Gill Sports Management Dominates CFL Draft…AGAIN

I am a huge fan of Darren Gill. Unless you have been reading this blog for a while now or are reading this site from your comfortable home/office in Canada, you have no clue who I am talking about. Gill doesn’t mind.

I first talked to Darren when he offered to be a guest contributor at SportsAgentBlog.com for an entire week. For a list of his posts, click here. Besides his brief stint at writing for this site, Mr. Gill focuses primarily on the CFL (Canadian Football League) and has had a lot of recent success in the CFL Drafts. Last year, Gill Sports Management represented 12 players (over 25 percent of the players drafted in 2007), and the No. 1 (Chris Bauman) and No. 2 (Warren Kean) overall selections. Last year was no fluke, Darren brought his game to the CFL draft once again.

The Canadian Football League held their annual Canadian College Draft on April 30th and for the second year in a row it was Montreal based agency Gill Sports Management (GSM) that turned out to be the big winner, representing a total of 16 players (over 33 percent of all drafted players), which included three first round selections including: Dylan Barker (first overall), Shea Emry (seventh overall), and Samuel Giguere (eighth overall).

This marks the first time since that an agency represents back-to-back first overall selections. Last year GSM represented four first round picks, including the first overall selection Chris Bauman, for a total of 18 drafted players.

Sherbrooke receiver Samuel Giguere made news earlier in the week when he signed a Priority Free Agent contract with the Indianapolis Colts.

In total, GSM had three clients selected in the first, two in the second, five in the third, one in the fourth, three in the fifth, and two in the sixth.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats made CFL history during Wednesday’s draft with their selection of Dylan Barker. This was the first time a defensive back had been selected with the first pick since the Edmonton Eskimos selected Patrick Burke in 1993. Also of note was the fact that Barker’s selection marks back-to-back first overall selections that played in the CIS, both in the province of Saskatchewan as well.

Another GSM client was featured during the draft as former Boston College standout Kevin Challenger was involved in a trade which sent him from Calgary to Edmonton in return for the second overall draft pick.

Gill Sports Management, founded and headed by Montreal-native Darren Gill, currently represents over 50 active CFLers and has been representing players since 2002.

The Gill Sports Management Scorecard

1 (1) Hamilton Dylan Barker - DB - Saskatchewan
1 (7) Montréal Shea Emry - LB - UBC
1 (8) Hamilton Samuel Giguere - REC - Sherbrooke
2 (13) Toronto Mike Bradwell - REC - McMaster
2 (15) Winnipeg Aaron Hargreaves - REC - Simon Fraser
3 (17) Hamilton Michael Giffin - RB/FB - Queen’s
3 (18) BC Justin Shaw - DL - Manitoba
3 (20) BC Jason Arakgi - LB - McMaster
3 (21) Toronto Jean-Nicolas Carriere - LB - McGill
3 (24) Winnipeg Daryl Stephenson - RB - Windsor
4 (26) Edmonton Jonathan Hood - DB - St. Francis Xavier
5 (34) Edmonton Dante Luciani - REC - Wilfrid Laurier
5 (36) Montréal Paul Woldu - DB - Saskatchewan
5 (40) Saskatchewan Jeff Zelinski - DB - Saint Mary’s
6 (46) BC Hubert Buydens - OL - Saskatchewan
6 (47) Winnipeg Pierre-Luc Labbe - LB - Sherbrooke