alberta
DESROSIERS, Thomas | WR | Sherbrooke
EDWARDS, Kallon | DB | Saint Mary’s
FRANZISI, Conner | DL | Western University
GIDARO, Nick | OL | Waterloo
GINN, Colby | WR | Windsor
GRAY, Gunnar | QB | Buffalo
GREEN, Gianni | DB | Guelph
HACHEY, Frederick | WR | Carleton
HASHW, Omar | OL | Saint Mary’s
HASTINGS, Omari | DL | Wilfrid Laurier
HENNING, Chase | LB | UBC
HENRY, Mason | DB | Waterloo
HOLDEN, Sebastian | OL | Toronto
HOUDE, Zachary | WR | St. Francis Xavier
IREP, Damien | OL | Concordia
ISAAC, Jaxson | FB/TE | Arkansas Pine Bluff
JOHN, Ethan | DB | Windsor
JONES, Chandler | DB | Louisville
KEYES-WILSON, Robert | DL | Guelph
KPEHE, Steven | DL | Queen’s
LA ROUE, Sam | WR | Western University
LAMOTHE, Jean-Sebastien | DB | Concordia
LE JOUR, De Shawn | WR | Manitoba
LECLERC, Felix-Olivier | OL | McGill
LIBERTA, Christopher | LS | Concordia
LJUDEN, Matthew | OL | Alberta
MACDONALD, Alex | DB | Bishop’s
MACKIE-MCLEOD, Kaleb | DL | Manitoba
MASRI-FLISS, Alexendre | OL | Laval
MCGILL, David | DL | St. Francis Xavier
MCKELLAR, Colin | LB | Regina
MCMARTIN, Hamilton | WR | Texas
MONTAS LEIPERT, Anthony | DL | Regina
MUGANDA, Iraghi | WR | Montreal
NWAOGU, Otito | DL | St. Francis Xavier
OLANIRAN, Victor | OL | Manitoba
PASHULA, Chris | OL | Calgary
PEREIRA, Nicholas | LB | Manitoba
PERNIER, Billy Jonas | DB | Laval
PIERINI, Sandro | FB/TE | Western University
QUAYSON, Tyriq | WR | Windsor
REID, Everett | WR | McMaster
RUEST, Olivier | LB | Laval
SCHELLENBERG, Orin | LS | Alberta
SCHICK, Riley | OL | Regina
SCHOBOURGH, Dillon | LB | Morehead State
SESTANOVIC, Anthony | LB | McMaster
SIBLEY, Matt | WR | Calgary
SILVERSON, Liam | FB/TE | Queen’s
SPEIGHT, Ryan | FB/TE | Wilfrid Laurier
SPRINGER JR, Robert | DB | Windsor
STEVENS, Johnathon | DL | Saskatoon Hilltops
TA’AVILI, Thomas (G) | OL | St. Clair Saints
TALBOT, Liam | RB | Windsor
TENNEY, Marcus | DL | Wilfrid Laurier
VITAL, Angel | RB | Laval
VREEKEN, Alex | QB | Queen’s
YUSUFF, Daniel | WR | Edmonton Huskies Jrs.

The 2026 CFL Draft will take place on Tuesday, April 28.

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“Getting the invite was a true blessing in its own — a kid coming from Lumsden, Saskatchewan with 2,000 people going to Texas for a football showcase, which is the best place for football,” Schick told The SportsCage.

“The practice field we played on was a high school that had seating that was bigger than any high school field I’ve ever seen. Talking to one of my other buddies — he was down there for a different showcase — and he said that stadium sat as much as Mosaic did and it was a high school stadium. It’s different down there, for sure.”

The Dream Bowl is a collegiate showcase game designed for players to perform in front of scouts before entering the professional ranks. Originally founded in Virginia, it has since moved to Texas with this year’s game taking place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, which serves as the home for the Dallas Cowboys.

The schedule included meetings, practices, a banquet, and a full stadium tour. The game itself then took place on Sunday, January 11.

Schick noticed scouts from a number of professional teams observing practices at the Dream Bowl, including the Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Redblacks, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Calgary Stampeders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, and Indianapolis Colts.

The six-foot-one, 300-pound blocker was pleased with the opportunity to play guard at the event, which allowed him to show off his versatility. He has almost exclusively played centre in Canadian university football.

“I think I did very well. Listening to what my agent has said, everything went very well and I was able to get some film at guard, which I haven’t been able to do,” Schick said.

“Pretty much my whole career I’ve been locked in at centre, but getting that guard film out there for CFL teams gets rid of that question mark that’s over my head, ‘Oh, can he play other positions? He’s only ever played centre.’ Going down there and getting a chance to play guard, especially against tough competition, really played in my favour.”

