Combine: Saturday recap

CFL.ca Staff

TORONTO — Byron Archambault (17) was a topic of discussion entering the 2015 National Combine, and on Saturday he justified the hype.

After expressing desire to break the all-time record of 47 entering the week, the Montreal Carabins linebacker put up 41 reps on the bench press, setting an all-time record among linebackers and putting him second all-time to offensive lineman Michael Knill (2011).

His efforts captured the excitement of a busy Day 2 of the CFL National Combine in Toronto, one that kicked off a series of tests including the bench press, broad jump and vertical jump.

“I’m happy considering you’re under the spotlight to perform, so I think I showed the coaches that I’m able to perform under the spotlight,” said Archambault. “Personally this isn’t my personal best, so for me I was disappointed I wasn’t able to put up 45 reps.”

“Overall it’s a good start for the weekend.”

While Archambault swept headlines early, defensive backs Chris Ackie and Tevaughn Campbell raised a storm in the afternoon, finishing one and two respectively in both the broad and vertical jumps.

Ackie’s 40-inch vertical cleared the competition with relative ease, while he also had the furthest broad jump by nearly two inches with a 10’11.50″ leap. Equally touted as an athlete, Campbell placed second with a 38.5″ vertical and a 10’9.75″ broad jump. 

CFL Combine Insider Justin Dunk says all three improved their stock on Saturday, but scouts and GMs will still want to see more. 

“For Ackie, you knew the guy was athletic but you wanted to see him come out and do it,” says Dunk. “Jumping 40 inches, you see that explosiveness.”

“In the broad jump this guy is CFL-ready,” he continues. “Some teams are looking at him as a linebacker and some as a DB – maybe he can play both in the CFL and be kind of a tweener guy.

“Ackie’s no doubt a great athlete.”

While Ackie projects as either a defensive back or linebacker, Campbell’s versatility also puts his position up in the air.Campbell was one of Dunk’s top picks for this weekend’s ‘testing monsters’, and the combine analyst expects a big Sunday from the Regina alum.

“Tevaughn Campbell, I knew he was going to be a freak,” says Dunk. “I have him in my testing monsters, and he’s going to go out and run fast tomorrow and it just looks like he has such an easy athleticism.”

“Translating that to the CFL, teams aren’t sure what Tevaughn is. Can he come in to play corner? Does he need to get a little bigger? Or does he have the football sense to play safety?” asks Dunk.

“That will be determined on Sunday.”

» 2015 CFL National Combine: Leaderboard
» Images from Combine Saturday
» CFL.ca Video Zone
» Teamwork fuels Carabins at CFL Combine
» Images: The best of Combine Saturday
» One-on-One: Daryl Waud
» One-on-One: Byron Archambault

Bench Press

The morning kicked off bright and early with the bench press, starting with the big guys on the offensive and defensive line.

The Calgary O-line duo of Sukh Chung (7) and Sean McEwen (6) set the early tone, putting up 26 and 27 reps respectively to lead all offensive linemen.

Ettore Lattanzio (20) of Ottawa shattered the early competition and wound up leading all linemen, however, putting up an impressive 32 reps. That put him in the top-15 all-time in the bench press. 

From there, though, it was the linebackers and running backs impressing most. Michigan State running back Matt Rea, a regional combine invite, put up 31 reps just two days after putting up 29 in Toronto, temporarily moving him into second and finishing third on the day. 

Laval running back Cristophe Normand added to a strong day for the running backs, finishing with 29 reps.

But the player everyone lined up to see most didn’t go until later. Montreal linebacker Byron Archambault stepped up to the bar in front of several fellow Montreal Carabins, and did his best to seize the spotlight on the way to 41 reps. 

His effort was the most dominant of the day, catapulting him to second all-time in the bench press and a record among linebackers.

