Western Mustangs defensive lineman Chris Greaves is not a small man. At six-foot-six, 282 lbs, the Mississauga native tends to stand out in line at the Ceeps.

But even Greaves was blown away this weekend when he saw Washington State offensive lineman Joe Eppele at the Canadian Football League’s annual evaluation camp in Toronto.

“That guy is a monster — an absolute monster,” Greaves said of the six foot eight, 306-pounder. “The guy is 300 lbs and he has abs. I didn’t even know that was possible.”

Greaves was one of three Mustangs who were measured up against Eppele and the nation’s other highest ranked football players at the CFL’s annual combine, spanning two days of drills, interviews and fitness tests before representatives from the CFL’s eight teams.

Joining Greaves were Mustangs linebacker Conor Elliott and offensive lineman Josh Buttrill, who will hope to hear their names called on CFL draft day May 2.

“It was a pretty stacked camp in terms of talent,” Greaves said. “It was good to get a gauge of what they expect from you and what you have to bring to the table. It gives you a good idea of where you need to be.”

One of the toughest events of the weekend is the team interviews, where the players’ psyches are put to the test. Each team can have an individual session with any player they want and no discussion topic is off limits.

“I heard about one guy who was told by the head coach before the interview even began that he was undersized, so you have to be ready for anything,” Buttrill said. “You have to roll with the punches. You know they’re going to try to throw you off guard and try to get you to stumble so you just have to stay loose and comfortable.”

Elliott spoke to the Edmonton Eskimos, Hamilton Tiger Cats and Montreal Alouettes. Greaves had interviews with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and BC Lions, while Buttrill had sit-downs with the Lions and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“It was intense. Basically you walk into a room — there’s a circle of six or seven chairs for the scouts and your chair opposite to them. They stick this video camera right in your face and these guys just sit there and drill you with question after question after question,” Elliott said.

“They were asking questions about anything you can think of,” Greaves added. “After a few questions you get past that awkward nervous stage and you just get into it.”

Elliott also received considerable attention for his role on special teams where he serves as a long snapper.
Guelph kicker Rob Maver — who is the seventh ranked prospect by the CFL’s Amateur Scouting Bureau — was in London last week to help Elliott work on his long snapping and prepare for the evaluation camp. For Elliott, working with Maver was invaluable.

“We worked a lot together. It helped me feel really comfortable with him standing behind me for the e-camp snaps,” Elliott said. “I think [training with Maver] worked out in my favour. I ended up doing really well.”

Elliott was the only long snapper at the camp, which gave him the dubious pleasure of going through on-field drills by himself Sunday morning in front of about 60-70 scouts.

“It was a little crazy with so many scouts looking at you. It was kind of nerve wracking,” Elliott said. “But once you get that aspect out of your head you calm down and just go with the flow.”

After Saturday’s highly scrutinized fitness testing, the live drills on Sunday at the University of Toronto’s Varsity Centre gave the players a chance to show what they can do on the field. Although the players were not wearing full padding, no one was letting up in order to impress the scouts from the CFL’s eight teams.

“We only had half pads but everyone was still going pedal to the metal because you have every single scout looking at you,” Elliott said. “You don’t even have time to think about what you just did. Everyone’s moving so fast, you’re hopping back in right after your last rep.”

Elliott went through the paces with the other linebackers at the camp in one-on-one pursuit drills with the running backs and coverage drills with the wide receivers. That meant going up against some of the country’s most highly touted offensive threats like Bishop’s wide receiver Steven Turner and Laurier running back Mike Montoya.

Greaves and Buttrill took part in live pass rushes against some top linemen from both Canada and the U.S., including Washington St.’s Eppele who is ranked 11th on the CFL Amateur Scouting Bureau’s list of top prospects.

“The competition level was pretty high, there [were] a lot of talented guys there,” Greaves said. “I think I did pretty well compared to the rest of the them. I feel like I was one of the best defensive linemen there in terms of pass rushing and drills.”

“It was good to learn how I compared to the other players at my position in the country,” Buttrill added. “Going against a new set of guys was a little different. It’s fun to try to figure them out but it’s hard to win when you’re going against those top guys.”

The only thing left to do for the Mustangs trio is to wait. CFL teams aren’t allowed to communicate with the possible draftees in any way between the evaluation camp and draft day, in order to avoid tampering and to ensure a level playing field.

“Hopefully on draft day I’ll hear my name called,” Elliott said. “It’s going to be a long month and a half, that’s for sure.”