Lionbackers.com

B.C.FAN wrote:The Windsor Star has a nice feature with strong quotes from Mike Benevides on DB Matt McGarva, a Surrey native with Lion connections drafted in the fourth round.

Benevides said it was McGarva’s footwork at the evaluation camp that really impressed the Lions.

“He’s got great feet on top of being a character guy,” Benevides said. “He’s got great athleticism.”

McGarva could return to the Lancers for a fifth season, but is hoping he can make the transition to pro ball this season.

“I hope this is it and I can move on and start earning some money,” McGarva said. “I’ll do everything I can and hope this is it.”

Benevides believes McGarva is ready to make the transition, but expects him to move to safety in the CFL.

“Safety is what I see for him,” Benevides said.

“He’s a strong tackler with range and, in my opinion, he’s got great foot quickness. I think he’s got as good a chance as anyone else.”

Lancer McGarva to return home with Lions

Morris: Lions willing to wait for top draft picks

Posted: May 07, 2013 02:00 PM

Jim Morris
CFL.ca

Patience is a key with any draft selection, but the B.C. Lions were prepared to wait for only so long.

The Lions decided to pass on a couple prospects and selected red-shirt offensive lineman Hunter Steward from Liberty University in Virginia with their first pick, sixth overall, in Monday's CFL Canadian Draft.

The Lions had some interest in Regina Rams' defensive tackle Stefan Charles and McMaster Marauders' offensive lineman Matt Sewell. That was tempered when both signed contracts with the NFL Tennessee Titans.

"Of all the guys we looked at, he was the guy that was a year away," said Lions' head coach Mike Benevides. "Those other guys…because they are already contracted NFL guys, they are going to be away a little longer."

Steward was born in Kingston, Ont., but moved to Virginia Beach to attend Kellam High School. He went to Virginia University as a defensive lineman but transferred to Liberty where he was converted to the offensive line. He played the 2012 season as a left tackle.

Kelly Bates, the Lions CFL's draft coordinator, said the six-foot-seven, 285-pound Steward is a diamond in the rough.

"Hunter is a large person who plays with a mean edge," said Bates, the Lions running backs coach.

"He didn't get by on technique. He got by on being mean and being aggressive. The footwork is there and will improve. We feel there is a lot of upside with him."

The Lions added depth to their Canadian receiving corps by taking wide receiver Seydou Junior Haidara of the Laval Rouge et Or with their second-round pick, 12th overall. B.C. then took a gamble on another red-shirt player when they selected Oregon Ducks' linebacker Bo Lokombo 21st in the third round.

The Lions also selected safety Matt McGarva of Windsor 33rd; Matthew Albright, an offensive lineman from Saint Mary's 42nd; Matt Walker, a safety from UBC 50th; and Cameron Thorn, an offensive lineman from Guelph, 58th (converted from defensive line).

Overall the Lions drafted two offensive linemen, two safeties, a receiver, a defensive lineman and a linebacker.

The Lions were in need of safeties after Cauchy Muamba signed as a free agent with Winnipeg. That leaves J. R. LaRose as B.C.'s lone proven safety.

"There were several things we wanted to take out of during the draft, said Benevides.

"There's no doubt I was looking for some guys to stand behind J.R. LaRose. We found those guys, and on the offensive line you are looking for guys to augment the group you already have. We found those. They are all good fits in the sense they fit what we value."

This year's draft was expanded to seven rounds from six.

Benevides was willing to take the risk that Lokombo, a six-foot-three, 225-pound graduate of W. J. Mouat secondary school in Abbotsford, B.C., that could be taken in next year's NFL draft.

"He's a guy that could play end in our league, he could play linebacker," said Benevides. "He's intelligent, super athletic.

"Even though there is the extra year, there is way too much value to pass up."

The six-foot-one, 215-pound Haidara played in nine games last year for Vanier Cup champion Laval. He had 23 catches for 394 yards and three touchdowns.

"It's a dream come true," the 24-year-old from Quebec City, said in a telephone conference call. "I know I have the ability to help the team."

Laval practised at the Lions' training facility in Surrey when they were in Vancouver for the 2011 Vanier Cup. Haidara has one year of Canadian college eligibility remaining but hopes make the Lions' roster this fall.

"My goal is to make the team," he said. "I am ready to step up to the next level. When I set my mind to something, I stick with it."

