Through history, the city of Ottawa has been a home of a lot of great athletes and for the most part hockey players, basketball players as well as some soccer players, though recently we’ve adapted to the amount of talent in this city through the game of football. As sports fans in Ottawa, we all knew about the game of football. Having ties with the CFL between the Rough Riders and Renegades in the past, as well as seeing the local teams like the Sooners, Carleton Ravens and Ottawa Gee Gees succeed, but until recent years we hadn’t looked at individual athletes and football players as potential stars in the NFL. Although the city had a number of athletes go to the CFL or even for the sakes of players like Jesse Palmer and Christo Bilukidi go to the NFL, the names of these players weren’t as advertised and if you weren’t into sports you wouldn’t know about them but now we are seeing a change of direction. With the CFL back in the city, former Ottawa athletes giving back as well as a good group of people in the city forming their own platforms about football in Ottawa, we have seen a great growth in not only the game it self but the talent within the game.
Like we’ve never seen before, the city of Ottawa has been greatly showcased at some of the biggest stages in football. We can proudly say that there are dozens of athletes playing at the post-secondary level both NCAA and CIS, the CFL level and even at NFL stage with both Neville Gallimore and Eli Ankou of the Dallas Cowboys, and even though that’s so good to see we’ve been told not to get too caught up in what’s happening in the present, “Ottawa’s got some dogs (great athletes) and the talent is only getting better, Ottawa is next up.” says Ottawa Redblacks’ star defensive back Sherrod Baltimore.
To make sure the city of Ottawa and football fans around the world are up to date with what is going on with the future of Ottawa football, I’ve decided to start my own scouting reports on the best up-and-coming athletes from the city of Ottawa. We all see it in the United States, having several recruiting platforms like 247Sports, Sports Illustrated, Rivals and even ESPN being a part of it though we are yet to see a major sports media company or an individual report about it in Canada, so I, Jordan Zlomislic am looking to be a part of that change and movement in Canadian football.
Looking at the work that those mentioned platforms have done in the sports media field is a lot. They have many different writers and reporters putting together all sorts of content for the recruiting side of college football and seeing that I’m just one person it will be tough to match their work right off of the bat so I’ll be starting out with doing scouting reports on only the players in the Ottawa area or that have been helped by the coaches from the city. Doing this, I am aiming to help support the city of Ottawa and help grow the audience the city has for its future star players. A lot of these players, I’ve actually had the opportunity to get to know through the process of working with Coach Jean Guillaume and Sherrod Baltimore for my documentary series, “The Journey From The 613” and just watching them train and play on the field, its obvious that the city of Ottawa has some studs coming out in the next couple of years and its time that they get noticed, like the young athletes do in the states.
To launch the idea, I will be writing articles and doing short clips, giving information on some of the best players at each position on the football field from Ottawa. The first week, being January 4th through the 9th I will post an article daily about 5 different defensive backs and safeties, the following week will have 5 articles on linebackers and half backs while the third month will have covered the defensive linemen. At the end of January, you will have access to 15 articles about 15 different athletes on the defensive side of the ball, and just like the major recruiting platforms that you see in the states they will be ranked, although I will not be ranking them. You will be.
As readers of the articles, you, at the end of each article will have the chance to vote whether the player featured in the article is a 1,2,3,4 or a 5 star recruit. The “star” with the most votes will decide which star the player is put under, though not copying any of the platforms in the states and taking up an idea which I saw in basketball I will be keeping the Canadian theme and instead of a star they will be classified as maple leafs, so if you were to be voted as a 5 star recruit you would actually be a 5-Maple Leaf recruit.
The scouting reports will not stop after the defence, in the last week of January as we get ready to learn about the offensive stars in Ottawa you will have the opportunity to look back at some of the articles from the defensive reports and get your votes in before its too late. This last week of January will also be used as a week so post the votings and name the players as 1,2,3,4 or 5-Maple Leaf recruits which will be used on the offensive side of the ball as well. Starting in the first week of February, you will have the chance to learn about 5 different quarterbacks from the city of Ottawa who are on the come up, in week 2 you will learn about the running backs and full backs from Ottawa, in week 3 you will see all of the best playmakers from wide receiver to tight end and to cap off the month of February I will be informing you all, while giving insight information on 5 of the best offensive linemen from Ottawa.
These series articles are something that I’ve been planning out for some time now, since I started working on the documentary series with Jean Guillaume and Sherrod Baltimore so to be able to finally get the vision out there to the world will be exciting. Stay tuned for JZ’s Scouting Reports as we head into the new 2021 year.
JZ MEDIA 