Schick played four seasons with the Regina Thunder in the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) and was named a Prairie Football Conference all-star three times and a CJFL All-Canadian twice. He has since spent two seasons with the Regina Rams, earning a Canada West all-star selection in 2025.

Playing four-down football for the first time provided some challenges for Schick, though he felt he made the adjustment relatively quickly.

“The hand-punch timing’s different, how many steps you can get on the ground before contact is different,” Schick said. “The speed at which things happen — the game speed is the same, but the speed at which things happen is a lot sooner, so you’re getting that pass rush a lot sooner, you get into contact a lot sooner — little things like that, you have to get used to.”

Schick is set to participate in the CFL Invitational Combine and is hoping his performance will earn him an invitation to the National Combine in Edmonton March 27 through 29. The Dream Bowl provided an opportunity to strap on the pads ahead of the Canadian showcase event.

“I think it was a good checkpoint, too, because right now you are in the dog days of what training is. We wake up every morning, we run early in the morning, we lift after work. It is the dog days, so being able to go down there and play football, get to bang around a little bit definitely gets you out of the mindset,” Schick said.

“I’m really excited for the next opportunity, but being able to do this in general is awesome, so telling myself that I am excited and that I can prove it to myself, because growing up, I never played football till grade 10 and I played nine-man football, and then I never received any scholarships out of high school. I was a walk-on on the Regina Thunder and I started ever since, so I’ve had a lot of people tell me that I can’t do it.”

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Shand was selected by the Toronto Argonauts in the second round, 19th overall, during the 2025 CFL draft. However, he initially signed with the Buffalo Bills as an NFL undrafted free agent, attending training camp with the team.

The Toronto native was waived by the Bills as part of final roster cuts in August. He has remained a free agent since, working out with the Cleveland Browns in September, but not receiving a contract offer.

Shand finished his collegiate career with two seasons at Louisiana State University, starting nine games in 2024. He made 41 total tackles, nine tackles for loss, four sacks, and three pass knockdowns over 25 games with the Tigers.

The six-foot-four, 268-pound pass rusher transferred from the University of Arizona, where he recorded 41 total tackles, six tackles for loss, five sacks, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery over 24 games.

Shand ran the 40-yard dash in 4.82 seconds at his pro day in 2025, along with a 7.06-second three-cone drill and a 4.52-second short shuttle. He also repped 225 pounds 17 times on the bench press and posted a 33.5-inch vertical jump and a nine-foot, seven-inch broad jump.

The 2026 UFL season is slated to begin on March 27 and will conclude on June 13. Players who play in the league are able to sign contracts with NFL teams in time for the start of training camp, whereas joining the Argos would prevent Shand from returning to the NFL before 2027.

The post UFL’s Columbus Aviators add Toronto Argonauts draft pick Paris Shand to roster appeared first on 3DownNation.

The six-foot-two, 215-pound linebacker played five games with the San Antonio Gunslingers of the Indoor Football League (IFL) in 2025 and made 39 total tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack, and two pass knockdowns.

The 25-year-old was a collegiate standout at Angelo State University, a Division II program that competes in the Lone Star Conference.

Rascoe dressed for 48 games over five seasons with the Rams, making 225 total tackles, 20 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, 18 pass knockdowns, five interceptions, one fumble recovery, and one forced fumble.

Rascoe was a three-time first-team All-Conference selection at Angelo State. In 2024, he was one of two players to win the Lone Star’s Linebacker of the Year award.

Though born in San Antonio, Texas, Rascoe qualified for Canadian status through his mother, who was born in Toronto.

Angelo State’s professional football alumni include longtime NFL defenders Charlie West and Pierce Holt, as well as former CFL receiver Chris Brazzell.

The 2026 CFL Draft is scheduled for Tuesday, April 28.

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“We went through the intricacies of how an American draft might work. I think we’ve landed on, no, we’re going to stick with where we are,” commissioner Stewart Johnston told the media from Calgary. “We’ll continue the discussion. There may be some opportunity for a unique version of that, but nothing firm has come from that. Good discussion, no update beyond that.”

CFL teams currently sign incoming American talent as free agents, though each franchise is able to claim the exclusive rights to up to 45 prospective players at any given time by way of their negotiation list. Rights are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, and players can be added at any stage of their college or professional career, allowing teams to stash away high-value prospects for several years. While clubs can drop or trade players from the negotiation list at their discretion, players can only force their removal if they are not offered a minimum contract at their request.

