U of R Rams prepared for virtual combine experience

Kyle Borsa and Robbie Lowes are hoping their performances pop off the screen during the CFL virtual combine.

The two University of Regina Rams football players were among a few players from across the country invited to participate in the national combine on Friday.

“It’s pretty prestigious. Just look at the (U of R) guys who have been invited before me – Noah Picton, Atlee Simon, Mitch Picton, Tevaughn Campbell – some pretty great players. So getting that invite, (I’m) just being grateful for the opportunity the Rams have given me to showcase my skills and just try to make them proud,” said Lowes, a linebacker.

But things are going to be different this year for the CFL’s top prospects.

Normally, the prospects would be flown to Toronto to participate in drills in front of a wide variety of CFL scouts.

This year, prospects will take video of them completing the drills and send them to the scouts.

“They want turf with lines on it like a football field. We don’t have that indoors in Regina so we’re going to be doing it at the EventPlex at the Co-operators Centre. We’re going to be putting a tape measure down to prove it’s 40 yards,” Borsa said.

For Borsa, the combine is the next step on a road of redemption.

After a successful 2018 in which the running back carried the ball 96 times for 613 yards and six touchdowns, Borsa was suspended for the 2019 season after a failed drug test.

“What I learned most about myself is how mentally tough I can be,” he said. “In my mind, I didn’t really do anything wrong.

“In the beginning, I felt like (people) were out to get me sort of deal, but I could safely say there’s a lot of other football players that were in that position that would quit the game. I never gave into that temptation. I always stuck true to myself and I knew what I wanted to do and I went after it and I gave everything I could to it.

“If it doesn’t work out, at least I can look at myself in the mirror and say I gave everything I had into it and that’d be good enough for me.”

He’s also prepared to answer questions CFL teams have over the suspension.

“I’m an open book. I’m not really ashamed of anything I did. I’ll be honest about everything and own up to what I did,” Borsa said.

“You just kind of explain what happened. There’s a lot of people that assume what happened based off the suspension I got of a year and a half, but that’s really not the case. (I’ll) just explain how I’ve grown as a person and what I’ve done during that time off.”

But despite having two years away from football — after the suspension and losing out on the 2020 season due to COVID-19 — Borsa says he feel great.
“My body has never felt fresher and I’m the strongest and fastest I’ve ever been so I think I’m going to test well,” he said. “That’s why it hurts me not to do it in person because I think if they could compare me to people in the league in person, it would do the justice a bit better.”

Lowes said it has been tough to be away from the game for a year.

“It’s a roller-coaster of emotions because I never really expected up until a couple of months before the season was set to start last year that it was going to get cancelled. There was that and then my mind shifts to eligibility and if I’ll have another year to play,” Lowes said.

U Sports has allowed fifth-year players to return for another year, so Lowes said that option remains open for him.

But his ultimate goal is to crack a CFL roster.

“I think right away I should be one of the best special-teams players coming out of the draft class. The physicality, the size, the athleticism — I don’t think there’s a lot of guys in the draft class that have my body type and move the way I do just with my versatility,” Lowes said.

“Whoever wants me to play for them, I’d be more than happy to play for but I grew up a Riders fan so that’d be a dream come true.”

And that dream is also within sight for Borsa.

“I remember when I was eight years old sitting in Boston Pizza in Regina and my mom and grandma were asking me what I wanted to be when I grow up and I said I wanted to play in the CFL,” Borsa said. “(They) asked what if that doesn’t work out and I said, ‘Well then, I’ll play in the NFL.’ So the CFL has been my No. 1 goal since I was a little kid.”

The CFL draft is set for the spring but a date has yet to be announced.