MONTREAL – Dominic Piazza, an offensive lineman with the McGill University Redbirds, was a fifth-round selection by Edmonton in the 2025 Canadian Football League Draft, Tuesday. He was among 49 players selected from U SPORTS institutions, in addition to 23 picks from NCAA programs.
 
The 6-foot-2, 290-pound tackle from Mercier, Que., was the ninth offensive lineman picked and chosen 40th overall. He becomes the 154th selection in McGill history to be drafted by a CFL team, a number that also includes two in the NFL Draft.

"I'm a little shocked, it's only going to settle in when I get ready to pack my bags," said Piazza, who earned RSEQ all-conference honours and U SPORTS All-Canadian status last fall, then merited an invite to the CFL Combine Camp in Regina. "I'm extremely excited. It's a dream come true for me to become a professional athlete and be able to say that I played football professionally. I'm just trying to make everybody as proud as possible. I'm going to work hard and that's really what it is (about) at the end of the day. The work starts now. Whatever (training) I did in the past doesn't matter. Now we start to work for real. I'm very thankful for McGill. Shout-out to McGill and Go Elks!"

A measure of consistency, Piazza started in all 32 regular season games over his four seasons at McGill, including 25 at left tackle and seven at left guard. He also started in two preseason games and a pair of playoff contests. A product of John Abbott College who enrolled at McGill in 2020, the fifth-year senior is 24 years old and majoring in industrial and labour relations.
 
"I'm really happy for Dom," said McGill head coach Alex Surprenant. "Edmonton is getting a tremendous kid with a super nice attitude, a really coachable, great athlete. Scouts from every CFL team called me about Dom and I told them that he's a great kid from a wonderful family. He is a good teammate and a leader. Coaching a player like Piazza makes life easier for a coach. 
 
"His athletic ability is there, and the scouts saw that on film. As a Canadian lineman, his challenge will be adapting to play inside. He's used to playing outside so that's going to be the biggest task in front of him at the CFL level and how fast he's able to adapt to the physicality that he will need to play inside. I think that he is comparable to the athletic ability of Pierre-Olivier Lestage, a starting guard with the Alouettes, who I previously coached (at CEGEP Saint-Jean). Dom has his type of athletic ability, so I'm not worried about that aspect of his game." 

Over the eight rounds in this year's draft, 68.1 per cent of players were chosen from U SPORTS institutions (49 of 72 total picks). The 11-team OUA led all conferences with 22 selections, followed by the six-team Canada West (19) and the five-team RSEQ (8). there were no picks from the five-team AUS. Players are only eligible for the draft in their senior year, unless they successfully petition to be eligible in a another year.

In all, 17 of the 27 U SPORTS football programs had at least one player chosen, led by six from Western, while Alberta, UBC and the Montreal Carabins had five apiece. Defensive backs were the top dogs among U SPORTS players with 11 selections, followed by offensive linemen (9), linebackers (9), defensive linemen (7), running backs (6), wide receivers (5), and a CFL record two Canadian university quarterbacks: Montreal's Jonathan Senecal (62nd overall by the Alouettes) and Laurier's Taylor Elgersma (18th overall by the Blue Bombers). 

There were no tight ends, kickers or long-snappers picked.

Since the first CFL Draft in 1952, a total of 3,300 football products have been drafted from U SPORTS and its previous acronyms (CIS, CIAU, SIFL). The breakdown by modern-day conferences includes 1,616 players from OUA-based schools, 898 from Canada West institutions, 488 from RSEQ programs and 298 from the AUS. Currently, about 200 Canadian university football standouts start the campaign on opening day rosters among the CFL's nine teams.

The full results of the 2025 CFL Draft are available online.

