Stampeders Complete Draft Day

April 30, 2008 - Canadian Football League (CFL)
Calgary Stampeders News Release

The Calgary Stampeders selected six players in Wednesday's CFL Canadian Draft, highlighted by a pair of offensive linemen in the first round.

Calgary drafted guard Dimitri Tsoumpas with the No. 2 overall pick and followed by taking tackle Jesse Newman at No. 3. Calgary acquired the second overall pick in a trade with the Edmonton Eskimos.

"I'm very pleased with the players we selected in the first round," said Stamps head coach/general manager John Hufnagel. "We wanted to improve our depth and talent on the offensive line, and I believe we did that.

"With the rest of our draft, we filled some needs, got some good athletes and added to our depth. It was an interesting day and our staff did a really nice job."

The Stamps began the day by trading their second-round pick (11th overall), third-round pick (19th overall), receiver Kevin Challenger and offensive lineman John Comiskey to the Eskimos for the second overall pick and Edmonton's second-round pick (16th overall). Their No. 2 selection was then used on Tsoumpas.

"I'm looking forward to competing for a starting position," said Tsoumpas, an Edmonton product. "I embrace that (challenge) wholly. I'm going to fit in somewhere, I just don't know where yet."

Tsoumpas stands six-foot-four and weighs 315 pounds. He was a four-year starter and two-time Big Sky Conference first-team all-star at Weber State. Newman measures six-foot four, 308 pounds and was a four-year starter at Louisiana-Lafayette.

I knew I'd be drafted but I didn't know how it would feel until it actually happened," said Newman. "It's a dream to be drafted and to go No. 3 is unbelievable."

Calgary's draft selections went as follows:

Round Overall Player

1 2 Dimitri Tsoumpas, OL, Weber State

1 3 Jesse Newman, OL, Louisiana-Lafayette

2 16 Fernand Kashama, DL, Western Michigan

4 27 Ronald Hilaire, DL, Buffalo

5 35 Jon Gott, OL, Boise State

6 43 Jonathan Lapointe, FB, Montreal

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Canadian Football League Stories from April 30, 2008

• Tiger-Cats Make Four Selections In 2008 Canadian Draft - Hamilton Tiger-Cats
• Stampeders Complete Draft Day - Calgary Stampeders
• Esks Unveil Draft Class of ‘08 - Edmonton Elks
• Bombers pleased with results of CFL Draft - Winnipeg Blue Bombers
• Linebacker Shea Emry Alouettes' First-Round Draft Pick - Montreal Alouettes
• Lions net seven in 2008 Canadian Draft - B.C. Lions
• Eskimos select OL Wojt 11th overall in '08 CFL Canadian Draft - Edmonton Elks
• 2008 Cfl Canadian Draft First Round Selections - CFL
• Bombers select OL LaBatte in CFL Draft - Winnipeg Blue Bombers
• Stamps Select Newman - Calgary Stampeders
• Stamps Make Trade - Calgary Stampeders
• Eskimos swing draft day deal with Stamps - Edmonton Elks
• Stamps Take Tsoumpas - Calgary Stampeders
• Barker Selected First Overall in the 2008 CFL Canadian Draft - CFL
• Ticats Land DB Markeith Knowlton - Hamilton Tiger-Cats
• Leos send pair to Ti-Cats; pick up second round pick - B.C. Lions

The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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