TORONTO (U SPORTS) – Jesse Gibbon, an offensive lineman from the Waterloo Warriors, was the first U SPORTS player selected in the 2019 Canadian Football League Draft when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats called his name at No. 2, on Thursday evening.

Overall, 52 U SPORTS standouts (excluding the European Draft) were selected out of 73 total picks (71.2 per cent). A year ago, U SPORTS players made up 81.2 per cent of draftees (56 out of 69). The 10-team OUA conference led the way with 21 picks, followed by Canada West (18), RSEQ (9) and the five-team AUS (4).

Maxime Rouyer, the top prospect from McGill University, was pre-selected last week, along with two former McGill players, in the CFL's first-ever European Draft, held on April 11. The native of Troyes, France, went fourth overall to Edmonton, while former teammates Valentin Gnahoua and Benjamin Plu, both from Le Mans, were drafted first and seventh respectively, by Hamilton and the B.C. Lions.
 
Click here for the CFL Draft Tracker to see the full list.

Gibbon was one of three U SPORTS players who went in the opening round on Thursday, along with Laval defensive lineman Mathieu Betts at No.3 (Edmonton Eskimos) and Windsor offensive lineman Drew Desjarlais at No. 4 (Winnipeg Blue Bombers). Gibbon, a 6-foot-5, 300-pound hometown product and environmental management major, debuted on the CFL Scouting Bureau at No.14 last month, after going unranked in August and December.
 
Betts (No.1) and Desjarlais (No.7), were also ranked in the Scouting Bureau's Top 20 going into the draft. Named as the U SPORTS Male Athlete of the Year for the 2018-19 season on Thursday afternoon, Betts signed last week with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted NFL free agent.

Rouyer has suited up in each of the past four years with the team. In six games last season, the 6-foot-1, 225-pound linebacker registered 13 solo tackles -- including two quarterback sacks -- and nine assisted tackles. Since being recruited from Collège de Jonquière in 2015, the 24-year-old physical education senior has tallied 79 total tackles in 21 regular season contests for McGill, including 59 solos and 3.5 quarterback sacks, along with a pair of knockdowns.

Gnahoua is a 6-foot-1, 235-pound linebacker while Plu is a 6-foot-2, 170-pound wide receiver. Both played for McGill in 2016.
 
The 2019 U SPORTS East-West Bowl Week, showcasing the next generation of top prospects heading into to the 2020 CFL Draft begins Monday at Carleton University, with the game slated for Saturday, May 11 at 12:30 p.m. ET at MNP Park in the nation's capital.
 
Team rosters for the game will be announced on Friday.

2019 CANADIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE EUROPEAN DRAFT (April 11/19)

 

No.	TEAM	PLAYER	POS	UNIVERSITY	LAST TEAM	HOMETOWN
1	Hamilton	Valentin Gnahoua	DL	McGill	Berlin Rebels	Le Mans, France
2	Winnipeg	Thiadric Hansen	LB	(none)	Potsdam Royals	Flensburg, Germany
3	Montreal	Asnnel Robo	RB	Montreal	Montreal Carabins	Cayenne, France
4	Edmonton	Maxime Rouyer	LB	McGill	McGill Redmen	Troyes, France
5	Toronto	Marc Anthony Hor	DL	(none)	Frankfurt Universe	Mannheim, Germany
6	Saskatchewan	Max Earvin Zimmermann	WR	(none)	Potsdam Royals	Berlin, Germany
7	BC Lions	Benjamin Plu	WR	McGill	Thonon-les-Bains Black Panthers	Le Mans, France
8	Ottawa	Jordan Bouah	WR	Saddleback College	Saddleback Gauchos	Rome, Italy
9	Calgary	Roni Salonen	LB	(none)	New Yorker Lions	Vantaa, Finland

 

ALL-TIME CFL DRAFT PICKS FROM McGILL (134)

 

