Keeping the Dream Alive

Three ConU Football Players Prepare for the Biggest Job Interviews of Their Lives

SportsYacine Bouhali — Published March 18, 2013

This has been Kris Robertson’s schedule, six days a week, for the past seven weeks.

For most of the past two months, the Concordia Stingers defensive back and kick returner has been training at the TEST Football Academy in Miami, on the Florida International University Campus.

He didn’t choose it at random: The academy is well known for preparing young football prospects for the National Football League Scouting Combine, a pre-draft evaluation showcase. Notable NFL players who have attended the academy include Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco, running back Ray Rice and cornerback Patrick Peterson.

But Robertson hasn’t been invited to the NFL combine in April, nor to its Canadian Football League equivalent E-Camp, taking place March 22 to March 24.

He has been invited, however, to one of three inaugural CFL regional draft combines on Wednesday. In Quebec City, he’ll join 40 other players who didn’t receive an invitation to the E-Camp, but who will put their talents on display, hoping to be added to the list of players attending the national combine.

“This is without a doubt the biggest job interview of my life,” said Robertson on the phone with The Link as he was on his way back from Florida. “All the blood, sweat and tears—everything is going toward Wednesday’s combine.”

Some players may have given up on their CFL dreams the moment they found out they weren’t among those invited to the E-Camp.

But Robertson isn’t one of them: He decided to take money from his own pocket to attend the TEST Academy and train alongside other professional football hopefuls.

“I had a great experience at Concordia but my goal is not to come back [with the Stingers],” said Robertson, who finished first in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec in interceptions with four for 127 yards and two touchdowns last season.

“I want to play professional football. I believe that’s the next step I need to take in my life.”

To help make his dream a reality, Robertson has been working hard to improve his speed and agility over the last few weeks, hoping it will help him stand out enough in Wednesday’s combine to earn a ticket to the national event two days later.

“The regional combine is like a semi-final game to me, and I’m trying to make it to the championship game,” said Robertson. “If I’m not picked up, I’ll return to Concordia and then just grind to get to where I wanna be. I won’t stop ’til I’m a professional football player.”

Robertson won’t be the only Stinger making the trip to Quebec City, however. Fifth-year offensive lineman Corey Newman and fourth-year safety Nathan Taylor are also looking forward to the regional combine.

“I’ve been doing all kind of football drills, I even tried boxing to improve my hand speed,” said Newman, who said that he’s in the best physical shape of his life, but nonetheless remains realistic about his chances.

“All the blood, sweat and tears—everything is going toward Wednesday’s combine.”
—Kris Robertson

“If it’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be,” he said. “I’m working now at a trucking company in Dorval, so if I don’t make it I’ll go back there and hopefully go coach where I’m from, in Châteauguay.”

As for Taylor, at the end of last season, the Stingers’ 2012 MVP and most dedicated player began training weekly with former Winnipeg Blue Bomber and Montreal Alouette Steven Holness. This past month, Taylor went to North Miami Beach, FL and trained at the Bommarito Performance Center.

Going to the gym five to six days a week, Taylor hopes that the weight exercises he’s been completing day in and day out during the off-season will give him the edge he needs to stand out among the wealth of talent he’ll be surrounded by on Wednesday.

“I wanna go there, show coaches what I can do and hopefully get a spot to the E-Camp and possibly on a CFL team,” said Taylor, who is confident that he’ll do well at the regional camp.

“I’ve heard through my coaches that there’s a lot of good talk about me, my style and my ability to play the game. There’s a few CFL coaches who want to see me at the regional camp, so that helps my chances to get to the E-Camp.”

On top of just making the E-Camp, Taylor thinks he has what it takes to make it at the CFL level.

“I know guys who are in the CFL,” he said. “They’re good, but I feel like I’m just as good as them and if they made it and they can be successful in the CFL, I think I can do it too.”

If not, Taylor said he wants to travel overseas and play football in Europe.

“I’ve heard there’s good teams in Germany and France. I’d go play there for a year, get used to the pro-style system and hopefully come back and play in the CFL,” he said.

But if one thing’s for sure, it’s that Taylor, like Robertson, will stop at nothing to fulfill his CFL dreams.

“I would play for any team, at any position,” he said. “I would play corner, halfback or linebacker. I would even hold the ball for the kicker, I don’t care.”