The contents of CFL negotiation lists were a closely guarded secret for decades until 2018, when the league began bi-annual unveilings of 10 names for each team. Johnston went a step further in his first year as commissioner, making the information fully public in July and launching a database that updates daily with additions and removals.

However, increased transparency has not satiated critics of the system, who argue it is cumbersome for casual fans to understand and eliminates financial competition, which might draw more talent into the league, most importantly at the quarterback position. An American draft has long been raised as a flashier alternative, though it did not pass muster with the head coaches and general managers this year.

“We kind of generate ideas by putting a proposal forward for discussion, and the proposal we put out was, ‘How about a 10-round draft?’ From there, you can take the feedback, adjust it, or take the feedback and get rid of it,” Johnston explained.

“The feedback that we received was, okay, we are incredibly focused with a lot of resources put against the Canadian Draft. We also have the Global Draft, and we’ve got a negotiation list where we know and we’re managing American players through that process. As we talked it through, it just seemed like we were trying to find what the benefit is, and could we create something exciting and entertaining out of that. It just seemed like on a cost-benefit basis, it didn’t make a lot of sense.”

Though enticing on its surface, the implementation of an American draft would face a number of logistical challenges. While supporters of the concept argue it could create a marketable offseason event, drawing from the same list of graduating collegiate athletes as the NFL Draft would prompt CFL teams to pick players who won’t come north for several years — if ever. Coupled with the limited college football fandom in Canada, the draft would be unlikely to create the desired excitement.

Even if the CFL chose to create its own prospect pool of players already committed to playing in the league, that would create other issues. One of the most fruitful windows for signing players occurs in the middle of the CFL season, after NFL teams have made their final roster cuts. Under this system, those players would either have to wait until the following year to enter the draft, bog down teams with a massive midseason supplemental draft, or be exempted from the selection process entirely, therefore undermining the draft and creating a path into the league that would be preferable.

In either scenario, the draft would be relatively toothless and could intensify the workload for CFL scouting staffs already stretched thin under the football operations cap. However, Johnston does not believe discussions around the concept were unproductive.

“This is what I love coming out of these meetings: you put a proposal like that, or just a thought-starter like that, in front of a group of football minds, and then all of a sudden the brainstorming happens, and you pivot right off of that,” he remarked.

“We went into a ton of different directions that maybe only were tangentially related to the original proposal, but cool ideas, and there were a number there. I’m not going to get into the specifics now, because they’re truly not baked at all, but great homework for league staff to take back and work on. Maybe a kernel of an idea that could turn into something — not an American draft, but something a little bit different. That was sort of the tone of the conversation.”

Some of those ideas might be applied to the CFL’s two existing drafts, which govern the allocation of Canadian and Global players. While the CFL Draft traces its origins back to 1953 and predates the league itself, it remains a relatively niche event with limited media coverage and interest from only the most hardcore fans.

Unlike the NFL Draft, which drew over 600,000 fans over three days in Green Bay last year and was watched by 7.5 million more on television, the CFL’s pick fest occurs remotely and is not even broadcast in its entirety. Even as the quality of the talent available has improved, the league has struggled to make the event marketable and, in 2025, saw its website crash in the middle of the proceedings.

It would appear that Johnston, a former television executive, would like a crack at changing that.

“I start with the first principle of these players being drafted in our Canadian Draft and our Global Draft, what an accomplishment that is. You got drafted to the Canadian Football League, and we want to make sure that’s recognized, acknowledged and celebrated. That’s very important,” he said.

“At the same time, you think about entertainment properties, and we want to make every aspect of our league, not just from Game 1 to Grey Cup, but from Jan. 1 to December 31, we want the CFL to be as entertaining as possible. We ran through a number of ideas specific to the Canadian draft on how we might improve the entertainment value of that. Nothing firm to report, but I can tell you that a discussion was had.”

That is good news for those who already follow the CFL Draft process, which will take place on Tuesday, April 28, this year.

The post ‘It didn’t make a lot of sense’: CFL shelves proposal for American player draft appeared first on 3DownNation.

Ottawa native Akheem Mesidor has been front and centre throughout the Hurricanes’ historic run through the College Football Playoff, providing relentless defensive pressure to propel the 10th seed all the way to the championship game. If he is able to overcome top-ranked Indiana on Monday night, it will mark the first national title in 24 years for one of college football’s most recognizable brands.

What Mesidor has accomplished as a Canadian export is unique and may well push him into the first round of the upcoming NFL Draft, but he isn’t totally alone on Miami’s roster. Scout team offensive lineman Nino Francavilla hails from Toronto, and together, they have a chance to become the 11th and 12th players from north of the border to win a ring since the NCAA introduced a definitive national championship game in 1998.

