Tight end Antony Auclair held his Pro Day on the Laval University campus Monday.
He checked in at just over 6-foot-5, 256 pounds with a 10 3/8-inch hand size, 34 1/8-inch arm length and 79 1/4-inch wingspan. Auclair performed all the athletic testing drills despite a strained left hamstring. The 23-year-old ran a 4.82 second 40-yard dash, shuttle 4.33, 3-cone 7.28, vertical 33.5-inches, broad jump nine feet, nine inches and put up 22 reps of the 225 pound bench press.
An NFL scout put Auclair through the positional and football drills while former Alouette quarterback Tanner Marsh provided his arm for the showcase.
NFL teams who sent representatives to watch Auclair’s pro day: Arizona, Buffalo, Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Los Angeles Rams, Minnesota, New York Jets, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle and Tampa Bay.
From a CFL perspective, Montreal Alouettes general manager Kavis Reed was in attendance as well.
Monday’s pro day was not the first time an NFL scout has crossed the border to see Auclair up close. In November a high-ranking NFL personnel man traveled to Montreal and saw the big tight end play in the Dunsmore Cup (Quebec Conference title game) against the Carabins.
Auclair made 17 catches for 229 yards and two touchdowns in eight regular season games for the Rouge et Or last season. He recorded a team-high 70 receiving yards and one touchdown in Laval’s 2016 Vanier Cup championship victory over Calgary.
Then he earned an invite to the prestigious East-West Shrine Game. At that NCAA all-star game, Auclair met with 25 NFL teams and performed well during the week of practices and on game day.
Back in 2014, McGill offensive lineman Laurant Duvernay-Tardif went through the paces at a pro day on Canadian soil, which nine NFL teams attended. The Chiefs selected the six-foot-five, 321-pounder in the sixth round, 200th overall of the 2014 NFL draft. Late in February, Duvernay-Tardif signed a five-year extension with Kansas City for over $40-million with $20 million guaranteed.
Last year, Manitoba defensive lineman David Onyemata thoroughly impressed 17 NFL teams that made the trip to Winnipeg. The Saints traded up to select in the fourth round, 120th overall.
Based purely on that recent history of Canadian university pro days, the number of teams that made the trip to Canada to see Duvernay-Tardif, Onyemata and now Auclair, it seems like the chances are strong that the Laval product could be selected in the 2017 NFL draft.
