A BYU football player and the CFL draft

BYU defensive back Dalin Tollestrup could be selected in the upcoming Canadian Football League draft. Below is his story, from the Calgary Herald …

Defensive back Tollestrup a wild card entering CFL draft

BY ALLEN CAMERON, CALGARY HERALD

CALGARY – As one dream ended, another began taking shape for Dalin Tollestrup.

And yet another could come true Sunday.

The 21-year-old grew up in Raymond, Alta., 250 kilometres south of Calgary, fantasizing about playing quarterback at Brigham Young University. Even as he was going through a stellar freshman season at the University of Calgary four years ago, his ambition was to head south to the Provo, Utah, school that has become legendary for aerial fireworks on the football field.

Following his year with the Dinos and his two-year Mormon mission in El Salvador, Tollestrup followed through on his dream, registering at BYU and attempting to walk on with the football team.

After a redshirt season (when he was allowed to practise with the team without sacrificing a season of eligibility) spent occasionally at quarterback but mostly as a scout-team receiver, Tollestrup came to the conclusion that calling signals for the Cougars was never going to be an option.

Soon after the season ended, a talk with BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall landed Tollestrup in the defensive secondary.

And after a solid spring practice with the Cougars, his first as a defensive back, Tollestrup may have perked up enough ears in the Canadian Football League to be selected in Sunday’s draft.

“It’s hard not to think about the draft,” Tollestrup said Tuesday from Provo. “Growing up, I saw the Ralph boys (Brock and Brett) from my hometown go to the CFL. It’s your boyhood dream, you know? I remember watching those guys, Henry Burris, all those people – you always dream about playing at the next level.

“I’m excited about it, it’s definitely been my dream. I’m definitely looking forward to draft day. I’m kind of thrilled that it’s actually happening. If it happens, that’s awesome, and I’m excited about it. If it doesn’t? There are other ways to make that dream come true.”

There are reasons to believe that it will happen.

For one, Tollestrup’s sheer athleticism has been obvious since high school, and it was on full display during that single season with the Dinos when he was named the top rookie in Canadian Interuniversity Sport.

For another, respected Dinos coach Blake Nill has been putting the bug in the ear of CFL teams to not overlook Tollestrup despite his relative lack of game action since 2006.

And for yet another, BYU defensive co-ordinator Jaime Hill, a former defensive backs coach with the Calgary Stampeders, says Tollestrup has the raw ability to make the jump to the Canadian pro game.

“I think he can contribute, probably as a safety up there,” said Hill, who coached in Calgary in 2003. “He has good size (six-foot-one, 185 pounds), he has good range. He has athletic ability, a good change of direction, burst – he has all that stuff.

“There’s lots of upside; the guy is so raw, and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do in the future.”

Which brings up a big reason why Tollestrup may not be selected – there’s a lot of future left in Provo. He has three years of NCAA eligibility remaining, during which he’d be off-limits to whichever CFL team selected him.

Combine that with not having played a competitive snap since the fall of 2006, and learning a new position, and Tollestrup becomes one of the bigger draft-day question marks.

The spring practice performance, which drew rave reviews from a couple BYU bloggers, will certainly pique some interest, and Tollestrup already has a good feel for the position.

“Playing quarterback in high school and at the University of Calgary, I learned a lot from Coach (Dinos offensive co-ordinator Greg) Vavra and Coach Nill about different defensive tendencies and how to read the defences,” said Tollestrup. “Then I played receiver, and I learned a little more about the one-on-one situations, so I felt like I had some advantages on the other guys because I’d seen it from the other side of the ball. I knew how to manipulate DBs and how to find their weaknesses.”

Which isn’t to say that giving up on his quarterbacking ambitions was easy.

“It was tough,” he admitted. “It really was. Whenever the quarterbacks go out to throw, I’ll go throw a few passes, too. It’s my favourite position, I had a passion for it. But I love the whole game, and it’s fun to learn and develop the athletic abilities I have overall instead of just at quarterback.”

Calgary Herald