That places the pair in exclusive company, but they are by no means the first to tread this road for the Hurricanes. The U stakes a claim to five national championships over its 100 years of football history, and it has never finished on top without at least one Canadian contributor.

Offensive lineman Ian Sinclair from Toronto was there for the school’s first title in 1983. He was long gone by 1987, but Vancouver’s Steve Blyth played in the trenches for that championship season. In 1989 and 1991, cornerback Jean Stiverne from Montreal played a depth role. And, if you really want to push the definition, that ’91 squad also contained a young Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, who is entitled to a Canadian passport thanks to his Nova Scotian father.

But none of those teams hold a candle to the most iconic of them all: the 2001 Miami Hurricanes. The last ‘Canes team to lift the trophy and the only one to do it in the BCS era is widely regarded as the greatest college team ever, boasting a laundry list of future NFL stars.

Andre Johnson, Jeremy Shockey, and Kellen Winslow Jr. all caught passes from Ken Dorsey. Bryant McKinnie paved the way for a backfield that featured Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee, and Frank Gore. Jonathan Vilma and D.J. Williams commanded a defence that had Vince Wilfork and William Joseph stuffing the run, while Ed Reed, Sean Taylor, and Antrel Rolle were patrolling the secondary. Several of those players weren’t even starters due to the team’s depth. In total, the roster featured 38 players who would be drafted into the NFL and 17 future first-round picks, with those athletes combining for 43 Pro Bowl selections.

In the midst of all that talent was an incredible four Canadians, making that Miami squad by far the most maple-soaked of any modern era champion.

Defensive lineman Miguel Robédé from Val d’Or, Que., played the smallest role of the quartet. The future first overall CFL Draft pick sat out the majority of his freshman year and later transferred home to Laval, where he won a pair of Vanier Cups with the Rouge et Or. Add in a 2008 Grey Cup victory with the Calgary Stampeders, and his trophy case is one of a kind.

Offensive lineman Joe McGrath appeared in seven games that season, mostly in a reserve capacity. The native of Moose Jaw, Sask., would see his role grow in future seasons and eventually became a second-overall CFL Draft pick, best remembered for his time in Edmonton.

Sherko Haji-Rasouli was unable to suit up in the national title game against Nebraska due to a knee injury suffered late in the campaign, but was a valuable starter at left guard and a second-team all-conference selection. Born in Iran but raised in Toronto, he was credited by his teammates for broadening their minds and changing their opinions about Islam in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, giving him a leadership role far beyond what was seen on the field. He would play another season for the Hurricanes, earning third-team All-American recognition, before embarking on a successful CFL career, most notably with the B.C. Lions.

Then there was Brett Romberg. Miami’s starting centre in 2001 is the closest comparable to Mesidor in terms of a difference-making Canadian starter at the top of his game and one of the public voices of the team. While his best year arguably came the following season when he was named a consensus All-American and won the Rimington Trophy as top centre in the country, the Windsor native was still first-team all-conference during the title run and never allowed a sack.

Romberg later went undrafted, but stuck for nine seasons in the NFL with the Jaguars, Rams, and Falcons before bouncing around several different media gigs. In 2012, he told the Canadian Press that his football career had left him with memory issues and that he could recall very little of the 37-14 Rose Bowl triumph that earned the Hurricanes their last championship. All that he could remember was walking off the field with a Canadian flag tucked in his shoulder pads.

A lot has changed in the more than two decades since that moment. College football is nearly unrecognizable, awash in the financial chaos of N.I.L. and the roster churn of the transfer portal era. The road to winning a championship has never been longer, though also never more accessible for those with blemishes on their resume, like this current Miami team.

And yet, there will still be a Canadian star donning the orange, green, and white in Hard Rock Stadium on Monday night, seeking that same moment that Romberg had: the chance to drape themselves in the maple leaf while winning another country’s biggest collegiate prize.

The only difference is that a win by Mesidor will also restore the winning legacy built by his Canadian predecessors, bringing back a swagger that was lost after 2001.

The Miami Hurricanes (13-2) will face the Indiana Hoosiers (15-0) in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, January 19, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. EST.

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Defensive tackle Rene Konga and offensive lineman Albert Reese IV will take part in the event, which is slated to begin practices on Sunday at the University of Central Florida. The game will take place on Thursday at Victory Field in Lakeland, Fla.

Konga has spent the past two seasons at the University of Louisville, where he earned second-team All-ACC honours as a senior in 2025. The native of Ottawa, Ont., appeared in 23 games for the Cardinals, recording 49 total tackles, eight tackles for loss, four sacks, and six batted passes.