YEAR	# PICKS	NAME	POS	TEAM	SELECT	NOTES
1953	7	Jim Miller	DE	MTL	na
		Garnett Bertrand	OL	MTL	na
		Don Menard	HB	MTL	na
		Cameron Kenney	RB	OTT	na
		Geoff Crain	QB	TOR	na
		Don Williams	QB	TOR	na
		Rod Foster	OG	TOR	na
1954	9	Joe Benoit	OL	TOR	na
		George Klein	RB	OTT	na
		Len Shaw	FB	OTT	na
		Vince Capogreco	OG	OTT	na
		Mark Hart	OG	OTT	na
		Fred Wilmot	RB	MTL	na
		John McGill	OL	MTL	na
		W. Moulton	OG	HAM	na
		George Bertrand	OG	HAM	na
1955	1	Herb English	RB/DB	MTL	na
1956	2	Ted Taporowski	OT	CAL	na
		Emil Bosacki	QB	HAM	na
1957	9	Bob Holland	DB	BC	na
		John Larsen	OT	HAM	na
		Rick Adrian	DB	HAM	na
		Bob Rogers	DB	HAM	na
		Murdy Armstrong	DB	WPG	na
		Paul Dingle	DE	WPG	na
		Vaughan McVey	OL	MTL	na
		Bill Picard	DB	MTL	na
		Livio Desimone	OG	EDM	na
1958	10	Len Sigurdson	OT	SSK	na
		Leo Konyk	OG	SSK	na
		Merv Shaw	OG	SSK	na
		Garnett Bertrand	OL	SSK	na
		Ron Murphy	DE	MTL	na
		Sam Yuska	DE	MTL	na
		John Bennett	DE	OTT	na
		John Sandzelius	DB	WPG	na
		John Cronin	DB	HAM	na
		Rae Brown	OT	HAM	na
1959	1	Steve O'Farrell	DB	OTT	na
1960	3	Gordon Merritt	DE	CAL	na
		Joe Irvine	DB	OTT	na
		Bob Tucker	DE	HAM	na
1961	4	Peter Hoisak	OG	CAL	na
		Al Braekvelt	OG	MTL	na
		Bob Milligan	DB	TOR	na
		John Moore	DB	OTT	na
1962	9	Harry Haukkala	DB	MTL	na
		Tony Blair	OG	TOR	na
		John Cleghorn	OL	TOR	na
		Chuck Wood	OG	OTT	na
		Bob Winsor	DE	OTT	na
		John Roberts	DB	HAM	na
		Leo Konyk	OT	HAM	na
		Bob Kennel	OT	HAM	na
		Colin Russell	OT	HAM	na
1963	9	Willie Lambert	RB/LB	MTL	na
		Murray Thomas	DB	MTL	na
		Fraser Allen	DB	MTL	na
		Pete Holmay	OT	MTL	na
		James Hogan	OT	SSK	na
		Graeme Strathdee	DB	CAL	na
		Ewart Budgell	DB	CAL	na
		Tom Skypeck	QB	HAM	na
		Ian Monteith	FB	WPG	na
1964	1	Bruce Johnson	DB	MTL	na
1965	3	Ian Bruce	DB	TOR	na
		Al Jenner	OT	MTL	na
		Eric Walter	RB	CAL	na
1966	4	Rich Ripstein	QB	SSK	na
		Jim Dickie	DE	OTT	na
		Dick Fiedler	OG	OTT	na
		Peter Howlett	FB	WPG	na
1967	1	Brian Rose	OT	HAM	na
1968	3	Don Desontis	FB	WPG	na
		John Frost	DE	TOR	na
		George Springate	DE/K	HAM	na
1969	1	Dave Fleiszer	RB	SSK	na
1970	2	Robert Taylor	OT	BC	na
		Dave Doherty	DB	OTT	na
1971	1	Dan Dulmage	OT	CAL	na
1972	0
1973	0
1974	0
1975	1	Don Cowie	DB	CAL	19th
1976	1	Yvon Thibeault	OT	MTL	na	Territorial pick
1977	1	Hector Pothier	DT	MTL	14th
1978	5	Phil Roberts	LB	BC	33rd
		Barry Dobson	TE	BC	42nd
		Daniel Graham	LB	SSK	57th
		Tom Barbeau	RB	OTT	61st
