Ho-Hum! Another Player Signing! ;-)

After waiting so long for it to finally start happening, it'll be a long time before I get tired of hearing about player signings.  The information below was released by the Ottawa RedBlacks earlier this afternoon.

OTTAWA - Running back Jordan Roberts is the latest player to join the Ottawa REDBLACKS of the Canadian Football League.

The 23-year-old native of Madison, West Virginia, participated in training camp of the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL earlier this year.

The 5-foot-10, 222-pound Roberts had a stellar collegiate career with the NCAA Division II University of Charleston Golden Eagles, earning All-American status twice while setting numerous school and NCAA records.

In three seasons with the Golden Eagles as a running back and kick returner, Roberts totaled 4,918 all-purpose yards with 50 touchdowns. In 2012, his senior year, he rushed for 1,572 yards in 11 games (averaging 6.6 yards per carry) with 18 touchdown carries. He also had a 100-yard kickoff return for a major.

In his final game with Charleston, Roberts rushed for 190 yards in one quarter and 273 yards in one half, setting school and NCAA Division II records. He had 301 yards in that game with five touchdowns and earned conference player of the year honours.

Roberts was also a standout in high school, earning the Kennedy Award as the state of West Virginia's top high school football player in 2007.

Roberts is the fifth free agent to sign with the REDBLACKS.

Let's go a little deeper into his career with this write-up from fantasysports.org.

After one year with limited playing time at West Virginia, running back Jordan Roberts opted for a college career at the University of Charleston. Roberts thrived at Charleston, as he did in high school. He earned all-state honors at both quarterback and running back as a junior and senior in high school in Yawkey, West Virginia, and earned a spot on two different All-American lists in college.

He currently holds nine records at the University of Charleston, including two NCAA Division II  – records for most yards in one quarter (190) and in one half (273). In the same game where he broke those two records, he scored five touchdowns, despite playing only one series in the second half. As a running back, receiver out of the backfield, and returner, he totaled 4,918 total yards in his three seasons with Charleston, 4,441 of which came in his junior and senior years. He scored on one out of every 11 carries and averaged 6.36 yards per carry in his career. Oh, and did I mention he also blocked two punts in his senior season?

He measured up to 5’10″ and 222 lbs. pre-draft. He also recorded a 40-yard dash time of 4.49 seconds (same as new Packers running back Johnathan Franklin), a 38 -inch vertical (only two running backs were better at the NFL combine), and a 127-inch broad jump (good for second behind only Michael Ford).

College stats:

Year  Games  Carries  Yards  TDs  Catches  Yards  TDs
2010    10      79      381   11      5      96     1
2011    11     206    1,430   17     20     165     1
2012    11     238    1,572   18     20     204     1

With Roberts being a D-II guy, I can't help but be reminded of Renegades running back Josh Ranek.  Ranek's pro experience extended to training camp with the Dallas Cowboys but he also had accumulated great college numbers at a smaller school (South Dakota State) prior to his acquisition by the Renegades.

There also aren't a lot of guys in Division II who rush for 186.8 yards a game and score 170 points, as Ranek did in 1999. Despite redshirting as a freshman and playing in only two games before breaking his foot in his second year, Ranek holds school career records in rushing (4,097 yards) and scoring (248 points). Ranek also owns North Central Conference season records for rushing (1,675 in 1998), touchdowns (22 in 1999) and points (132 in 1999) in conference games.

Ranek was very productive for the Renegades, gaining over 4000 yards rushing over three-plus seasons, including a rather impressive 6.4 average yards per carry in 2003.  He was also among the team's leading receivers in 2005 with 76 catches, 750 yards and two scores.

So that Roberts' credentials were earned in Division II shouldn't cause them to be dismissed.  It's easy to think highly of every player signed when there are so few on the roster but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Roberts turned out to be a significant contributor for the RedBlacks.

History: "CFL Returns to Ottawa" (Renegades)

Due to a need for a little more basement space, some of my football merchandise and mementos are getting boxed up today.

In recent months, the more real the RedBlacks became, the more I soured on the Renegades.  Watching the RedBlacks organisation present itself professionally just underscored what a clown car the Renegades were far too often.

But going through my merchandise did bring back some pretty pleasant memories of meeting a bunch of great people and being reunited with old friends. And while it's easy to be focused on how the Gliebermans managed to turn a bad thing into something even worse, the first couple of years weren't that bad.

My 2003 programs were among the boxed items.  I took a flip through a couple of them before storing them.  The article below trumpets the return of the league to Ottawa in a brief recap of the previous season. I thought that those who missed it, longer had access to it or simply didn't care at the time might find it interesting.  It'll be easier to read if you right click and open it in a separate window.

