Football: Clan get Wladichuk back from Ticats

It appears Simon Fraser will get safety Ray Wladichuk back from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Wladichuk actually made the Ticats, but he elected to go back to school with two years left on his earth sciences degree.
"It's frustrating because it ended up being a waste of time. We invested all of training camp in him, and we could have somebody else here instead." — Greg Marshall, Ticats defensive coordinator, via the Hamilton Spectator
It is probably not frustrating for the Clan, presuming his heart is still set on playing football.

Related:
Wladichuk shocks Cats (Drew Edwards, Hamilton Spectator)
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5 comments:

  1. I can understand Marshall's frustration.
    I believe once a player commits to attend a pro camp, he cannot return to his college team, regardless of whether he makes the pro club or not.
    What Ray Wladichuk did is basically jerk the Ticats around.
    If this player intends to pursue a pro career at a later date, I would suggest it would be with some team other than Hamilton...at least, that would be the case if I were running the Ticats.

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  2. "I believe once a player commits to attend a pro camp, he cannot return to his college team, regardless of whether he makes the pro club or not."

    Explain how Rob Bagg went right to the end of Saskatchewan's camp in 2007 and returned to Queen's. Or why Queen's is hoping it gets Thaine Carter back after he went to Winnipeg's main camp.

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  3. I can't explain how it is, just state what I believe is the way things should be.
    I think this is mickey mouse...either you turn pro or stay in school.
    Think the NCAA would tolerate this?
    Of course not.
    This is just typical of the bush league way of doing things in this country.

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  4. Fair enough. But there are no should-bes in this life, just what is. Do you get mad when a junior hockey player goes to a NHL camp and then returns to junior to further develop? A personal feeling is that it is similar with CIS and CFL players.

    Anyway, I see now you were expressing an opinion, but the some people would read that same sentence and take it to be a statement of fact. My mistake!

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  5. Major junior hockey is a little different than CIS football.
    Junior hockey's raison d'etre is to develop players for the NHL and AHL
    In fact, the NCAA considers the CHL as 'pro'.
    While it is true CIS football has become a primary source of Canadian born players for the CFL, it is not the prime purpose for the existence of Canadian university football.
    Since it seems to be common practice to draft CIS underclassmen and then have them attend pro camps, I think there should be some hard and fast rules with regards to how their college eligibility should be handled.
    I'm ok with underclassmen attending a pro camp for the experience.
    But, a player should not be allowed to participate in exhibition games.
    If a player feels he is ready to turn pro and his CFL team agrees, then that player should sign a waiver forgoing his remaining college eligibility.
    Once you turn pro, there's no turning back.
    I believe this is fair for both the CFL and the CIS.
    Feel free to disagree vehemently.

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