1967 NAAF Draft

1st Round

1 - Louisville Thunder | DL Aaron Henderson | New England - Framingham, MA - Wallflower
The Thunder opened up the 1967 draft with the second straight New England graduate going first. The Thunder have been desperate for help on the line with only DL Bjorn Sigmarsson being a sure-fire starter. Henderson should make for an immediate boost, bringing an excellent run-stopping ability and fierceness to the D-line. He should also work well with Sigmarsson who tends to find himself in the backfield more than Henderson does, which allows for there to be some defence if Sigmarsson gets beat. Henderson also joins Wayne Baxton and Vernon Spears as DL that have gone 1st overall.

2 - Boston Independents | LB Byron Turner | Rhode Island State - New Haven, CT - Wallflower
Everyone and their mother knew that the Independents were going Linebacker with their second overall selection. With their only true starter being Konrad Aust, who is 33-years-old, they needed help now. Byron Turner was the best of the bunch for linebackers. He’s got all the skills, sharing a similar play style to Aust, however, the big concern was his communication. When he gets mad or frustrated, he shuts down and tries to do everything himself. He’s got the tendency to let you figure out what you did wrong by giving you the silent treatment. It could cause issues, but if the right coach can step in and get him to turn that into leadership, Boston could have a franchise LB on their hands.

3 - Ottawa Royals | DL Bernhard Hartmann | UHamilton - Kitchener, ON - Darknes
The Royals are finally looking to turn around their D-line. They decide to grab the first of the Hartmann twins with the 3rd overall pick. Bernhard is looked at as the better of the two overall, having trained more intensely and showing stronger fundamentals than his brother. He uses his smarts and tactics to get around offensive linemen. Hartmann does share some characteristics to that of former Royals’ DL Olaf Viktorsson, which may have drawn the team to him and could make for a great leader for the future of the team. 

TRADE ALERT
Following the Royals’ pick, the first trade of the draft occurred between the London Tigers and the Toronto Steelheads. Toronto had their eyes set on a prospect so they made the move to go and get them. They would acquire the 4th overall pick from the Tigers in exchange for the 8th overall pick, the 32nd overall pick, and 26-year-old LB Oscar Wilkins. The Tigers were perfectly okay with moving back to grab an extra pick and some younger talent.

4 - Toronto Steelheads (from London) | DB Dwayne James | Toronto - Toronto, ON - JamHeronArk
Toronto had Dwayne James at the top of their target list for the draft and they had done what they needed to get him. James is looked at as the best for DBs in this draft. He’s got great hands and good speed, the makings of a solid DB in the league. He does tend to let receivers have a little more space in hoping to use his speed to make interceptions, of course, that does lead to James getting beat for big plays. If the Steelheads can get him to tighten up, he could be great at the next level.

5 - Pittsburgh Blacksmiths | DL Matthias Hartmann | UHamilton - Kitchener, ON - Darknes
Pittsburgh was pretty frustrated by the move that Toronto made as they were targeting Dwayne James as well. They would have to regroup and they would then take the other of the Hartmann twins. Unlike his brother Bernhard, Matthias is more reliant on raw talent. The talent has gotten him far being a top-end talent, however, if he worked on his skills more, he would likely have been higher than his brother. Matthias always thought that he was better than Bernhard, but by going second to his twin, that might open his eyes a bit to step it up at the next level.

TRADE ALERT
The second trade of the draft saw the Montreal Rouge jump up to the 6th overall pick while also picking up the 42nd pick in exchange for LB Wilson Rockwood-Barnes and the 11th overall pick. Montreal has decided to move on from their 32-year-old veteran to move up for a strong younger piece, while Providence is hoping Rockwood-Barnes can add more depth to their defence to get them back to the playoffs.

6 - Montreal Rouge (from Providence) | OL Bradley Clark | New England - Boston, MA - DireBear
With the pick acquired from Providence, the Rouge would take OL Bradley Clark. The number 2 ranked prospect started to slip and Montreal wanted to make a move to boost their line next to last year’s first-round pick, OL Elliot Barrett. His position of OL fits Clark well as a guy who doesn’t love the spotlight, however, he is a good leader behind the scenes. He puts in the work and helps others to improve, and it has paid off in his amazing pass-blocking ability due to his athleticism. He does struggle a little in the run game, but when trying to protect the injury-prone Gene Bishop, it might be perfect fit. 

7 - Ottawa Royals (from Halifax) | QB Martin Keller | St.George - Oshawa, ON - Wallflower
After several later-round QBs just not being what the Royals need to move forward, they have finally decided to take a QB in the first round. Most saw QB David Simmons as the top QB in the draft, however, the Royals went with Martin Keller. OC Jean Matieau was likely the one to decide which QB to go after having his expertise at the position and likely future as the head coach of the team. Keller shares a lot of qualities that Matieau has as a QB. He is really smart and understands the game at the highest levels which makes him a good decision maker overall, however, he does have a tendency to be gun shy and play it a bit too safe. If he can learn the right time to take risks, Ottawa may finally have their next star at QB.

