He’s served his suspension and answered every question imaginable about his decisions, his maturity and his mistakes.
And now with that all fading slowly in the rearview mirror, Rashaun Simonise is eager to get to chasing the dream of making football his career.
The talented receiver with a bit of a checkered past was the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ first pick, 12th overall, in Thursday’s Canadian Football League Draft. Simonise, a 6-4, 202-pound receiver from Vancouver, saw the shine come off his star over the last two years, going from a can’t-miss prospect at the University of Calgary to academically ineligible, to the Cincinnati Bengals, to serving a suspension for a weight gain performance-enhancing drug.
Since then, he’s been working to salvage his career with the first real steps coming with the opening of Bombers rookie camp on May 16th.
“I just wanted an opportunity. It didn’t matter where it came from,” began Simonise Friday in a media conference call from Maryland, where he is working out with the Arena Football League’s Baltimore Brigade. “I was just listening to the names (on draft night) and as soon as my phone lit up, my face lit up right away. It was almost a euphoric feeling. It was amazing.
“Once I got that call from Coach (O’Shea) and he explained that they wanted to draft me and they were going to use their pick on me, I was ecstatic. I couldn’t wait to share it with everybody. All the hard work has paid off.”
The Bombers had rated Simonise as the top receiver in the draft because of his combination of size and skills. As GM Kyle Walters explained on Friday, it’s unusual – if not a complete rarity – for a CFL Draft prospect’s highlight tape to include footage from an NFL preseason game.
But the club also did its homework, including chatting with Simonise’s junior coach as well as interviewing him during the National Combine in Winnipeg last month.
“I felt like the Bombers really caught on that it was just genuine… it wasn’t about convincing, it was about being honest with them and straight up with them and telling them I had made a mistake, but was willing to move forward from that and put it in the past,” said Simonise. “I felt like they really felt it was genuine when they met with me face to face.”
Simonise said all the right things during Friday’s session with the media and Bombers management believes getting him back to a professional environment where football is full-time – and surrounding him with positive influencers – can help him get his head right again.
And Simonise has come to understand how important this second chance is for him.
“I just wasn’t taking it as seriously as I should have,” he said. “I felt like my talents were going to take me all the way and just my playing and being on the field was going to take care of things. I didn’t take into account all the other things have to come into play. It really just came down to not being professional, not conducting myself as a professional.”
“I’m very hungry. I felt like, unfortunately, my favourite thing in the world was taken away from me for a couple of years and that really made me re-evaluate all my situations and really made me think deep as to what I want to do. It all came back to football. I realize this is almost a second chance, so this time around I’m going to do it the right way and put all my efforts into it. I’m going to do it the right way all around. I’m fortunate and blessed for this opportunity they have given me. I’m very, very hungry to come into work.
“I’ve grown up a lot, my maturity level has risen a lot,” he added. “I’ve been through a lot of experiences and learned in situations that have helped me develop physically and mentally. I’m just glad the time is finally up and I’m able to get back on the football field again.”
Simonise hardly popped off the page during the National Combine. There were flashes, but more signs of rust than a dominant performance in the one-on-ones. But it was in studying the film of the individual skill sessions when GM Kyle Walters and the scouting/coaching staff saw his raw athleticism.
“The defining moment for me was when you watched the individual drills and the subtleties of when he moved around the cones… for a 6-4 ½ guy, the way he moves laterally, that shuttle drill, the 3-cone drill and the individual drills that the receivers did where they were turning their hips in and out of cones… he looked very different than the rest of them,” said Walters. “(Mark) Chapman (selected first overall by Hamilton) is comparable, but (Simonise) is five or six inches taller.
“If you were to pinpoint, that’s what looked real different than the rest of them. He has very natural hands, those haven’t left him. He’s a plucker, he catches it clean. He just needs to catch more footballs and play to knock that rust off. Seeing the way he moves in those drills, the athleticism is there, the physical attributes are there. Now we just need to get him playing more football.”
TWO MORE ON BOARD, INCLUDING A QB:
The Bombers announced the signing of two players on Friday – defensive back Marcus Sayles and quarterback Chris Streveler.
Sayles (5-10, 180, University of West Georgia) played 46 games with the Wolves and signed last year as an undrafted free agent with the Buffalo Bills before a look from the Los Angeles Rams.
Streveler (6-2, 220, University of South Dakota) was the QB who had fans who watched him throw at mini-camp buzzing. He played two seasons with the South Dakota Coyotes, throwing for 6,081 yards and 54 touchdowns. In 2017, Streveler was named MVFC Offensive Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award. Streveler had been on some NFL radar screens, but opted to come north to the CFL after visiting Winnipeg.
“We had decided to bring him up and work him out around the mini-camp time,” said Walters. “A lot of these guys don’t know what the CFL is about, but we wanted to show off our facility, show off the professionalism of the CFL and I think it worked out great. We made a very good impression.
“They were waiting to see what shook out in the NFL, but were not willing to do the whole mini-camp circuit and wait and wait and wait. And as soon as it (an NFL opportunity) didn’t happen they decided ‘Let’s go up to the CFL.’ It was a good decision to bring him up here from our standpoint to see him and see him throw and work him out a bit. He’s certainly and impressive looking young man. He was pretty eager to sign his contract.”
