A pair of StFX X-Men were selected in the CFL Draft on Wednesday evening, both by the Calgary Stampeders. Offensive lineman Jonathan Zamora was selected in the third round, 26th overall, while kicker/punter Keiran Burnham was selected in the seventh round, 61st overall.
X-Men head coach Gary Waterman comments, "We are so excited to see X-Men football players Jonathan Zamora and Keiran Burnham get selected in the CFL draft. Both of these young men are not only talented football players, but are high character people. It is very gratifying to witness them being rewarded for all of their hard work and dedication to their craft. We are very proud of both of them."
Jonathan Zamora is a 6'3", 300 pound centre who has anchored the X-Men offensive line for the past four seasons. A fourth year business student from Mississauga, Ont., he has been a three-time consecutive AUS offensive all-star. He also garnered U SPORTS second team All-Canadian status in 2018.
Keiran Burnham is a 6'1", 185 pound kicker/punter who finished off his fifth season with the X-Men this past fall. A business student from Cambridge, Ont., Keiran was a U SPORTS second team All-Canadian this season, leading the AUS conference in punting average at 42.8 yards/game. He has been named an AUS special teams all-star on three occasions (2019, 2018, 2016) and his 45 points, including 11 field goals, were sixth overall in AUS scoring.
Zamora and Burnham were amongst 57 total U SPORTS athletes selected out of the possible 73 in this year's draft. Two other AUS athletes were chosen – Bailey Feltmate (LB, 2nd round, 17th overall by Hamilton) and Cordell Hastings (WR, 5th round, 43rd overall by BC), both members of the Acadia Axemen.
A complete breakdown of all U SPORTS athletes selected is available by clicking here.
This year's X-Men selections bring a total of 62 StFX athletes drafted in the CFL. The breakdown by round dating back to 1963 is as follows, with a complete history of X-Men draft picks available at https://www.goxgo.ca/sports/fball/CFL/X-Men_in_the_CFL.
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History of StFX X-Men CFL Draft Picks – By Round
1st 5
2nd 7
3rd 6
4th 10
5th 7
6th 8
7th 8
8th 6
9th 3
10th 2
TOTAL 62