		Eris Salvatori	RB	MTL	72nd
1979	1	Keir Cutler	WR	MTL	62nd
1980	1	Paul Gohier	OT	BC	14th
1981	1	Marc Lacelle	RB	MTL	na	Territorial pick
1982	4	Mark Lemery	LB	TOR	20th
		Denis Tardif	LB	CAL	39th
		Mark Joncas	DT	SSK	49th
		Ron Poulton	DB	OTT	na
1983	1	Tony Lawson	DE	EDM	na	Territorial pick
1984	0
1985	1	Glenn Miller	SB/K	HAM	44th
1986	1	Denis Touchette	DB	MTL	50th
1987	2	Robin Belanger	DB	BC	36th
		Allan Lekun	OL	WPG	60th
1988	2	Floyd Salazar	DB	TOR	31st
		Scott Warr	OT	OTT	49th
1989	1	Michael Soles	RB	EDM	5th
1990	4	Paul Kerr	DL	TOR	17th
		Gerry Ifill	RB	TOR	44th
		Hagen Mehnert	LB	OTT	56th
		Chuck Petitpas	K	OTT	na	Supplemental
1991	3	Christian Masotti	SB	EDM	15th
		Steven Baillargeon	WR	OTT	51st
		Francois Belanger	OT	HAM	57th
1992	0
1993	0
1994	2	Val St. Germain	OL	HAM	1st
		Matthieu Quiviger	OT	SSK	10th
1995	0
1996	0
1997	1	Ryan Coughlin	OL	MTL	14th
1998	2	Samir Chahine	OG	EDM	11th
		Daniel Lafontaine	OL	MTL	34th
1999	1	J.P. Darche	LS/LB	TOR	21st
2000	0
2001	2	Randy Chevrier	LS/DT	EDM	5th
		Ben Wearing	RB	WPG	19th
2002	1	John Macdonald	DL	HAM	7th
2003	2	Jim Merrick	OG	SSK	31st
		Nick Hoffmann	FB	BC	41st
2004	1	Mike Mahoney	LB	TOR	39th
2005	1	Robert LeBlanc	SB	EDM	40th
2006	0
2007	1	Greg Hetherington	SB	CAL	45th
2008	1	Jean-Nicolas Carriere	LB	TOR	21st
2009	0
2010	0
2011	0
2012	0
2013	1	Mike Edem	LB	MTL	3rd
2014	3	Jesse Briggs	LB	WPG	17th
		Laurent Duvernay-Tardif	OT	CAL	19th
		Alexandre Bernard	LB	OTT	57th
2015	0
2016	1	Shaquille Johnson	WR	BC	33rd
2017	1	Qadr Spooner	OL	WPG	15th
2018	0
2019	3	Valentin Gnahoua	LB	HAM	1st*	European Draft
		Maxime Rouyer	LB	EDM	4th*	European Draft
		Benjamin Plu	WR	BC	7th*	European Draft
TOTAL:	134

*NOTE: The CFL's European Draft was conducted before the regular draft

 

Canadian University players drafted in the NFL (12)

 

NAME	POS	SCHOOL	DRAFT	ROUND	NFL TEAM
Brian Fryer	WR	Alberta	1976	8	Washington
John Priestner	LB	Western	1979	11	Baltimore
Dan Feraday	QB	Toronto	1982	12	Cincinnati
Mike Schad	OL	Queen's	1986	1	St. Louis
Tyrone Williams	WR	Western	1992	9	Arizona
Mark Montreuil	DB	Concordia	1995	7	San Diego
Jerome Pathon	WR	Acadia/Washington	1998	2	Indiana
Randy Chevrier	DL	McGill	2001	7	Jacksonville
Vaughn Martin	DL	Western	2009	4	San Diego
Akiem Hicks	DL	Regina	2012	3	New Orleans
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif	OL	McGill	2014	6	Kansas City
David Onyemata	DL	Manitoba	2016	4	New Orleans