ALL-TIME CFL DRAFT DISTRIBUTION FROM U SPORTS CONFERENCES

YEAR	CW	OUA	RSEQ	AUS	TOTALS
1952	0	13	4	0	17
1953	0	33	7	0	40
1954	0	22	10	0	32
1955	0	33	8	0	41
1956	1	31	2	0	34
1957	2	26	9	0	37
1958	1	24	10	0	35
1959	1	20	1	0	22
1960	0	21	3	0	24
1961	0	19	5	0	24
1962	0	29	9	0	38
1963	17	34	14	6	71
1964	18	33	3	3	57
1965	16	27	10	7	60
1966	12	34	8	7	61
1967	13	23	6	1	43
1968	19	36	8	10	73
1969	12	32	1	12	57
1970	15	42	2	10	69
1971	22	30	4	6	62
1972	11	40	4	9	64
1973	16	36	1	4	57
1974	12	38	2	10	62
1975	17	29	8	5	59
1976	22	57	11	7	97
1977	17	48	2	13	80
1978	24	37	9	4	74
1979	20	32	4	3	59
1980	13	24	2	8	47
1981	19	26	7	5	57
1982	13	20	7	3	43
1983	22	33	3	4	62
1984	19	29	5	1	54
1985	25	22	5	6	58
1986	18	23	2	6	49
1987	14	27	6	3	50
1988	11	15	4	3	33
1989	14	17	6	4	41
1990	12	18	8	3	41
1991	11	14	7	5	37
1992	6	12	4	2	24
1993	7	14	3	3	27
1994	8	11	2	2	23
1995	7	15	6	5	33
1996	14	13	4	2	33
1997	8	6	4	2	20
1998	13	8	5	5	31
1999	8	11	6	3	28
2000	6	14	2	0	22
2001	9	10	4	3	26
2002	15	8	3	4	30
2003	12	6	4	10	32
2004	14	12	6	3	35
2005	11	10	6	5	32
2006	7	9	5	4	25
2007	13	8	8	4	33
2008	13	8	8	4	33
2009	17	10	7	4	38
2010	9	10	10	7	36
2011	8	9	14	3	34
2012	8	5	7	4	24
2013	14	15	9	6	44
2014	15	11	21	8	55
2015	15	11	12	4	42
2016	15	25	13	1	54
2017	20	19	15	2	56
2018	15	28	8	5	56
2019	18	21	9	4	52
2020	14	28	11	4	57
2021	7	16	5	3	31
2022	19	28	10	3	60
2023	17	23	8	9	57
2024	18	13	14	2	47
2025	19	22	8	0	49
TOTALS:	898	1616	488	298	3300
	CW	OUA	RSEQ	AUS

