The Italian Federation of American Football, FIDAF, in cooperation with the Canadian Football League, held its 2021 CFL-Italy Combine this past weekend after a three week delay due to the pandemic.
A total of 17 athletes took part in the one day event held at the Modena Vipers facility in Modena, Italy, 15 Italians and two from Spain.
According to organizers, the performance level of this year’s Combine surpassed that of the 2020 event.
Ryan Janzen, Associate Vice-President, Football Operations of the CFL was on hand remotely (via Zoom), instructing the athletes and monitoring their progress. The Italian crew was led by veteran coach and clinician Giorgio Longhi with President of the Technical Commission of FIDAF, Manfredi Leone, overseeing the proceedings.
Defensive lineman Destiny Giuliani was outstanding during the CFL-Italy Combine Photo: Giulio Busi
A couple of the standouts during the afternoon of testing included wide receiver Jordan Bouah (Ottawa Redblacks, Team Italy, Milano Seamen) who clocked the fastest 40 time (4.57) of all the participants and Tamsir Seck from the Torino Giaguari was had the second fastest time. Of the linemen, Destiny Giuliani from Verona had the best 40 time (4.88) while Andrea Grillo from the Lazio Ducks outperformed everyone on the bench, getting in 30 reps of the 100 kg (225 lb) weight.
For Bouah, this is the second go round. He was picked by the Ottawa Redblacks in the 2019 Global Draft.
The video footage of the Combine along with all the results were sent to the CFL who will close the Virtual Combine stage on March 31. All nine CFL teams will study the results and compare with those from other CFL Combines held throughout the world (including Mexico, Finland) in preparation for the CFL Draft scheduled for April 15.
Check out the full test results
