1969 NAAF Draft Preview

1969 NAAF Draft Preview

Hybrid Conference Results

Canada East Hybrid Conference
WEST
(3) Toronto Dukes
(7) Hamilton Howlers
St. George Maples
London Forresters
Kitchener-Waterloo Provincial Beavers
Dominion Knights
Sudbury Prov Miners

EAST
(5) Majeure Montreal Insulaires
(8) St-Laurent Cavaliers de Riviere
Rideau Rams
Nova Scotia Armada
Montreal Provincial Panthers
New Brunswick Pirates
Mont-Bellevue Geais Bleus

CEHC Playoffs
(3) TORU 17-11 (7) UHAM
(5) MMTL 24-21 (8) ST-L

CEHC Championship
(3) TORU 18-7 (5) MMTL

America East Hybrid Conference
(1) New England Cardinals
(2) Rhode Island State Bulldogs
(4) Western New York Whitetails
(6) Haynes Colonials
(9) Upstate Bluebirds
(10) Maine State Acadians
West Mass State Rangers
Cambridge of Boston Cubs
Vermont Republic Mountaineers
Concord-Manchester Fighting Pike
Erie Sailors
WNY-Rochester

AEHC Playoffs
(1) UNE 30-13 (6) HAY
(2) RISU 28-10 (4) WNY

AEHC Championship
(1) UNE 17-19 (2) RISU

Hybrid Football Championship
(2) RISU 24-17 (3) TORU

The 1968 college hybrid football season would be dominated by 2 teams from the AEHC: The New England Cardinals and The Rhode Island State Bulldogs. The two teams featured dominant defences that crushed the competition, while their offences were near the top-ranked as well. With both schools dominating, the rivalry between the schools was heated throughout the year. Each school argued over which of their QBs was the better QB from either team. New England featured the accurate pocket passer of Cyrus Olds. Olds was a sturdy leader that delivered the ball well, but the criticism for him was that he needs a system and doesn’t look past his first or second options. As for Providence, they had probably the more electric QB in Edwin Hunt. Hunt has a very big personality, with maybe too much confidence, but it seems to prevent him from being affected by pressure. He makes a lot of wild throws, certainly not as accurate as Olds, but his passes usually pick up more yardage. Hunt appeared to have won the argument between the pair as he did lead the Bulldogs on a clutch, game-winning drive to top the Cardinals in the AEHC Championship before he helped the team earn their first National title in Hybrid Football.

While the QBs were the centre of attention for the two rivals, there was of course plenty of talent elsewhere, especially on the defence. For New England, you had LB Garrett Roberts, who was utterly dominant in stopping opposing players dead in their tracks. Roberts is a masterful tackler that should make a huge impact at the next level. Defensive partner, LB Reuben James, was the true hammer of the two, sometimes hitting players so hard they forgot they were in a football game. The big knock on James is that he does tend to miss tackles more frequently or get juked out of his shoes as some would say it. DB Lance Lee and OL Carlton Vanderbilt round out the top prospects from New England. 

As for Rhode Island State, they have some heavy hitters like DL Gavin Shaw, who was an expert in beating his blockers to get into the backfield, and LB Willie Stetson, who is a heavy hitter like Reuben James but does have more abilities in pass coverage which makes him a bit more dynamic. 

As for the rest of the AEHC, the talent does fall off significantly. Western New York features some solid players like DB Chandler Gage and OL Randy Mellement. However, there has been some attention thrown at WR Tyreek Flores, who made a couple of incredible catches this season that had fans thinking he could be a 1st round talent, but his lack of speed makes him look like more of a late 2nd rounder. Haynes had a bit of a down year in terms of prospects, but some think LB Everett Lynch could be a surprise in the later stages of the draft, as he has shown some next-level intelligence and unwillingness to give up. 

The CEHC was a bit more of a mess when compared to the AEHC. The Toronto Dukes were the best team and earned their #3 ranking after upsetting the then #3 ranked Western New York late in the season. Toronto was led by what some view as the best prospect in the draft in WR Justin Palmer. Palmer was the perfect #1 weapon in the Dukes’ offence, being able to make almost every catch and found ways to pick up more yards than he should have. 

UHamilton suffered from their loss of QB Drake Young, but they still sported a solid squad led by DL Eugene Case and TE John Schall. Case has some great strength which he uses to overpower O-linemen, but that could be an issue at the next level when he faces stronger players. As for Schall, he helped massively in the Howlers’ run game being a premier lead blocker on the edge, while also making some plays with the ball. He should be the top TE taken in this draft. 

Majeure Montreal continued to be the strongest team in the East Division, being led by a pair of defensive stars in S Gérald LeCroix and DB Jean Paul du Pont. LeCroix was especially notable for having 9 interceptions and 4 forced fumbles in his senior year. St-Laurent was still strong as usual led by OL Jean Baptiste Francois and WR Bruno Lemieux, the younger cousin of QB Charles Lemieux and RB Théodore Lemieux. 

Outside of the top teams, a couple of standouts were OL Graeme McDouglas out of Nova Scotia, who had one of the cleanest OL records in his senior year, only letting one guy ever get a sack on him. RB Jeremy Royal carried the Rideau Rams to a 3rd place finish in the CEHC East Division, and projects as the best running back available. 

