The BC Lions have selected punter Jake Ford with the first overall pick in the 2021 CFL Global Draft.
The six-foot-two, 225-pounder from Shepparton, Australia, played at Ouachita Baptist University, a Div. II NCAA program in Arkansas, after starting his NCAA career with the Oregon Ducks in 2015.
As a junior in 2018, Ford led the nation in net punting during the regular-season.
Ford started out as an Aussie rules football player, but injury took him out of that game. He learned the American game at a football academy that aims to land its members with U.S.-based teams. That landed him at Oregon and to his eventual transfer to Ouachita, where he spent two seasons.
“I’m really excited to get back to the west coast,” Ford said from his home in Arkansas in a BC Lions’ press release.
“I visited Vancouver in 2016 and just fell in love with it. Talking with coach Campbell and coach (special teams coordinator Don) Yanowsky and hearing what they have planned for me has me even more thrilled for the opportunity to wear Lions orange.”
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