The Lions roster already includes Canadian receivers like Akeem Foster, Shawn Gore, Marco Iannuzzi and Paris Jackson.

Bates said Haidara can fit into that group.

"He brings size and speed and an immediate impact player on special teams," said Bates.

"He's only beginning to see his potential and he was a demon on special teams. There is a tremendous upside to him."

The six-foot, 197-pound McGarva is a native of Surrey, B.C., who attended Lord Tweedsmuir high school in Cloverdale, B.C. He's the brother of Sean McGarva, the Lions' co-ordinator of community relations.

Mark Washington, the Lions' defensive backs coach, expects McGarva to compete for a spot on the roster.

"He will do quite well," said Washington. "He's a smart young man. A great athlete. He works really hard.

"Watching his film, I think he will convert to our system quite well. He's physical enough, he's big enough, he's strong enough. I think he's going to be a great player for us."

Albright is a six-foot-five, 295-pound native of Dartmouth, N.S.. The six-foot, 190-pound Walker is from Vernon, B.C.

Thorn came to the CFL Combine as a defensive lineman but the six-foot-five, 286-pound native of Midhurst, Ont., worked out as an offensive lineman. He also can be a long snapper.

"He did very well against a very strong defensive line group," said Benevides. "It tells you the uptick on that guy is there.

"He has a lot of skill sets to bring to the table. He's a big, long athlete that moves well."

Blitz wrote:I like the choice of Haidara.

Our Leos have started to move more and more in the direction of taller, bigger receivers and its a welcome direction.

Heidera can line up in the slot or at tight end on short yardage. He has good one on one skills. He has the size to ward off defenders. Very importantly he's an excellent prospect for special teams. Hiedera may push one of our present non-import receivers out of the lineup with his special teams skills.

Lions choice Hunter Steward measuring up to NFL standards

By Mike Beamish, Vancouver Sun May 8, 2013 6:41 PM

VANCOUVER — Dennis Wagner, assistant head coach and offensive line coach at Liberty University, has either recruited or coached a number of future NFL players in his travels throughout NCCA football.

Randall Cunningham, Ickey Woods, Bernard Berrian, Ndamukong Suh are just a few. Five-time Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins of the Patriots and two-time Pro Bowl guard Carl Nicks of the Buccaneers are two more.

So Wagner knows what it takes to make it in the NFL.

Does one of his current players -- B.C. Lions’ first-round draft pick Hunter Steward -- have the right stuff?

“The difference between him being a late-round pick in the (2014) draft and a guy in the first three rounds is his physicality,” Wagner said of his starting left tackle. “Right now, he’s a late-round choice in the NFL. We’re trying to move him to that next step.”

Steward, who has played only one year of college football at left tackle, was claimed by the Lions in Monday’s Canadian Football League draft, sixth overall.

At 6’7”, 290 pounds (his stated measurements on the Liberty football website), Steward is lankier than most at his position. He’s less an offensive lineman and more of a defensive end, the spot he used to play before his conversion to the O-line. The Lions took a risk in drafting the redshirt junior anyway, projecting that Steward wouldn’t put on sufficient weight and develop technique quickly enough for the NFL to pay heed in his draft year.

Yet, in one respect, he already measures up to NFL standards. At Liberty’s Pro Day, Steward tipped the scales at 317 pounds.

“Don’t know where they got that number (290) from,” Wagner said. “The NFL measured him at 6’6 3/4, 317. He might be 320 now. He’s right there.”

Wagner said Steward relies on “raw athleticism” and speed but needs to develop leverage and the proper anchoring technique in pass protection when he gets bull-rushed by defenders. Still, while he doesn’t have all the tools yet, the tool box is impressive. The NFL timed Steward at 4.88 and then again at 4.89 in the 40-yard dash, which is exceptional for such a big man. Only three other linemen at the 2013 NFL draft combine in Indianapolis were timed under 4.9, according to Wagner.

Not only does Steward have a strong lower body but an upper body that could pass for that of a tight end, making him rangier than Danny Watkins, a Lions’ first round pick in 2010 who now plays for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Steward is certainly aware of Watkins’ story, how the untutored firefighter and former hockey player from Kelowna became the most unlikely starting left tackle in NCAA Division I football at Baylor. Watkins progressed so rapidly in his senior year that he became a first-rounder with the Philadelphia Eagles, who drafted him 23rd overall in 2011.