8 - London Tigers (from Toronto) | WR Cole Fletcher | UHamilton - Burlington, ON - Dan O’Mac
The Tigers have had a bit of a hole in the receiving game in the last couple of seasons with Max Sutton getting older and the depth falling through. Their solution is to go out and get the top WR of the class in Cole Fletcher. Fletcher is an electrifying speedster that can open up the field for an offence. He’s got solid hands to go along with the quickness which is perfect for a team’s cornerstone weapon. He could use a bit of weight to be able to go up against some of the stronger DBs in the league, but he’s got the tools to find success in the NAAF.

9 - Indiana Victors | OL TJ Overton | North Indiana - Ann Arbor, MI - Dan O’Mac
The Victors would join the Rouge in taking an OL in the first round. They would be the first team to venture outside of the Hybrid Football schools, taking a more local talent in TJ Overton. Footwork and technical ability are what stand out for Overton, which may come from his love for dancing which he has been doing since he was a kid. Learning choreography has helped Overton to learn footwork in football and it makes him a great blocker on the line, where you rarely find him out of position. Indiana is hoping that Overton can continue to add to their already strong O-Line.

TRADE ALERT
It seemed like the first round was moving quite smoothly with nothing too out of the ordinary happening. However, as the round came to the final picks, a blockbuster trade was made. It had been speculated that the Thunder might be interested in moving some of their veteran players. Unfortunately, many are on No-Trade Clauses that prevent the team from trading the player without their consent. So when the Thunder brought DB Oliver Langstrom along to the draft in Ottawa, it seemed like a deal was on the board for the star DB. Several teams made strong pitches at the DB, namely, Boston, Halifax, and Providence. Louisville was really liking the deals from all 3 teams. There was talk that they were leaning to the Providence deal that may have landed them help with younger players. However, Langstrom had the final say, and his choice would be the Gold Stars’ rivals, the Boston Independents.

Not only is Boston a great and legendary team, but they also just hired Hugo Martinez to be their DC. Martinez had been coaching Langstrom in Louisville since he was drafted in 1959. The two have a great relationship and Langstrom wanted to continue that with his new team.

Of course, the deal does come at a tall price for Boston who gives Louisville, the 10th overall pick, the 26th overall pick, their 1st Rounder in 1968, OL Bubba Hankins, DB Ross McCurtry, and a conditional 5th Round Pick in 1969. Hankins heads over to the Thunder to be a younger piece on their line, while McCurtry will serve as some extra depth to make up for the loss of Langstrom. 

10 - Louisville Thunder (from Long Island via Boston) | QB David Simmons | Cambridge of Boston - Paterson, NJ - Stickman
With the first pick the Thunder grabbed from the mega trade, they would take the second QB of the draft in David Simmons. Simmons’ ability to escape pressure and make something out of nothing makes Simmons stand out as a prospect. Also, the fact that he took a fairly under talented Cambridge of Boston roster to their best finish in over a decade. He might be the right fit for a team trying to rebuild and grow around. He does need to work on his deep-ball accuracy and learn to rely on his teammates a little more and not hold onto the ball quite as much, but that may just come with being on a more talented roster at a professional level. Simmons has a lot of upside and could definitely be the next star for Louisville. 

11 - Providence Gold Stars (from Montreal) | DL Newton Dalton | Rhode Island State - Franklin, MA - Darknes
HC Garrett Boone loves his Rhode Island State guys. Once again the Gold Stars took a prospect out of the college Boone used to coach. Dalton has a lot of upside, being quite a great pass rusher when he is at his best. However, Dalton does tend to struggle with consistency which might have been the reason he was a little further back from the best D-Line in the draft. Hopefully, Boone will be able to unlock the best of Dalton and continue to make the Gold Stars’ defence a strong force. 

12 - Buffalo Blue Wings | WR Tracy Driscoll | Western New York - Sarnia, ON - DireBear
With the final pick of the first round, the Blue Wings would grab their biggest need with a WR. With Daniel Irons’ retirement, there was a huge hole in the WR core which was tough to fill with Buffalo already being up against the salary cap. So they set their eyes on the draft to bring in talent at a cheap price. Tracy Driscoll was their favourite target being a star at the local University of Western New York. While Driscoll is on the shorter side, he does have great speed to make his own space. He might be the perfect fit for the Blue Wings’ 3rd WR spot being someone who can stretch the field and also be great as a slot option. He’s got some communication issues to work on within the locker room, but the talent is there. 

