The University of Northern Colorado football team earns its second CFL drafted player and ninth overall player to play in the CFL.
Zach Wilkinson was drafted in the third round by the Montreal Alouettes as an offensive lineman.
In his three years of starting the Bears always found running lanes behind Wilkinson.
While much of the focus this season was on whether Alex Wesley would be drafted, but Wilkinson quietly was a CFL draft favorite in September.
At the projected eight position in September that would have been a first round pick most likely.
With the Bears season a disappointment of 2-9 Wilkinson’s grade dropped down to the 17th overall projected player.
Wilkinson knew there was a lot riding on his invite to the CFL combine and gave an outstanding performance.
- Wilkinson’s number from the CFL National Combine:
- Bench Press: 23 reps (5th)
- 40 Yard Dash: 5.36 sec. (4th)
- Vertical Jump: 26″ (3rd)
- Broad Jump 8′ 3.5″ (6th)
- 3 Cone: 8.00 sec. (3rd)
- Shuttle sprint: 4.79 sec. (3rd)
With only a few weeks till the CFL Draft the last scouting report came out and Wilkinson was listed as the fourth overall projected player.
May 2 came around and expectations were hopeful for any team to draft Wilkinson.
It came as a surprise to many when Wilkinson did not get picked right away.
When a prospect starts dropping far past where they were projected panic sets in for interested teams as they feel like they missed something, good or bad.
Dramatically, Wilkinson fell to the 21st pick overall which is still a new UNC record for a highest drafted Bear in the Canadian Football League.
While analysts seemed to be very high on Wilkinson, some scouts and teams were worried his size is not as big as needed for the CFL.
Wilkinson has always been good at proving people wrong so we should expect nothing less of him as he heads into the CFL.
Check out our official interview with Zach before he was a CFL Draftee.