WATCH: BYRON ARCHAMBAULT TAKES ON THE BENCH

Receivers and defensive backs capped off the morning’s action, with Simon Fraser’s Lemar Durant also turning heads with 26 reps. Durant declared later and wasn’t included in the most recent Scouting Bureau ranking, but the stock of this powerful and speedy pass-catcher appears to be quickly rising.

Bench Press 

RANK	Name	Pos	School	Reps
1	Byron Archambault (17)	LB	Montreal	41
2	Ettore Lattanzio (20)	DL	Ottawa	32
3	Matt Rea	RB	Michigan State	31
4	Christophe Normand	RB	Laval	29
5	Sean McEwen (6)	OL	Calgary	27
T6	Auston Johnson	LB	South Dakota	26
T6	Lemar Durant	WR	SFU	26
T8	Sukh Chung (7)	OL	Calgary	25
T9	Quinn Lawlor	OL	BYU	24
T9	James Bodanis	OL	Michigan State	24
View Full Bench Results >

Justin Dunk said prospects didn’t do a lot to either hurt or help themselves with the bench press, but Archambault’s dominant performance should improve his outlook in the eyes of CFL teams. 

“A player comes in with a goal and he gets pretty close to it,” says Dunk. “He gets 41, most ever by a linebacker by far. He says his personal best is 45. He had an idea that he would come close to that record, and to go out and perform on the stage like that has to be impressive to teams.”

 Vertical Jump

After the day’s top billing, athletes lined up for height and weight measurements before getting set for the vertical and broad jumps. Who can jump highest is always an intriguing feat, especially for the defensive backs, receivers, linebackers and defensive linemen.

While Ackie and Campbell led the pack going one-two respectively on Saturday in each jump, others did plenty to improve their stock.

Regina defensive back Kahlen Branning rounded out the top three in the vertical (all defensive backs) with a 37-inch leap. Receiver Lamar Durant and running back Kienan LaFrance rounded out the leaderboard with 36-inch jumps, as the athletic Durant continued his strong day while LaFrance put his name on the leaderboard as the only running back in the top five.

Broad Jump

Concluding the day’s events was the broad jump, where instead of trying to jump high, prospects looked to jump furthest. While Ackie and Campbell again dominated in the broad jump, three others managed to improve their stock with some strong results. 

Calgary wide receiver Jake Harty reached 10’7.25 in the broad jump for third overall and the best jump among receivers, while Sant Mary’s receiver and regional invite Melvin Abankwah finished fourth with a 10’7.25″ jump. 

Rounding out the top five in the broad jump was Bishop’s Adrian Clarke, the top linebacker in the broad jump and the only to reach the top-five.

Dunk’s Take

No major stock changes on Combine Saturday

After a long day of testing and some impressive athletic feats, CFL Insider Justin Dunk says most prospects performed as expected. That was particularly the case with the bench press, where he says offensive linemen are expected to reach around 20 and there’s typically more for players to lose with a bad result than there is to gain with a good one. 

“I think overall the bench was about as expected,” says Dunk after all is said and done. “Nobody’s stock really went up or down with the bench.”

“What teams are looking for is they’ll look back on the 2014 East-West Bowl numbers for guys that were at that event, and see how hard these guys work in the year and where they got to,” he continues. “If they’re lower, you go back and you ask the guy ‘have you been working’.”

“They check that in the interviews.”

Linebackers could be on the rise

The linebackers weren’t leading the charts in today’s three testing events, but Dunk says they could be on the rise. 

“I think it’s gotta be that linebacker group,” says Dunk, asked about his biggest takeaway from Saturday. “There are some players in there, and there was a scout that told me before this combine that there could be a linebacker getting into the first round.”

“We have all the big offensive linemen that everyone’s talked about, but after today with what the linebackers did with Chris Ackie, Blair Smith, Adam Konar and Adrian Clarke, those linebackers showed that this is a strong group and I think we could see one of them get into the first round.”

For more combine reading, visit CFL.ca Prospect Central. And don’t forget to check in Sunday for a live broadcast of the 40-yard dash, featuring commentary from Dunk and CFL.ca’s Don Landry.