“I’d say it’s possible (to do what Watkins did),” Steward said. “I’m definitely capable of playing in the NFL. When I’ll reach that level, I can’t say for certain. There’s no way to predict that. But I’ll try and get there as fast as I can.”

Steward was born in Calgary, calls Victoria “home” (even though he only visits his mom and younger siblings there), and truthfully is something of a rolling stone. His dad, Lt. Col Robin Steward of Lord Strathcona’s Horse, an armoured regiment currently based in Edmonton, is a career military man who moved the family from Calgary to Edmonton to Wainwright, Alta., Oromocto, N.B, Osnabruck, Germany, Ottawa and Kingston, Ont.

Hunter’s mom, Valerie, is now separated from her husband and employed as a dialysis nurse in Victoria, where she lives with Hunter’s younger siblings, Carling and Hunter.

Hunter Steward, who was born in Germany, is a grade 11 student at Mount Douglas secondary school. At 6’6”, 260, he is almost as mountainous as his older brother, though he doesn’t play football because of rare genetic disorder -- epidermolysis bullosa. It causes excessive blistering and sores when his skin is abraded or scraped.

Nonetheless, Forrest pursues his sports passion as a box lacrosse goalie with the Victoria Shamrocks Intermediate “A” team, under the tutelage of goalie coach Larry Smeltzer, who is in the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame. “When I have the (goalie) padding on, I don’t worry about it,” Forrest said.

The two brothers, separated by five years in age and 3,000 kilometres, remain extremely close.

“Forrest has always looked up to Hunter as his hero and idol, but Hunter also has a great appreciation and admiration for Forrest in his ability to live and play through the skin blisters and wounds that cause him pain,” Val said.

When Hunter was about to enter grade 12, his dad took a Canadian military posting at a U.S. army base so his son could get better competition at an American high school and improve his chances for a college football scholarship. The family moved from Kingston to Virginia Beach, Va., which is listed on the Liberty football website as Hunter’s “hometown.”

Recruited by the University of Virginia, Steward didn’t play in his redshirt freshman season nor in his sophomore year, the latter because he was academically ineligible. He transferred to Liberty, a BCS (Division 1-AA) school, just 100 kilometres away from Charlottesville in Lynchburg, Va., in 2011.

Liberty is the largest evangelical Christian university in the world, a more conservative environment than he knew at liberal Virginia, where Hunter picked up pocket money as a bouncer at an Irish pub. But Steward admits he’s not at Liberty for the religious training, mostly the kind that happens on a football field.

“We think his best years are ahead of him,” Coach Wagner said.

The Lions know that, too. They just hope they’ll be played out in Canada.

3/15/2013 2:01:00 PM

University of Guelph defensive lineman Cameron Thorn has been invited to the 2013 Canadian Football League (CFL) combine.

The 2013 CFL Combine presented by Reebok will host more than 50 of Canada’s top football prospects eligible for the upcoming draft. The three-day event from March 22-24 is an opportunity for general managers, coaches and scouts to test, interview and evaluate prospects who they may select in the 2013 CFL Draft on Monday, May 6 at Noon ET.

Canadian university football continues to be well represented at the event, as 46 of the 51 combine invitees are from CIS programs.

Thorn is the only Gryphon that has been invited to the camp. He is also one of eight defensive lineman on the list. This past season the 6-foot-5, 290lb fourth year played in eight regular season games for the Gryphons and tallied 19 tackles, and one sack for 11 yards. In 2012, Thorn played in the East West Bowl at Western University on the West Team.

Pre-draft ranking #43. Cameron Thorn (OL/DL, Guelph): CIS defensive tackle didn't look out of place as he worked out exclusively at O-Line at the CFL Combine

Farm fitness helps send local duo to CFL

By Stephen Sweet, Special to QMI Agency

Monday, May 20, 2013 8:23:56 EDT PM

ORO-MEDONTE TWP. - Eight years ago, Jake Piotrowski and Cam Thorn stepped onto the field behind Barrie’s Eastview Secondary School as junior-high-school football rookies.

Now, they go their separate ways — draftee Canadian Football League players.

The duo, who have been friends and teammates since Grade 9, were both selected in the 2013 CFL Draft — Piotrowski in the fifth round by the Montreal Alouettes and Thorn in the seventh round by the British Columbia Lions.