History: Ottawa Renegades Expansion Draft Results (January 17th, 2002)

The next major scheduled event on the RedBlacks calendar is the expansion draft in December.  While we wait for that, I thought it might be interesting to revisit how the Ottawa Renegades handled their own version in early 2012.

The rules were different for the Renegades.  You have likely read that existing CFL clubs will have the opportunity to protect one quarterback instead of two.  Quarterback availability was a significant issue in draft rule negotiations between OSEG and the CFL.  In hindsight (or perhaps from the time the rules were announced for the Renegades, I don't recall), it was felt that allowing teams to protect two in 2002 offered far too few options to the fledgling club.  You'll note from the list below that no QB's were selected; Dan Crowley was signed as a free agent.

Aside from making more quarterbacks available, the only other major difference between expansion drafts systems is that the RedBlacks one is more front-heavy.  The Renegades could skip making a selection from a club and instead obtain a draft pick from that club.

That's potentially helpful towards building a team in the future, but less so in terms of being competitive early.  By comparison, the RedBlacks have already been able to draft a handful of players and will get another 24 in December compared to the 19 that the Renegades gathered almost 12 years ago.

So who DID we get?  See below:

From BC:
FB Mike Maurer
WR Jimmy Oliver
2002 2nd round draft choice

From Calgary:
DT Clinton Wayne
CB Ricky Bell
LB Kelly Lochbaum

From Edmonton:
OL George Hudson
DE Fred Perry
DB Andrew Henry

From Hamilton:
LB Matt Robichaud
OT Seth Dittman
C Carl Coulter

From Montreal:
LB Kelly Wiltshire
LB John Grace
2002 2nd round draft choice

From Sask.:
S Shawn Gallant
LB Troy Asbell
2002 2nd round draft choice

From Toronto:
PK Dan Giancola
C Earl Scott**
2003 2nd round draft choice

From Winnipeg:
S Donnie Ruiz
LB Sefa O'Reilly
2003 2nd round draft choice

** Scott was later traded back to Toronto for WR Grayson Shillingford.

The jewel was clearly linebacker John Grace, who was named a league all-star following the 2002 season, yet he was traded a year later.  He teamed with Kelly Wiltshire to form the beginnings of a quality, young linebacking corp for the club.

Jimmy Oliver led the team in touchdowns (with a rather modest six, mind you) and was the team's first 1000-yard receiver.  He did not return in 2003 due to a contract dispute.

Fred Perry spent the 2002 season in Atlanta, but when he finally did appear in 2003, he tied for the team lead in quarterback sacks with seven.

From memory, George Hudson and Donnie Ruiz would be the only two players to be with the team during its entire four-year existence.

Several players were complete non-contributors.  O'Reilly was damaged goods.  Robichaud only played in three games and I seem to recall that he wanted nothing to do with being in Ottawa. Giancola is also a one-game guy.  I believe Kelly Lochbaum didn't make it through camp and returned to the BC Lions, playing with them through to 2005.  Andrew Henry seemed to simply disappear.

So some good, some bad, come middle ground.

Frankly, I think a more competent coaching staff could have drawn more from what was obtained.  Aside from the QB situation, it seems like the problem with a future-based expansion system is that you need the actual players selected to contribute long enough for your draft picks and young free agent signees to get up to speed.

In the case of the Renegades, most of the successful expansion draft choices were gone within two seasons and future drafts were largely unproductive.

History: The Ottawa Renegades Dispersal Draft

In acontinuing effort to record anything and everything related to Ottawa football, and as a result of mentioning it yesterday while posting about RedBlacks draft pick Kalonji Kashama, here are the players that were chosen from the Renegades roster following that team's "suspension".  The draft was held on April 19th, 2006.

Round 1

#     Team               Player           Pos
1     SSK (from HAM)     Kerry Joseph     QB
2     WPG                Ibrahim Khan     OL
3     SSK                Jason Armstead   WR
4     CGY                Cam Yeow         LB
5     WPG (from TOR)     Val St. Germain  OL
6     BCL                Korey Banks      DB
7     MTL                Kai Ellis        DB
8     EDM                Anthony Collier  DE



Round 2

#     Team               Player           Pos
1     HAM                Pat Fleming      P
2     TOR (from WPG)     Marc Pilon       DL
3     SSK                Cory Hathaway    FB
4     CGY                Markus Howell    WR
5     WPG (from TOR)     Brad Banks       QB
6     BCL                Matt Kirk        DL
7     MTL                Greg Moss        DB
8     EDM                Sean Suisham      K



Round 3

#     Team               Player           Pos
1     HAM                Gilles Lezi      FB
2     WPG                Hakeem Kashama   DL
3     SSK                Charles Howard   DT
4     CGY                Crance Clemons   DB
5     TOR                David Azzi       WR
6     BCL                Sean Weston      DB
7     MTL                D'wayne Taylor   DB
8     EDM                L.P. Ladouceur   DT



