Star-Phoenix from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada • A10

SportS SaSk SrPhoenix Frid, Ma 1, 2020 PaGe a10 Murra MccorMick Nicholas Dheilly is a man with a plan. The University of Saskatchewan defensive end had always dreamed of playing in the CFL and hoped to take a giant step toward that goal during draft. The Regina product, a former member of the University of Regina Rams, was picked by Winnipeg in the fifth round, 46th overall Dheilly was so committed to his goal that he dropped out of school to focus on his draft year even though he has two years left of Canada West eligibility. He informed Scott Flory, the head coach, of his intentions in January. was awesome and he gave me a big Dheilly said in advance of draft.

agreed that this was my opportu- nity to go play. Every team I talked to care that I had two years left of eligibility and they were just interested in me. I just want to play in the CFL because done with university Dheilly had only three full seasons of university football, but they were impressive. In his first season with the Rams, he was named the 2016 Canada West rookie of the year after recording 30 defensive tackles, four sacks and an interception. In his second season, Dheilly had 26 defensive tackles and 6.5 sacks while being named a 2017 Canada West all-star.

He left the Rams after his second season, feeling that he needed a change. In 2018, he played with the Okanagan Sun of the Canadian Junior Football League, registering eight sacks en route to being named a BCJFL all-star. He returned to Canada West for the 2019 season with the Huskies, recording 24 defensive tackles, six sacks and an interception. Those performances caught the eyes of CFL scouts and convinced Flory that Dheilly was ready to make the jump to the CFL. know that he has plans for his life and we talked through said Flory, a former CFL ensive lineman.

has a big picture of what he wants to do outside of football, too. All of the guys who want to play have to go through school and that may not be the plan for all young men. He has a plan on what he wants to do and big for us. We want to make sure if they playing football for us that they do have a Football has been a big part of life. He played Regina Minor Football before joining the LeBoldus Golden Suns.

Dheilly was cut from the high school team in Grade 9 after been deemed too small at five-foot-nine. He grew to six-foot-three during the summer and made the team in Grade 10. was also cut from Team Saskatchewan that summer, so I think it put a chip on my said Dheilly, 22. worked really hard that year and the growth spurt came at the same time. I got really Dheilly is now six-foot-five and 230 pounds.

He might need to add some weight to play defensive end in the CFL or he could be considered at weakside linebacker. Dheilly is also a long snapper, which may work in his favour when it comes to cracking a CFL roster. know my first two years in the league are going to be on special teams and fine with Dheilly said. a professional football player and still living the dream. Every day at practice I can possibly get a chance to play at my position.

what I think is cool about twitter.com/murraylp Dheilly focused on realizing pro dream Team executives and player agents are calling on the NBA to cancel the rest of the 2019-20 season and focus on preparing for next season instead, CNBC reported Thursday. The report attributed the comments to anonymous sources. LeBron James, pictured, responded to the report via Twitter, cautioning the NBA against cancelling the season. some reports about execs and agents wanting to cancel absolutely not true. Nobody I know saying anything like that.

As soon as safe we would like to finish our season. ready and our team is ready. Nobody should be cancelling the Los Angeles Lakers star wrote. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told CNN on Thursday that no substantive changes are being made to the plan for finishing the season. Reuters eB of Huskies defensive lineman Nicholas Dheilly was picked by Winnipeg in the fifth round, 46th overall, on Thursday.

Tr Flee Murra MccorMick Mattland Riley have to travel far when it comes to starting his CFL career. The Saskatchewan Roughriders selected the University of Saskatchewan ensive lineman and Melfort product with the seventh overall pick in CFL draft. definitely was a fan (of the Riders) growing Riley said via a conference call after being drafted by the Riders. a small-town Saskatchewan kid you pretty much have to be or get beat up in the Riley (six-foot-three, 300 pounds) started at guard and cen- tre during his five seasons with the Huskies. He also made an impression on Huskies head coach Scott Flory, who spent 15 seasons in the CFL with the Montreal Alouettes.

is an athletic kid and Flory said prior to draft. also smart because in engineering. There is a whole lot of upside to him. mature, a leader and you could just go on and on about him. Every program has one or two of those guys.

whether or not he has the talent. Matt has the skills to play in the The Riley pick addresses depth along the ensive line. Perennial all-star guard Brendon LaBatte, 33, played in only six games in 2019 due to injuries. Centre Dan Clark was a CFL all-star in 2019, but he turns 32 on June 1. Right guard Dakota Shepley, only 26, should step up as a full-time starter.

(Americans typically man the tackle positions.) The ensive line depth is decent with Bennett, Roy, Braden Schram and Josiah St. John, the latter of whom returns to the Riders after being the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. But after losing Blake and fellow national Dariusz Bladek to the Toronto Argonauts in free agency, the safe move was selecting Riley with the seventh overall pick. going to be an interior guy, but just a matter of how I fit in during training said Riley, who was a first-team Sports all- star in 2019 and a second-teamer in 2018. hope to bring the same kind of attitude that I brought to college by playing mean, physical and being There was a bittersweet side to the draft due to the uncertainty surrounding the CFL due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Training camps have already been post poned and the start of the regular season has been pushed back to July 1. who plays football is thinking in the back of their head if there could be a Riley said. preparing that training camp is happening in a week. just going to be excited whenever it of defensive end Nicholas Dheilly was picked by Winnipeg in the fifth round, 46th overall, and receiver Sam Baker went to Toronto in the sixth round, 48th overall. The rest of the draft was still pending at press time.

twitter.com/murraylp Roughriders add some offensive line depth by picking up Riley in CFL draft Thursday University of Saskatchewan Huskies alum and offensive lineman Mattland Riley was chosen seventh overall by the Roughriders in CFL draft. submiTTed.