YEAR	# PICKS	NAME	POS	TEAM	SELECTION	NOTES
1952	4	Dawson Tilley	DL	MTL	5
		Gene Robillard	HB	MTL	9
		Bob McLelland	DL	MTL	13
		Ken Wagner	HB	MTL	17
1953	7	Geoff Crain	QB	TOR	3
		Jim Miller	DE	MTL	9
		Cameron Kenney	RB	OTT	22
		Garnett Bertrand	OL	MTL	25
		Don Williams	HB	TOR	27
		Don Menard	HB	MTL	29
		Rod Foster	OG	TOR	31
1954	10	George Klein	RB	OTT	2
		Len Shaw	FB	OTT	6
		Fred Wilmot	RB	MTL	7
		Vince Capogreco	OG	OTT	10
		John McGill	OL	MTL	15
		William Moulton	OG	HAM	16
		Garnett Bertrand (2)	OG	HAM	20
		Mark Hatt	OG	OTT	26
		Don Stirling	REC	HAM	28
		Joe Benoit	OL	TOR	29
1955	8	Lionel Quinn	FB	MTL	8
		Herb English	RB/DB	MTL	16
		Ed Olszewski	OL	MTL	20
		Harold Biewald	HB	TOR	37
		Tony Miller	REC	HAM	38
		John Hiltz	OL	OTT	39
		Roger Baikie	HB	TOR	40
		Earl Merling	OL	HAM	41
1956	2	Ted Taporowski	OT	CAL	20
		Emil Bosacki	QB	HAM	30
1957	9	John Larsen	OT	HAM	5
		Murdy Armstrong	DB	WPG	6
		Vaughan McVey	OL	MTL	16
		Livio Desimone	OG	EDM	18
		Bob Holland	DB	BC	22
		Rick Adrian	DB	HAM	23
		Paul Dingle	DE/REC	WPG	30
		Bill Picard	DB	MTL	31
		Bob Rogers	DB	HAM	34
1958	10	Len Sigurdson	OT	SSK	1
		Ron Murphy	DE/REC	MTL	4
		John Sandzelius	DB	WPG	7
		John Cronin	DB	HAM	8
		Leo Konyk	OG	SSK	10
		Sam Yuska	DE/REC	MTL	13
		John Bennett	DE/REC	OTT	15
		Rae Brown	OT	HAM	17
		Merv Shaw	OG	SSK	19
		Garnett Bertrand (3)	OL	SSK	30
1959	1	Steve O'Farrell	DB	OTT	20
1960	3	Gordon Merritt	DE/REC	CAL	12
		Bob Tucker	DE/REC	HAM	15
		Joe Irvin	DB	OTT	18
1961	5	Wallace Barrie	LB	EDM	6
		John Moore	DB	OTT	10
		Peter Hoisak	OG	CAL	12
		Bob Milligan	DB	TOR	14
		Al Braekvelt	OG	MTL	21
1962	9	Chuck Wood	OG	OTT	4
		Bob Winsor	DE/HB	OTT	14
		Tony Blair	OG	TOR	17
		John Cleghorn	OL	TOR	22
		John Roberts	DB/QB	HAM	24
		Leo Konyk (2)	OT	HAM	32
		Harry Haukkala	DB	MTL	35
		Bob Kennel	OT	HAM	36
		Colin Russell	OT	HAM	37
1963	8	James Hogan	OT	SSK	7
		Ian Monteith	FB	WPG	9
		Tom Skypeck	QB	HAM	56
		Graeme Strathdee	DB/QB	CAL	57
		Ewart Budgell	DB	CAL	59
		Murray Thomas	DB	MTL	63
		Fraser Allen	DB	MTL	64
		Pete Holmay	OT	MTL	65
1964	1	Bruce Johannson	DB	MTL	50
1965	3	Al Jenner	OT	MTL	13
		Ian Bruce	DB	TOR	28
		Eric Walter	RB	CAL	51
1966	4	Jim Dickie	DE/REC	OTT	16
		Rich Ripstein	QB	SSK	39
		Peter Howlett	FB	WPG	50
		Dick Fiedler	OG	OTT	63
1967	1	Brian Rose	OT	HAM	37
1968	3	Dan Desantis	FB	WPG	55
		John Frost	DE/TE	TOR	69
		George Springate	DE/K	HAM	71
1969	1	Dave Fleiszer	RB	SSK	62
1970	2	Dave Doherty	DB	OTT	36
		Robert Taylor	OT	BC	65
1971	1	Dan Dulmage	OT	CAL	17
1972	0
1973	0
1974	0
1975	2	Don Cowie	DB	CAL	37
		Ross Brooks	WR	MTL	54
1976	1	Yvon Thibeault	OT	MTL	8
1977	0	(Hector Pothier, SMU)	DT	MTL	32	Territorial pick
1978	5	Phil Roberts	LB	BC	51
		Barry Dobson	TE	BC	60
		Daniel Graham	LB	SSK	75
		Tom Barbeau	RB	OTT	79
		Eris Salvatori	RB	MTL	90
1979	1	Keir Cutler	WR	MTL	80
1980	1	Paul Gohier	OT	BC	32
1981	1	Marc Lacelle	RB	MTL	10
1982	4	Ron Poulton	DB	OTT	13	Territorial pick
		Mark Lemery	LB	TOR	38
		Denis Tardif	LB	CAL	57
		Mark Joncas	DT	SSK	67
1983	1	Tony Lawson	DE	EDM	18	Territorial pick
1984	0
1985	1	Glenn Miller	SB/K	HAM	44
1986	1	Denis Touchette	DB	MTL	50
1987	2	Robin Belanger	DB	BC	36
		Allan Lekun	OL	WPG	60
1988	2	Floyd Salazar	DB	TOR	31
		Scott Warr	OT	OTT	49
1989	1	Michael Soles	RB	EDM	5	(1st U SPORTS pick)
1990	4	Paul Kerr	DL	TOR	17
		Gerry Ifill	RB	TOR	44
		Hagen Mehnert	LB	OTT	56
		Chuck Petitpas	K	OTT	65	Supplemental
1991	3	Christian Masotti	SB	EDM	15
		Steven Baillargeon	WR	OTT	51
		Francois Belanger	OT	HAM	57
1992	0
1993	0
1994	2	Val St. Germain	OL	HAM	1	Territorial pick
		Matthieu Quiviger	OT	SSK	10
1995	0
1996	0
1997	1	Ryan Coughlin	OL	MTL	14
1998	2	Samir Chahine	OG	EDM	11
		Daniel Lafontaine	OL	MTL	34
1999	1	Jean-Philippe Darche	LS/LB	TOR	21
2000	0
2001	2	Randy Chevrier	LS/DT	EDM	5
		Ben Wearing	RB	WPG	19
2002	1	John Macdonald	DL	HAM	7
2003	2	Jim Merrick	OG	SSK	31
		Nicholas Hoffmann	FB	BC	41
2004	1	Mike Mahoney	LB	TOR	39
2005	1	Robert LeBlanc	SB	EDM	40
2006	0
2007	1	Greg Hetherington	SB	CAL	45
2008	1	Jean-Nicolas Carriere	LB	TOR	21
2009	0
2010	0
2011	0
2012	0
2013	1	Mike Edem (Calgary)	LB	MTL	3
2014	3	Jesse Briggs	LB	WPG	17
		Laurent Duvernay-Tardif	OT	CAL	19
		Alexandre Bernard	LB	OTT	64
2015	0
2016	1	Shaquille Johnson (Western)	WR	BC	32
2017	1	Qadr Spooner	OL	WPG	15
2018	0
2019	3	Valentin Gnahoua	LB	HAM	1*	European Draft
		Maxime Rouyer	LB	EDM	4*	European Draft
		Benjamin Plu	WR	BC	7*	European Draft
2020	2	Vincent Dethier	DB	SASK	44
		Andrew Seinet-Spaulding	DL	CAL	52
2021	0
2022	2	Joshua Archibald	DL	BC	23
		Tristan Fleury	DB	SASK	45
2023	1	Alexandre Marcoux	OL	CAL	33
2024	2	Benjamin Labrosse	DB	CAL	4	(1st U SPORTS pick)
		Michael Vlahogiannis	OL/LS	WPG	64
2025	1	Domenico Piazza	OL	EDM	40
TOTAL:	154
*NOTE: The CFL's European Draft is conducted before the regular draft
(2)	drafted twice
(3)	drafted three times
	**trasferred to or from other schools and were drafted under their name