Antigonish, NS – A pair of StFX X-Men were drafted in the Canadian Football League (CFL) draft on Thursday evening. Receiver/returner Kaion Julien-Grant was drafted 13th overall in the second round by the Montreal Alouettes, while linebacker Gordon Whyte was drafted by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 67th overall in the eighth round.
X-Men head coach Gary Waterman notes, "We were all excited to watch the 2019 CFL draft unfold and to see X-Men football players Kaion and Gordon have their respective names called. They both are outstanding young men who have worked extremely hard to earn this opportunity and we are very proud of them."
"The CFL teams that drafted them are getting two talented football players who will be productive on the field, good citizens off the field and great teammates in the locker room."
A fourth year Human Kinetics student from Toronto, Kaion Julien-Grant is a 6'2", 210 pound receiver/returner who was ranked ninth overall on the CFL prospect list heading into Thursday's draft, coming off an impressive appearance at the recent CFL national combine. Julien-Grant is a three-time U SPORTS first team all-Canadian and was the most valuable player of the AUS conference this past season with the AUS champion X-Men.
The versatile receiver led the AUS conference this past season in receiving touchdowns (5), receptions (49) and total receiving yards (638), for an average of 79.8 yards per game. In four seasons with the X-Men, Julien-Grant now sits sixth in the AUS record books in career all-purpose yards with 4,563 - more than any player in StFX school history. He is also tied for fifth in AUS history in career receiving touchdowns (22), and his 2,032 career receiving yards place him 11th in conference history, while his 118 career receptions are good for 13th.
Gordon Whyte, a 6'0", 225 pound linebacker from Toronto, also caught the attention of scouts at the recent CFL combine, having been selected to attend the national combine after an impressive showing at the regional combine. This past season Whyte led the X-Men and was fourth overall in the AUS conference with 51 tackles, including 34 solo tackles, averaging 6.4 tackles/game. In addition to being a key part of the AUS champion X-Men defense, Whyte also handled the long snapping duties for the squad on special teams.
Whyte and Julien-Grant were two of four AUS athletes chosen in the draft. Other Atlantic University Sport athletes selected amongst the 52 total U SPORTS athletes included Thomas Grant (Acadia, 36th) and Malik Richards (MtA, 43rd).
The complete list of CFL draft selections are available at https://www.cfl.ca/draft-tracker/2019/.
- 30 -