The six-foot-four, 300-pound interior defender began his collegiate career at Rutgers University in 2020. He played 21 games over four seasons at the school before transferring, notching 14 defensive tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks, two batted passes, and a forced fumble.

Reese spent the entirety of his college career at Mississippi State University, where he appeared in 48 games and made 22 starts. The six-foot-seven, 330-pound blocker primarily saw action at right tackle and took home the Kent Hull Trophy in 2024 as the top collegiate lineman in the state of Mississippi.

A native of Edmonton, Alta., Reese is the son and namesake of former CFL defensive lineman Albert Reese, who played five seasons with the Green and Gold. In 84 games, he compiled 154 defensive tackles, 17 sacks, and a forced fumble, hoisting the Grey Cup in 2003.

Reese was the fifth-ranked prospect on the first edition of the CFL’s Scouting Bureau rankings, while Konga came in at number seven. Both players are expected to have some form of NFL interest.

The American Bowl was launched this season to fill the void left by the collapse of several other collegiate all-star games in recent years, including the NFLPA Bowl and the Tropical Bowl. The Guardians team, which features both Canadians, will be coached by former Atlanta Falcons bench boss Mike Smith, while the opposing Warhawks are led by former Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick.

The game will be broadcast on NFL Network, with kickoff slated for 8:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, January 22.

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Defensive end Akheem Mesidor and offensive lineman Logan Taylor have accepted invitations and will get a chance to perform at the first marquee event on the NFL scouting calendar.

Mesidor is in the midst of a historic College Football Playoff run with the University of Miami, and will face Indiana for the national championship on Monday, January 19. The Ottawa, Ont., native has been one of Miami’s top playmakers all season, amassing 60 total tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, and four forced fumbles in 14 games, while earning a first-team All-ACC selection.

The six-foot-three, 265-pound pass rusher began his collegiate career at West Virginia in 2020, before transferring to Miami in 2022. In 63 collegiate games between the two programs, Mesidor has collected 205 total tackles, 50.5 tackles for loss, 33.5 sacks, five forced fumbles, and four batted passes. He was named second-team All-Big 12 and a freshman All-American in 2020, before receiving All-ACC honourable mention recognition in 2022 and 2024.

The redshirt senior was the top-ranked player on the CFL’s September scouting bureau rankings, but is unlikely to play north of the border any time soon. He is expected to be selected highly in the 2026 NFL Draft and was ranked as the 17th overall prospect and fourth-best edge rusher on Mel Kiper’s latest big board for ESPN.

Taylor has spent the past three seasons at Boston College, where he has been a team captain and a versatile piece in the trenches. He has started 36 games for the Eagles — 17 at left tackle, 10 at left guard, eight at right guard, and one at right tackle — earning second-team All-ACC recognition in 2025, as well as honourable mentions in 2023 and 2024.

The six-foot-seven, 312-pound blocker began his collegiate career at the University of Virginia, where he appeared in 12 games over two seasons and made 10 starts at tackle. He finished secondary school at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., in order to attract NCAA offers.

The native of Lunenburg, N.S., was the second-rated prospect on the CFL’s fall Scouting Bureau rankings, but is expected to receive significant attention from NFL teams due to his size and pedigree. He originally committed to play in the East-West Shrine Bowl, but now appears to have pivoted.

This marks the seventh consecutive year that a Canadian player has been invited to attend the Senior Bowl, which is regarded as the gold standard for college all-star games. In 2025, Stanford receiver Elic Ayomanor attended before being selected in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans. Wilfrid Laurier quarterback Taylor Elgersma also became the first U Sports QB ever invited to the event, translating that into an undrafted free agent contract with the Green Bay Packers.

Other prominent Canadians to receive Senior Bowl invites in recent years include Cardinals’ offensive lineman Isaiah Adams, Giants’ tight end Theo Johnson, Bengals’ tight end Tanner McLachlan  Falcons’ offensive lineman Matthew Bergeron, Bengals’ running back Chase Brown, Eagles’ safety Sydney Brown, Ravens’ outside linebacker Tavius Robinson, free agent edge defender Jesse Luketa, Bills’ receiver Josh Palmer, Rams’ offensive lineman Alaric Jackson, Chargers’ cornerback Benjamin St-Juste, free agent receiver Chase Claypool, and Colts’ defensive tackle Neville Gallimore.

Invited players will report for practice on January 27 in Mobile, Alabama. The 2026 Senior Bowl will take place on Saturday, January 31, at 2:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on NFL Network.

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