2nd Round
The second round kicked off with a pair of linebackers going. Louisville continued to dip into the Louisville State prospect pool in taking Brent Mayiski. The North Carolina native was excited to remain in Louisville where he had moved to when he was 11. Boston also went local with Mads Strahlman to pair up with Byron Turner. Ottawa continued their pattern of taking an OL in the second round, grabbing Tommy Reynolds out of Toronto U. 

The Tigers once again moved back with a trade with the Mariners. They would slide back to the 19th spot but would also get WR Joshua Lafleur and former 4th round pick OL Hamish Esposito. Lafleur has been a strong player throughout his career, but after falling down the depth chart and suffering a major injury last season, he needed a fresh start. The Tigers hope he can help rejuvenate their WR core. Halifax would end up with the 16th pick along with RB Alex Warren, WR Dwayne Alexander, and WR Perry Francoise. Warren was the important piece as they had nothing in RB depth after Ronald O’Sullivan. 

With the 16th pick, the Mariners would grab U of Nova Scotia product LB Frederic Macnamara. GM Anthony Vigneault hopes drafting some local players may help in them staying with the Mariners long term. Pittsburgh would continue the local trend in drafting OL Lars Nordssen out of Allegheny. Providence would end up taking RB Ronnie Byers with the next pick. It seems the team is still not quite satisfied with RB Rashed Smith’s play out of the backfield so they may look to another Rhode Island State alumni to take on the role down the line. With the pick they traded back for, the Tigers would grab DL Ross Jackson out of UAmerica to make the first outside-the-box pick of the round. Toronto would also take a chance on WR Al Allmendinger who had slid from his projected 11th best spot. 

Indiana would follow that up with another WR in Erik Hodge out of London. Long Island’s first pick of the draft would end up being RB Scott Norton out of UHamilton. With Dareion Fields suffering some injuries and getting older, they hope Norton can jump in support in the run game. Montreal would grab a much-needed DB with Ross Conroy at 23 before Buffalo would close out the round with DL Ned Hedman out of Maine State.

2nd Round Picks
13 - LOU | LB Brent Mayiski | Louisville State - Greensboro, NC - NoE38
14 - BOS | LB Mads Strahlman | New England - Boston, MA - Darknes
15 - OTT | OL Tommy Reynolds | Toronto - Toronto, ON - ZO82
16 - HFX (from LDN) | LB Frederic Macnamara | Nova Scotia - Yarmouth, NS - Darknes
17 - PIT | OL Lars Nordssen | Allegheny - Pittsburgh, PA - Stickman
18 - PRO | RB Ronnie Byers | Rhode Island State - Newport, RI - Captain Mort 3D
19 - LDN (from HFX) | DL Ross Jackson | UAmerica - Washington DC - Edgeworth
20 - TOR | WR Al Allmendinger | New England - Sandwich, MA - Dan O’Mac
21 - IND | WR Erik Hodge | London - St. Thomas, ON - Wallflower
22 - LI | RB Scott Norton | UHamilton - Hamilton, ON - ZO82
23 - MTL | DB Ross Conroy | Vermont Republic - Montpelier, VT - ItDoesntMatter
24 - BUF | DL Ned Hedman | Maine State - Norway, ME - ItDoesntMatter

3rd Round
The 3rd round continued on with Louisville taking a prospect from both of the major Indiana schools in TE Rex Williamson out of North Indiana and OL Mike Normal out of Indiana Tech. 

The back-to-back picks would be followed up with another trade that saw the Royals and Rouge swap 3rd round picks. Ottawa would also receive a 4th rounder for next season as well. 

Montreal would grab local DL Sebastian Hamilton with the pick while the Royals would gamble on a Finnish LB in Tuuka Tariitt. The Royals would also get OL Matt Helmut out of Jersey State with the 31st pick. London would also use the pick they had gotten from the Steelheads earlier in the draft to take OL Dwayne Jones out of the local London University. The 3rd QB of the draft was also taken in this round with QB Xerxes Wynn heading to Indiana to hopefully add some depth at the position for the Victors.

3rd Round Picks
25 - LOU | TE Rex Williamson | North Indiana - Munchie, IN - Jayhawk
26 - LOU (from BOS) | OL Mike Normal | Indiana Tech - Middletown, IN - ItDoesntMatter
27 - MTL (from OTT) | DL Sebastian Hamilton | Majeure Montreal - Montreal, QC - Kingsfan11
28 - LDN | DB Tyler Hill | Major Ohio - Cleveland, OH - Kingsfan11
29 - IND (from PIT) | S Sully Callahan | New England - Boston, MA - Darknes
30 - PRO | OL Alanzo Tofflers | Haynes - Newburgh, NY - NoE38
31 - OTT (from HFX) | OL Matt Helmut | Jersey State - Helmetta, NJ - QCS
32 - LDN (from TOR) | OL Dwayne Jones | London - Windsor, ON - Kingsfan11
33 - IND | QB Xerxes Wynn | Western New York - Cheektowaga, NY - Enigmajones
34 - LI | TE Walter Lafleur | UHamilton - Hamilton, ON - Dan O’Mac
35 - OTT (from MTL) | LB Tuukka Tariitt | Cambridge of Boston - Espoo, FN - Darknes
36 - BUF | S Mathieu Cazenave | Majeure Montreal - Montreal, QC - Kingsfan11

