It was this time last year and CFL officials were barking out the jersey numbers of the small handful of university players who would advance to the CFL’s annual combine from the regional combine in Waterloo.
“I can replay that moment slow-motion in my head,” says Ronan Horrall, now entering his second season as a Tiger-Cat defensive back. “I was just waiting. I was wearing number 45 and it all went so slowly as they read out the guys in the ‘30s. Then they called ‘45’ and I was just overwhelmed with joy.
“I was so proud of myself. I’d worked so hard on training for the combine.”
Only 11 of the 78 players who’d been invited to last year’s full day of rigorous observation advanced to the annual, and more complex, CFL combine, which grades Canadians eligible for April’s CFL draft. The numbers were similar for this Friday’s regionals, again in Waterloo, when CFL team representatives voted on just eight players who had shown enough in overall medicals, bench presses, broad and vertical jumps, shuttle and three-cone speed drills plus one-on-one sessions to separate themselves from the other six dozen candidates. There were also critical one-on-one drills to help compare players from across the country at their position.
Of the 11 who went through to last year’s main combine—for which about 60 players had qualified because of their year-long central scouting ranking—only five were selected in the 2025 draft.
And Horrall, not taken until the sixth round, was the most successful of them. One of the others had an injury, a couple returned to school and the only one who played more games than the Ticats’ seven, didn’t have as big an impact. Horrall came off the practice roster in August and made a critical special teams tackle in his first game, then suited up for six more and played in the East final.
The Ticats liked what they saw in Horrall at the regional combine and would have selected him in the 2025 draft even if he hadn’t advanced to the main camp. They felt the same about Manitoba defensive back Jake Nitychoruk, who didn’t advance, but the Ticats drafted him anyway. He didn’t return to school but came to training camp, practiced with and played some games with Canada’s national team and will be back at McMaster when training camp starts in May.
Ticats assistant general manager Alex Russell says that while the Cats had already liked Horrall and their other choices—all of their top six drafts made the team last year—their interest was amplified by his performance at the regionals. He then had another great day at the main combine.
“Absolutely,” Russell confirmed. “Ronan tested well. He ran 4.6 and was top 3 in the shuttle.”
Ticats director of Canadian scouting Tom Flaxman has been working on this year’s combine since last year. He and other staff members cut up scouting tape on about 150 players, looking to get their draft candidates down to a more manageable size: about 60 players who will be undergoing more high-calibre tests and drills at the national combine, along with some penetrating personal interviews.
In Waterloo Friday, Russell, Flaxman, defensive coordinator Brent Monson, offensive coordinator Jarryd Baines and CJ Paduano and Nick Roberto from football operations were closely monitoring the proceedings. For the national combine at the end of the month, that group will be joined by special teams coordinator Bob Dyce and assistant coach James Tuck, offensive line coach Brendan Walsh, head coach Scott Milanovich and president of football ops Orlondo Steinauer. Every team supplies a coach to work on the field and defensive line coach Casey Creehan is Hamilton’s contribution.
The two April combines are the next steps in the off-season ladder of building a training camp and season-long rosters. After the bulk of the frenetic February free agency process has concluded, teams step back to look at who they have and what they still might need as they head into the CFL’s Canadian draft on April 28.
“Free agency is crucial for both retaining your own free agents but also free agents coming into the team,” Russell says. “So once you get through that period you have a much better idea of where you’re at. We’ve got 30 Canadians signed right now, so we’re going to have a very competitive camp. We’re evaluating 150 (draft-eligible) guys, and we’ll use the national combine to shrink that list, based on how the two combines go.
“The thing I love about our draft is everyone knows the top 50 guys—sure, teams might have them in a different order—but the value is really in rounds 5 to 8. Every team has that stacked differently so if you do your homework, and feel strongly about a guy, you can find some gems in the later round, and I think Ronan is a great example of that.”
Late-round draft picks are usually about filling out special teams, but it’s also important for CFL teams to find out whether a player they’re watching at the two combines who might not make the team has remaining college/university eligibility remaining and if the player is willing to return to school to play if he doesn’t make the pro squad.
“If you’re taking a guy in round 6, round 7 and he can’t go back to school then he’s either making your team or you’ve lost him,” Russell says succinctly.
With several Canadian defensive linemen returning from last year and the free agency arrivals of Kene Onyeka and Charbel Dabire, it’s clear that the Ticats are looking for more Canadian content in the defensive trenches. That would give them flexibility around reaching the minimum seven Canadian starters required for each game.
“Our Canadian depth has improved since last year, and we’re in a better spot even though we’ve lost Devin Veresuk (to the NFL)”, Russell says. “At this time last year we didn’t know who our seventh starter was.”
And at this time last year, Ronan Horrall didn’t know if he had any future in the game. He’d made a position change from receiver to safety at UBC and it took some adjustment time, and in his senior year he missed about half the season with a concussion. That affected his stats, his playing time and the amount of film scouts could watch.
“It was a great opportunity to go out there and showcase my athleticism, my skills,” Horrall says. “It’s good all around for those guys who are kind of flying under the radar in their college career and didn’t have the flashy stats or flashy highlight tapes, to show what you can do against some great talent.
“I think it was a pretty crucial point in my career. It was nice to get that second chance.”
