StFX X-Men football linebacker Ron Omara was drafted 29th overall by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League (CFL) draft that took place Tuesday evening, May 12th. Omara was the lone X-Men drafted, being selected in the fourth round.
A 6'2", 240 pound linebacker from Aylmer, Que., Omara was favorite to be selected in this year's draft. He had attended the CFL national combine in Toronto earlier this season and recently returned from a try-out at the New York Giants rookie camp in the NFL.
During his four years at StFX, Omara played in 26 AUS regular season games, recording 158 tackles (121 solo and 74 assisted), along with 6 sacks, 5 forced fumbles, 4 interceptions and 6 break-ups. The 2013 AUS defensive player of the year and CIS second team All-Canadian was named the X-men's best defensive player for the 2014 season. He was the team's most valuable player and the StFX male athlete of the year in 2013.
Omara was one of four AUS athletes selected in the 2015 CFL draft. Also drafted by Hamilton was former Saint Mary's Huskies linebacker Jonathan Langa (20th overall). Defensive back Kwame Adjei (42nd) from Mount Allison and running back Melvin Abankwah (50th) from Saint Mary's were drafted by Saskatchewan.
A total of 44 CIS athletes were selected by CFL teams out of the 62 available draft spots over the seven rounds of picks. The first overall pick made by the Ottawa Redblacks was offensive lineman Alex Mateas from Connecticut.