Bombers’ top draft pick Clercius has worked for everything he has

Five catches for 56 yards and one touchdown.

It’s not exactly what you’d expect from a highly drafted receiver in his final college season.

Despite the modest numbers, the Blue Bombers felt confident using their top pick in the 2024 CFL Draft — 13th overall in the second round after trading with Calgary — on Kevens Clercius out of the University of Connecticut.

Clercius had 44 receptions for 548 yards and four touchdowns in his first two seasons but saw his role change when former NFL coach Jim Mora took over the Huskies program in 2022.

Instead of hitting the transfer portal, the 6-2, 212-pounder from Montreal, Que., stayed put.

“He marched his way into the special teams co-ordinator’s office and said ‘Alright, let’s go’, which would obviously endear him to us,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea after Day 2 of rookie camp at Princess Auto Stadium.

“It’s not like he doesn’t catch the ball, he just wasn’t a part of their plan.”

He’s certainly a part of Winnipeg’s plan as he impressed at the CFL Combine, most notably with the second-best broad jump in the entire class. He skipped out on his pro day at UConn to attend.

If anything, Clercius feels his experience last year only made him a better player for the Canadian game as special teams is that much more important up north where there are three downs and a bigger field.

“I felt general managers and scouts would have some suspicion of why I (didn’t) have a lot of production, so, by me going to the combine, I felt I was able to show them who I am and what I’m like as a player,” he said.

Arguably more impressive than any measurable stat is his perseverance. Clercius is the son of Haitian immigrants and grew up in Montreal-Nord, a low-income community with a high crime rate.

“It’s really known for gang violence and all that. I had a lot of friends and sadly, there’s people that ended up in jail and there’s people that dropped out of school who aren’t doing anything right now in their lives,” said Clercius, whose mom suddenly passed away from an illness when he was 14.

“Even if it has a bad reputation, people don’t recognize that there’s also a lot of good people and there’s a lot of athletes, so I feel hope that in the next few years we’re not gonna have that image of what it is right now. I’m trying to be role model for my community.”

He defied the odds as he got noticed out of the intercollegiate level at Collège Montmorency and was selected to the Canadian national team for the 2018 International Federation of American Football World Junior Championship. Canada went on to beat Mexico to win gold.

Soon after, he earned an offer to Connecticut through a recruitment camp. When he arrived on campus, he only knew a few English words. He redshirted in 2019, then had the 2020 season erased due to the pandemic. The program enrolled him in an English program over that time and he was up to speed by the time he stepped on the field in 2021.

“I had to go to a new environment, learn a new culture, a new language,” said the French-speaking Clercius. “I came a long way. I’m here right now because I worked for that.”

Clercius, who has a sociology degree, has another year of NCAA elgibility but felt ready to make the jump to the pros. He had a feeling he’d be fulfilling that dream in Winnipeg and he’s happy it worked out that way.

He’ll start out behind fellow Canadian receivers Nic Demski, Drew Wolitarsky and Jeremy Murphy.

“In college, when I was telling my buddies I was going to the CFL, I said I felt I had a good chance to end up in Winnipeg just because I was seeing scouts going to my practices all the time and now that it finally happened, I feel it’s a blessing because I know Winnipeg is a good organization, especially for a Canadian.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31