Campbell Ready For 1st Draft As Lions Head Coach
He was part of seven CFL Drafts as head coach of the Ottawa RedBlacks and perhaps the best the best selection for Rick Campbell during that time was thanks, in large part, to having quarterback Kevin Glenn on their roster. Yes, you read that correctly. Flashback to the 2014 CFL Draft where the newly re-born Ottawa franchise had yet to play a game but was looking for a little more draft capital to fill their Canadian quota.
With the BC Lions in need of some security behind centre as Travis Lulay was recovering from injury, the two teams worked out a trade for Glenn that sent the fourth overall pick to Campbell and the RedBlacks. It was a deal that allowed Ottawa to select defensive back Antoine Pruneau- after the RedBlacks moved down one more spot in round one- who would quickly become an impact player for the new franchise. Pruneau has since suited up in 93 games while recording 377 total tackles, nine interceptions and earning an East Division All-Star nod in 2017.
Moral of the story? You just never know how your assets will develop on draft day.
“That’s crazy, huh? That was part of Kevin Glenn being under contract to every team in the league as he never played a game for Ottawa, but he was technically with Ottawa,” recalled Campbell about that little historical nugget.
“You never know how it’s going to go. We do what we call mock drafts. We’ll sit in the ‘virtual’ room this year and different people in our personnel department can be different teams and you kind of go through different scenarios of how the draft can fall. You plan on no trades happening but you never know what can happen. All of a sudden, somebody flips a trade and it changes the dynamic.”
Related:
Draft Central, powered by TELUS
By The Numbers: Breaking Down The Last 10 Lions Drafts
Top 5 Lions Draft Steals Since ’05
That has been the name of the game for Campbell, GM Ed Hervey and the entire scouting brass for the past few weeks. Mock drafts, film study, virtual player interviews and much more. As he finalizes the preparations for his first CFL Draft as head coach of the Lions, the same opportunities present themselves from those early building days with Ottawa.
With seven overall selections and three of the first 23 selections on Thursday night, this will go down as a major stepping stone to getting Campbell’s new team back on the road to Grey Cup contention. Barring any early movement, the Lions are slated to pick third overall behind Calgary and Toronto in round one.
“I will say this, it’s a good draft,” explained the head coach.
“We’re going to get a really good player (in the first round) and I think a good rule of thumb in the CFL Draft is don’t pass on really good players. We do have needs, but sometimes if you get caught up too much in the need that can really steer you in the wrong direction.”
There is always plenty of excitement around the talent available at the top end. What gets really intriguing on draft night is the kind of players you can develop with picks in the mid to later rounds. Take last year’s Lions selections for example. Despite not picking until late in round three, Hervey and company came away with four players who saw significant playing time in 2019.
Those were Noah Robinson (round three, 26th overall), Hakeem Johnson (round four, 34th overall), Mario Villamizar (round six, 51st overall) and Surrey product Jamel Lyles (round 8, 69th overall). Sixth round pick Charles Nwoye was recently brought back to the club after suffering a season-ending injury late in 2019 training camp. When Campbell scans this year’s list of eligible Canadian prospects, he embraces the challenge of trying to find more of those later round gems.
“You have to make them all count,” said Campbell.
“There are many guys I can think of over the years who were fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh round draft picks that ended up being good players and contributors. I know our personal department, we’ve had many hours of meetings and they’ve done the initial homework, which you do over a year basically. It really makes a difference when you do your homework on everyone because you can find some good players there late who can be contributors; either on special teams or they grow full-time into being good offensive or defensive players. You want to make the most of every pick, that’s for sure.”
And we’d be remiss if we didn’t bring up the subject of having to do both the preparation and the draft itself while working remotely. With both the CFL regional and national combines cancelled due to COVID-19, it has been an evaluation process like no other. Thankfully for the head coach, it hasn’t been as bad as he initially thought.
“It’s actually been alright,” he said.
“You don’t know until you do it full-time. I think many people around Vancouver and across Canada are having Zoom meetings and having to adjust to a new reality. We’re no different than that. It’s been pretty flawless; the communication has been pretty good. You set up a schedule where you’re going to meet them (the prospects) on a Zoom call or whatever and that’s been fine too. All in all, it’s gone pretty well, considering the circumstances.”
Interviewing the prospects during combine has always been something Campbell has enjoyed taking part in. Thank goodness for the new technology.
“They’re millennials, so it’s easier on them,” laughed Campbell.
“I’m not a millennial so I’m the one having to catch up on this whole situation.”
Lions 2020 Draft Picks
Round 1- 3rd Overall
Round 2- 12th Overall
Round 3- 23rd Overall
Round 4- no pick ** the Lions traded their fourth round selection (31st overall) to Calgary as part of the trade that brought Justin Renfrow to BC on July 29th/2019.
Round 5- 40th Overall
Round 5- 43rd Overall **the 43rd overall selection came to BC as part of the Renfrow deal.
Round 6- no pick** the Lions traded their sixth round selection (49th overall) to Montreal as part of the trade that brought running back Tyrell Sutton to BC on September 25th, 2018.
Round 7- 58th Overall
Round 8- 67th Overall