Piotrowski was working when he heard the news.

“We live on a family farm, so I was just out in the field, spraying some fertilizer,” said the Shanty Bay native. “I hopped off of the tractor right away.”

After Piotrowski told his parents, who were thrilled at the news, he called Thorn.

“He heard right away and congratulated me,” Piotrowski said. “He was a little anxious (at the time), but I think he’s pretty happy he got picked.”

The Lions had to double-check on Thorn before they made him their seventh-round selection.

“I knew that I was in the running for it and then I got contacted by B.C.,” Thorn said. “They asked me a few questions like, if I was drafted by them, if I’d go back to school or stay with them. I said I’d stay with them and they called back two minutes later, saying, ‘Congratulations’ and that they’d drafted me 58th overall.”

The duo played four seasons at Eastview before heading to the University of Guelph to suit up for the Gryphons.

With Piotrowski an offensive lineman and Thorn a defensive lineman, they frequently went head to head in practice.

“We pushed each other a lot and we were probably one of the best players on each side of the ball, so it was always good, friendly competition,” Piotrowski said.

The two roomed together at Johnston Hall, a short walk from Guelph’s Alumni Field, and frequently hung out.

“We’re best friends, for sure,” Thorn said. “We train together every day and spend a lot of time together outside of football.”

In the off-season, Piotrowski and Thorn work out at a place affectionately known as Farm Fitness.

“We have a barn at Jake’s house and we converted it into a gym,” Thorn said. “We’ve got weights and everything and we train there.

“It’s pretty handy having that,” Thorn said with a laugh.

The pair appreciates the help provided by a number of coaches who had a big role in getting them to this point in their careers.

“(Eastview coach) Martin Carl had a big role in my football career,” Piotrowski said. “The coaches throughout my time at Guelph have been a huge help, too.”

It was also one of the Eastview coaches who helped them become Gryphons.

“(Wildcats coach) Jeremy Oxley, who was an (alumnus) from Guelph, took me down there during my recruitment and we met the coaches and fell in love with it pretty quickly,” Thorn said.

During their time there, they learned their football careers might not have to end at the university level.

“In my third year, I got the Lineman of the Year (award) at Guelph, got invited to the East-West Bowl in London and it just kind of went from there,” Piotrowski said. “I got some (CFL) teams talking to me and that’s kind of where it all started.”

After the success Piotrowski and Thorn have had on the same team, they’ll now have to go their separate ways when training camp begins in a couple of weeks.

“It’s going to be really weird at first, but I’m not really too concerned,” said Thorn, who will go to Lions camp as an offensive lineman, giving the Midhurst native a much better chance at nabbing a non-import spot.

“Just knowing that we both have the chance to get to that next level is a big thing.”

And should they both make their teams, the two linemen will have Aug. 22 circled on their calendars.

“I guess we play Montreal that day, right?” Thorn said. “That’s going to definitely be interesting.”

But going head to head won’t ruin their friendship.

“It’s going to be weird playing against each other, but it’s time to switch it up,” Piotrowski said. “We’ve been together for eight years and we have to go our separate ways at some point.

“Next year, we’ll come home in the summertime and still be best of friends.”

opt.newsroom@sunmedia.ca

WestCoastJoe wrote:I see on the Lions' roster that Cameron Thorn is listed as a DT. I believe he most recently played O Line. So are the Lions looking at him as potential backup to Westerman in D Line? He is a long snapper too. Chance to make the roster?

The Lions had to double-check on Thorn before they made him their seventh-round selection.

“I knew that I was in the running for it and then I got contacted by B.C.,” Thorn said. “They asked me a few questions like, if I was drafted by them, if I’d go back to school or stay with them. I said I’d stay with them and they called back two minutes later, saying, ‘Congratulations’ and that they’d drafted me 58th overall.”

“It’s going to be really weird at first, but I’m not really too concerned,” said Thorn, who will go to Lions camp as an offensive lineman, giving the Midhurst native a much better chance at nabbing a non-import spot.

“Just knowing that we both have the chance to get to that next level is a big thing.”

Jake Piotrowski, left, and Cameron Thorn workout with a 450-pound tractor tire on the Piotrowski family farm in Oro-Medonte Township as part of their farm fitness workout routine. The pair are headed to the CFL after being drafted earlier this year. IAN MCINROY - QMI AGENCY