Round 4

#     Team               Player           Pos
1     HAM                Greg Bearman     DB
2     WPG                Cameron Legault  DL
3     SSK                Donald Ruiz      DB
4     CGY                Jason Thomas     QB
5     TOR                Sean Poole       OL
6     BCL                Sandro Sciortino  K
7     MTL                Brandon Evans    OL
8     EDM                Pat Woodcock     WR



Round 5

#     Team               Player           Pos
1     HAM                Steve Smith      DB
2     WPG                Lenard Semajuste FB
3     SSK                Pass             --
4     CGY                Greg Cole        LB
5     TOR                Sean Bennett     RB
6     BCL                Anthony Jones    WR
7     MTL                Dwayne Levels    LB
8     EDM                Israel Idonije   DE



Round 6

#     Team               Player           Pos
1     HAM                Pass             --
2     WPG                Henri Childs     RB
3     SSK                Trevor Kine      OT
4     CGY                Canary Knight    DT
5     TOR                Sean Riley       WR
6     BCL                Pass             --
7     MTL                Kenny Smith      DL
8     EDM                Pass             --



Round 7

#     Team               Player           Pos
1     HAM                Pass             --
2     WPG                Robert Grant     DB
3     SSK                Allen Burrell    WR
4     CGY                Jamaal Perry     WR
5     TOR                Roderick Warren  WR
6     BCL                Pass             --
7     MTL                David Ashkinaz   OL
8     EDM                Pass             --



Round 8

#     Team               Player           Pos
1     HAM                Pass             --
2     WPG                Pass             --
3     SSK                Pass             --
4     CGY                Pass             --
5     TOR                Pass             --
6     BCL                Pass             --
7     MTL                Jeremy Pearl     DB
8     EDM                Pass             --

No matter how big a fan of the Renegades you might have been, you could be excused for not recognizing some of these names.  Several players had been signed earlier in the year to compete in camp.  Most didn't amount to anything in the CFL though several of the veteran players are still contributing in 2013.  Some special teams guys are in the NFL (Suisham, Ladouceur).

Flashback, May 6th, 2013: RedBlacks draft Kalonji Kashama in the Third Round of the College Draft

The RedBlacks continued to build along the trenches during their first college draft.

Does the Kashama name seem familiar?  It might; Kalonji's three older brothers have played professionally.  It doesn't get mentioned much in his bios, but brother Hakeem Kashama was briefly an Ottawa Renegade.  He had signed on before the 2006 season that never was and was picked by Winnipeg in the dispersal draft.

As for Connor Williams, let's retain some of Kashama's Eastern Michigan bio for future reference...

Full name: Kalonji Sylvain Kashama.

2012: Started 11 games for the Eagles at defensive end...Recorded 30 tackles including three sacks...Forced two fumbles, one sack and five solo tackles at Purdue (Oct. 15).

2011: Appeared in all 12 games, earning four starts for the Eagles...Recorded 28 total tackles (10 solo & 18 assisted), 1.5 sacks, four QB hurries and one pass breakup...Had 3.5 tackles for loss on the season...Notched a season high four total tackles at Michigan (Sept. 17)...

2010: Earned his first letter after redshirting as a freshman in 2009...Played in 11 games, earning eight starts on the defensive line...Finished the year with 14 tackles, three tackles-for-loss of 11 yards and two sacks for 10 yards...Turned in four tackles in his collegiate debut, Sept. 4 against Army...Second-best effort was a three-tackle effort at Ball State (Oct. 16), including 1.5 sacks for five yards...

HIGH SCHOOL:  Graduated from Notre Dame H.S. in Brampton, Ontario, Canada where he played football for Head Coach Dario Pretto...Was a member of the Honor Roll...Earned four varsity letters in football and three each in basketball and track...Played at Avondale H.S. in Decatur, Ga. in his final season of high school football...Avondale’s Head Coach was his brother, Hakeem Kashama...Senior Year:  Named one of the Top 20 Players in the Greater Toronto area...Junior Year: Finished his 11th grade in Canada where he played at Notre Dame School in Brampton, Ontario...Picked for the Greater Toronto Area All-Star team and was named one of the Top 20 Players in the Greater Toronto area...Had 14 sacks with 71 tackles on defense and also played offensive receiver....Sophomore Year:  Named one of the Top 20 Players in the Greater Toronto area...Freshman Year: Lettered in football and helped the team win the conference championship.

All very nice, but let's let the man tell us about himself:



In light of his size (6'04" / 270), experience and blood lines, I'm surprised he lasted until the end of the 3rd round.  Hope to see Kashama wearing the "R" next spring.