CAVE Men of the Week: Shamawd Chambers and Dylan Hollohan

“There have been grumblings that his sights may be at an even bigger stage, with a possibility of the NFL calling.”

 

Unusual frigid temperatures could not prevent top CFL Coaches, GMs, players, and family members from making their way out for day two of the CFL’s E-Camp held at Varsity Stadium’s winter bubble, downtown Toronto. Representatives for all eight CFL teams, were present including notables such as Toronto Argonauts General Manager, Jim Barker, new Hamilton Tiger-Cats receiver, Andy Fantuz and Canadian Football Hall of Famer, Damon Allen.  With all of day one used to handle the measurable such as size, vertical jump and the bench press, day two is where players looked to make an impression and most importantly themselves some money in the league.

Markham, Ontario native and Wilfred Laurier University Receiver Shamawd Chambers added to his already hype, going into the day ranked at  fourth overall for all total prospects by the CFL’s Scouting Bureau. His forty yard dash time was a hit on day two, and legitimizes him as the standalone best receiver at the combine with his time of 4.42 seconds, the fastest time of the day.

Chambers had much to lose after a great showing on day one with a 38.5” vertical jump and 10:04.0”broad jump, to go with his 6’3, 217 lbs frame, when it finally came to the on field performance, Chambers let his work with the pads on define him. Getting out a few early jitters and overcoming some early drops too he still offered a solid showing of his great body control, hands and explosiveness during one on one drills. Chambers still feels there is unfinished business.

“It was a blessing, it was great. I think obviously you believe you can go a bit faster, jump a bit a higher or push a bit more. I think it’s just about getting back to the drawing board when I get back to the gym, but, it’s time to be an athlete and time to be a football player now, and I trained a bit differently for that. I’m really sore exhausted from this weekend, I had lots of meetings, I’m just happy to be done and eat some carbs now”

Chambers’ day two performances ensures that he will be not just the first receiver selected in the draft but the first skill player off the board during the draft. There have been grumblings that his sights may be at an even bigger stage, with a possibility of the NFL calling.

“Right now my eyes are right here in the CFL, those opportunities will come, and that’s something we will have to take on when they come. As of right now they’re not there and the CFL is the one who invited me to their camp and that’s who I’m really going to pay interest to for now.”

The biggest story of the day however, was St. Francis Xavier Defensive Back Dylan Hollohan, who stole the show and earned himself some stock on many teams’ draft boards. The Moncton, New Brunswick native Hollohan ranks top 5 in all major categories, setting his tone on day one by tallying the highest vertical leap with a ridiculous 42.5” jump, and added a respectable 12 reps on the 225 bench press, his day two was all about personal bests. His forty yard dash time of 4.53 tied for 3rd best of the day, his 10’05.0” broad jump was the second best of day two as was his 3-Cone Drill time of 6.51, his shuttle time of 3.92 was the best of the day.

“I felt great, couldn’t have been happier with how things went. I tapered properly apparently, I stopped training hard really like two weeks ago, and I started just working towards this. It was tough to just sit on my butt, but at the end of the day I had ‘PBs’ [personal bests] across the board, so I’m thrilled with that. The one on ones I even rolled my ankle, so I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to do those, but I walked it off and thought I had a good showing.”

It’s not yet known who will pick either of these blue-chip athletes on draft day, but they have no problem saying where they would like to be, #1 overall pick for the Saskatchewan Rough Riders.