4th Round
Things started to settle by the 4th round, where there was only one small trade that saw the Victors send their 4th round pick to Louisville to get QB Nikolas Diakos to also add to their QB depth chart. 

Louisville would end up taking OL Jerry Hankins who is the younger brother of the Hankins Triplets, most notably Bubba Hankins who was just traded to Louisville in the Langstrom deal. The Royals also landed QB Martin Keller’s top WR in Ferdinand Matthews as they hope to bring that chemistry to the NAAF. Halifax also continued to take Nova Scotia graduates with DB Cornelius Walker. 

4th Round Picks
37 - LOU | WR Sergio Flores | Rockefeller - Chicago, IL - Stickman
38 - BOS | DL Nolan Grassi | King’s - New York City, NY - JamHeronArk
39 - OTT | WR Fredinand Matthews | St.George - Toronto, ON - Darknes
40 - PIT (from LDN) | DB Jim Norbel | Major Ohio - Akron, OH - ItDoesntMatter
41 - PIT | RB Scott Dale | West Mass State - Springfield, MA - Scratch
42 - MTL (from PRO) | DB Nils Wilson | Montreal Provincial - Terrebonne, QC - JamHeronArk
43 - HFX | DB Cornelius Walker | Nova Scotia - Cole Harbour, NS - Kingsfan11
44 - TOR | OL Jim Bob McRawley | North Indiana - Bryan, OH - Dan O’Mac
45 - LOU (from IND) | OL Jerry Hankins | Louisville State - Waverly, KY - JamHaronArk
46 - LI | S Donald Dozier | Upstate - Schenectady, NY - ItDoesntMatter
47 - LOU (from MTL) | RB Mario Leclair | St-Laurent - Shawinigan, QC - Kingsfan11
48 - IND (from BUF) | LB Ben Morstand | Jersey State - Yonkers, NY - JamHeronArk

5th Round
The final round of the draft would kick off with Louisville taking Lukka Kudro out of the USSR. Kudro had moved to the US along with his older brother who came over to play hockey at the professional level and found a love for football and attended Upstate. With their final pick, the Mariners would finish off a draft of only picking players out of the University of Nova Scotia, taking LB Walker Colson. A head-scratching pick also came from the Gold Stars who passed on the much higher-ranked TE Lucas Warmer for TE Terry Wrasse, leaving Warmer to go undrafted after being ranked 35th. With the final pick of the draft the Blue Wings would take the last QB of the class in Peter Dooling who joins QB Ray Trace as the only QBs to be picked last (both by Buffalo in fact).  

5th Round Picks
49 - LOU | DL Lukka Kudro | Upstate - Kharkiv, USSR (Ukraine) - Darknes
50 - BOS | OL Ken Kennedy | Provinciale du Nouveau-Brunswick - Fredericton, NB - ItDoesntMatter
51 - LOU (from OTT) | WR Noah Guy | Louisville State - Knoxville, TN - Scratch
52 - LDN | WR James Penguin | Rideau - Gatineau, QC - QCS
53 - PIT | OL Harrison Russell | Baltimore State - Baltimore, MD - ZO82
54 - PRO | TE Terry Wrasse | Western New York - Batavia, NY - Dan O’Mac
55 - HFX | LB Walker Colson | Nova Scotia - Charlottetown, PEI - Darknes
56 - PRO (from TOR) | LB Benjamin Page | Concord-Manchester - Manchester, NH - Darknes
57 - IND | DL Raymond Pushor | North West Virginia - Charlottesville, VA - Edgeworth
58 - LI | DL Jim Kennedy | West Mass State - Greenfield, MA - Stickman
59 - MTL | DB Julius Bar | Toronto - Owen Sound, ON - ItDoesntMatter
60 - BUF | QB Peter Dooling | Haynes - Hartford, CT - Darknes

Undrafted
RB Norm Sloe | Concord-Manchester - Concord, NH - Dan O’Mac
WR Todd Anderson | Minneapolis - Rosemount, MN - Dan O’Mac
DB Foley DeGraaf | Erie - Warren, OH - ItDoesntMatter
TE Lucas Warmer | Kitchener-Waterloo Provincial - Millbank, ON - Scratch