Canadian Football Institute — The Gauntlet Showcase 2017
Riley and I went to the annual Canadian Football Institute Combine. This is what we saw.
The Canadian Football Institute is an invite only development program based out of Ottawa that is built exclusively for offensive and defensive linemen. Former left tackle for Colgate University Brock Flemming and long-time player/coach (and sadly a Dallas Cowboys fan) Scott Endicott started CFI as a way to help develop the linemen talent in the National Capital region. They have had participants come from as far as Kingston and Havelock to receive instruction and test their abilities against the best the area has to offer.
CFI hosted its annual Gauntlet Showcase on March 25. It was an early morning for everyone involved, as the first drills kicked off at 7:00am. Thirty-two young athletes, a handful of coaches, several recruiters representing the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and the Ottawa Sooners — surrounded by dozens of parents — filled the covered dome at Algonquin College. It isn’t the warmest dome in the winter, yet here all these people were, with football excellence on their minds.
While I was walking around watching all of this going on — reminiscing on days long past — I noticed a trend. When I played, most linemen were just walking mountains, as wide as they were tall. Not the fastest guys on the field, but they were great for sealing that pocket or smashing downhill — not too many pure athletes. But looking at the combine participants, there were some freaks that given time and training would look more like JJ Watt than Vince Wilfork — not just on the defensive side of the ball, but on the o-line as well.
One particular young man had quite the buzz surrounding him. I caught up with him as he was preparing to test his vertical leap. Before I get into this I want to put something in perspective; when Vince Carter rocked the world during the 2000 NBA Dunk Contest, his vertical was measuring out at roughly 36 inches. This young man, Dominik Ostrowski, measured 30 inches on the vertical jump at 245 lbs — that’s called lower body power. He also ran the fastest 40 time, a strong 5.34 seconds (faster than the 5.4 flat that theocho.ca’s Riley Evans managed when he decided to test his own speed), which is great for a high school linemen. What blew me away though was his standing broad jump; 8 feet 11 inches, a full 13 inches further than the next closest person. The truly shocking part? He’s only 16 years old.
It’s not just about athletic ability, though. When I was speaking to Ottawa Sooners JV head coach Moe Salehe, he said “I want to see what work they are putting in off the field. Are they going to the gym? Are they working to improve? Are they going to be a good person to have in that locker room?”
That seemed to be the general consensus among those there from a recruitment viewpoint. Is the athlete you are bringing into your program going to be a well-rounded person as well as a football player? From the way I saw Brock Flemming and Scott Endicott working with their students, pushing them to work hard for what they want, you best believe that you are getting a quality player and a quality person if they’re coming out of the Canadian Football Institute.
Alex Scantlebury is a multi-sport contributor for theocho.ca. He is a professor for the Algonquin College public relations program. Aaron and Riley would like to thank him for giving them an extra hour each week to spend on Bleacher Report while he was teaching. Follow Alex on Twitter at@pen_ink_page.