This draft will also feature a group of prospects making the move over from the American football schools to the hybrid game. A pair of them are viewed to be difference makers in the NAAF. First is DL Dallas Breaker out of Allegheny, who made the switch due to loving what he saw out of the Blacksmiths during the summer. Breaker’s speed and effort carried him to a very strong season on the DL with 12 sacks this season. 7 of those sacks came in the 4th quarter, during crucial moments. There is also OL Artem Sobakov, who is a towering lineman out of B-Met and has all the physical attributes to be a very good lineman. The last player of note would be RB Tyler Kuhn, who had a stellar season at Daniel Boone, where he set many school records. Unfortunately, despite his great play, a lot of scouts will say that even okay players can look great in the usually weak program. 

Lastly, just a touch on the other QBs in the class. QB Madison Beck took over for Drake Young at UHamilton. Beck may have been lifted due to the strong system the team plays with, but he’s got arm talent to make it worth a shot. QB Logan West comes out of Central Pennsylvania. He has the arm strength to get the ball where it needs to go, but struggles in the pocket, especially being aware of players around him causing a fair amount of fumbles and deflected passes. Then, there is QB Holland Oates out of Jersey State, who is a wildcard, but he has a strong arm…at least that’s what we are getting out of “Howitzer” being the only note on this scouting slip given to us by some guy named Roger.

The Gains Report Top 25 Prospects
1 - WR Justin Palmer - Toronto - Vincent Desjardins - Kingsfan11
2 - DL Dallas Breaker - Allegheny - Sterling Brantley - Darknes
3 - LB Garrett Roberts - New England - Johnny Armando - Stickman
4 - OL Artem Sobakov - Brooklyn Metro - Barry Williams - ZO82
5 - DL Gavin Shaw - Rhode Island State - Vincent Desjardins - Kingsfan11
6 - LB Willie Stetson - Rhode Island State - George Stefanakis - Dan O’Mac
7 - S Gerald LeCroix - Majeure Montreal - Sterling Brantley - Darknes
8 - OL Carlton Vanderbilt - New England - Kenneth Jones - Enigmajones
9 - LB Reuben James - New England - Ivan di Marco - idm
10 - DB Chandler Gage - Western New York - Jayson Hawkins - Jayhawk
11 - OL Graeme McDouglas - Nova Scotia - Sterling Brantley - Darknes
12 - WR Matthew de la Cruz - Northern Indiana - Barry Williams - ZO82
13 - DB Tomik Vrana - Toronto - Sterling Brantley - Darknes
14 - QB Edwin Hunt - Rhode Island State - Wally Flowers - Wallflower
15 - TE John Schall - UHamilton - Timmy Bjarnathan - NoE38
16 - OL Jean Baptiste Francois - St-Laurent - Barry Williams - ZO82
17 - RB Jeremy Royal - Rideau - Vincent Desjardins - Kingsfan11
18 - DB Jean Paul du Pont - Majeure Montreal - Ivan di Marco - idm
19 - OL Randy Mellement - Western New York - Ivan di Marco - idm
20 - DL Eugene Case - UHamilton - Brad Cumberland - DireBear
21 - WR Tyreek Flores - Western New York - Vlad Valasiuk - vladee
22 - QB Cyrus Olds - New England - Ivan di Marco - idm
23 - RB Tyler Kuhn - Daniel Boone - Ivan di Marco - idm
24 - LB Everett Lynch - Haynes - Ray J. Story - RaysUp
25 - DB Alonzo Gray - Louisville State - George Stefanakis - Dan O’Mac
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
34 - DB Michael Cope - Baltimore State - Jimmy Yamamoto - QCS
43 - WR Buzz Hronak - Maine State - James Herr-O’Nark - JamHeronArk
66 - QB Holland Oates - Jersey State - Roger Roy! - Scratch

Draft Order and Picks and Needs

1 - Minnesota Serpents
Picks: 1, 14, 27, 40, 53
Needs: OL, LB, RB

2 - Providence Gold Stars
Picks: 2, 15, 28, 41, 54
Needs: DB, OL, DL, LB, WR, QB

3 - Louisville Thunder
Picks: 3, 16, 29, 42, 55, 57, 60
Needs: DL, LB, DB, OL

4 - Montreal Rouge
Picks: 4, 17, 22, 30, 31, 43, 52
Needs: LB, WR, DB, RB

5 - Boston Independents
Picks: 5, 18, 35
Needs: 3RB, OL, DL, LB, DB

6 - Pittsburgh Blacksmiths
Picks: 6, 19, 32, 38, 45, 58
Needs: DB, WR, OL

7 - London Tigers
Picks: 7, 10, 20, 33, 59, 65
Needs: LB, DB, OL, RB, DL, QB

8 - Long Island Raiders
Picks: 8, 21, 24, 34, 47, 51
Needs: DL, LB, OL, TE, S

9 - Buffalo Blue Wings
Picks: 9, 48, 61
Needs: OL, DL, LB, DB, WR, 3RB

10 - Toronto Steelheads
Picks: 23, 36, 49, 62
Needs: OL, LB, DL, QB

11 - Ottawa Royals
Picks: 11, 46, 50, 63
Needs: DL, LB, OL, WR, RB

12 - Indiana Victors
Picks: 12, 25, 39, 44, 64
Needs: DL, LB

13 - Halifax Mariners
Picks: 13, 26, 56
Needs: DB, OL, QB, DL