At 6-foot, 200 pounds Ottawa safety Shakespeare Louis is ready to make an impact at the NCAA division one level with Robert Morris University. He is described as “the most complete defensive player out there” by Coach Jean Guillaume who has mentored him on and off of the football field in Ottawa. He says, “He can play everywhere. I remember having him at linebacker, free safety, strong safety, defensive back, halfback, nickel and the best part about him is that not only is he the hardest hitter on the teams he’s on but he can also go into coverage.” The quote is from a JZ Media interview in January as a part of the Ottawa High School Football scouting reports that Jordan Zlomislic had put together, however the context remains the same in a recent interview with Louis himself.
After training with CEGEP College Vieux Montreal in Montreal on Saturday alongside other Ottawa rising stars Brice Ebaneth and Ebenezer Dibula Shakespeare Louis was asked about the player that Robert Morris can expect out of him come the fall, his answer: “They can expect a really hard hitting safety. I am not afraid to hit thats for sure.” but overall he is excited. He said to Zlomislic of JZ Media, “I am excited show what I can do.”
Eventhough he is a Canadian coming from the city of Ottawa Louis has two years of experience with the Clearwater Academy International Knights in Clearwater, Florida where he played “some of the best competition in the nation.” in his words, “It was a great experience for me to get exposure and show out of what I can do.” During the two seasons with the Knights he played under head coach Jesse Chinchar and played alongside fellow division one stars Akheem Mesidor, Brendon Barrow, Ajou Ajou, Geri Theodore, Ludovick Choquette, Tristan Marois, Albert Reese, Nickolas Tshivuadi, Ebenezer Dibula and more while also making a large impact of his own. In his final 5 games with the team he made a total 32 tackles, two interceptions and scored two touchdowns. He is clearly a big playmaker on the defensive side of the ball and given his flexibility to play anywhere on the defence and be consistent doing so he is set to be a big time player for the Robert Morris University football team starting as early as this fall when they kickoff their 2021 season.
Over the recent years there has been a large growth and expansion in the talent on the football fields in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The nation’s capital has produced dozens of college football players, and even some professionals as of recent. Neville Gallimore and Eli Ankou each represent the city on the big stage in the NFL and on the rise to do the same is class of 2024 defensive athlete Brice Ebaneth.
Ebaneth is set to attend Kiski School in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania alongside Ottawa linebacker Maleek Russell who played there in 2020 and has had success playing football previously in Ottawa. He has played previously with the Nepean Eagles in NCAFA and the Ottawa Sooners in the OPFL but is ready to play on a bigger stage, he says, “I can’t wait to play at Kiski School to be able to get more exposure and opportunity to play against the top competition.”
At 6-foot-1, 190 pounds Ebaneth is a tall cornerback with plenty of potential. He has recently trained with both Coach Jean Guillaume of Maroons Academy in Ottawa and Limitless Era’s Iseah Montgiraud where he has gotten himself right in the football I.Q category, he’s gotten his fundamentals down and even improved his speed and abilities. Division one athletes Katley Joseph, Kervens Bonhomme and more have gone through similar training in Ottawa as well as CFL Ottawa Redblacks defensive backs Abdul Kanneh and Sherrod Baltimore.
Just recently he was able to showcase his talents in Montreal, taking part in the College Vieux Montreal Football practice on Saturday with Coach Jean Guillaume two division one athletes from Ottawa Ebenezer Dibula and Shakespeare Louis. NFL Draft pick Benjamin St Juste who is also a defensive back played with the CVM Spartans when he was in CEGEP prior to playing out his NCAA division one career with the Michigan Wolverines and Minnesota Gophers.
Every year there is at least one player on each CFL team that surprises the entire league. It could be a receiver that goes over 1,000 yards, a running back that surpasses 100 yards consistently in games or even a linebacker that leads the team in tackles in a number of games, no matter what in this league there are players that sneak their ways into the spotlight and for the Ottawa Redblacks, heading into the 2021 CFL season it looks like there will be a lot of under the radar players sneaking their way into the spotlight as well but R-Nation should not be surprised when it happens.
Some big names on the offensive side of the ball to be sure to remember when August 7th comes around and you see them on the field once again would be offensive linemen Mark Korte and Nolan MacMillan, running back Timothy Flanders, quarterback Matt Nichols and pass catchers R.J Harris, Daniel Petermann, Michael Klukas and DeVonte Dedmon.
As for the defence, there are plenty of big time players ready to shine together in red and black come August 7th. Don Unamba, Sherrod Baltimore, Antoine Pruneau, Randall Evans, Abdul Kanneh and Gump Hayes each bring fire power to the defensive backfield while experienced CFL players Avery Williams, Micah Awe, Jerod Fernandez, Cleyon Laing, Davon Coleman and Avery Ellis fill the front seven.
The special teams unit in Ottawa remains the same from the 2019 CFL season and should always be looked at with a close eye considering both Lewis Ward and Richie Leone are a part of the best kicking duo in the CFL, adding DeVonte Dedmon to the mix only makes Bob Dyce’s job easier.
Each of the players named and more are already expected to have big seasons. They are coming into 2021 with an expanded role or have improved heavily this off-season, making them better for the team moving forward, however there are still a good number of spots to fill on the roster. There are a lot of young players coming into the CFL for the very first time or are new to the city of Ottawa that are ready to bring a spark to the team as soon as they possibly can and for some that could be the first game on August 7th at Edmonton. Some players ready to make that impact week one would be Anthony Coombs, Jerminic Smith, Ryan Davis, Praise Martin-Oguike, Na’Ty Rodgers, Kendrick Rogers, Jordan Smallwood, Ketel Asse, Brandin Dandridge, Brandon Hitner, Rafael Araujo-Lopes, Adam Auclair, Marcus Roberson, David Jones and Treshaun Abrahams-Webster. The group coming into Ottawa this season is extremely fresh and is the underdogs of the CFL having gone 3-15 in 2019 and signing very few big name players, making them even hungrier for the big wins to start the 2021 CFL season in Edmonton, then Saskatchewan and at home against B.C.
After signing running back Justin Davis late last week the Ottawa Redblacks made the announcement that they signed 2 offensive linemen up front to provide Davis, Flanders, Hunt, Newsome and Gillanders protection. They signed American offensive linemen Nick Buchanan and Jack Kramer. Nick Buchanan may be looked at as a potential replacement for centre Alex Mateas who retired earlier this offseason. Buchanan started his last 25 games at centre with the Florida Gators during his collegiate career while Jack Kramer had played his entire senior season at Bowling Green University on the offensive line at centre.
Alongside the two signings, the Ottawa Redblacks released 9 to begin the CFL’s 2021 training camp cut downs. Among those released was Canadian offensive lineman Daniel Omara, Shannon Smith and Denzel Johnson who were in Ottawa in 2019 as well as Marvelle Ross, Kai Absheer, Lakiem Williams, James Crawford, Johnny Dwight and Jocquez Kalili.
The final cut downs will occur on July 30th as the CFL returns to play on August 5th, the Ottawa Redblacks will be playing their first game in Edmonton on the 7th of August against the Elks.
Today the Ottawa Redblacks announced the signing of running back Justin Davis. Davis played his collegiate career at USC where he gained a total 2,465 yards rushing and 19 touchdowns in 46 games. He also played in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals where he played just 5 regular season games, touching the ball three times for 20 yards. Davis is added to the Redblacks backfield in Ottawa alongside Timothy Flanders, Brendan Gillanders and Detrez Newsome. Akeem Hunt is also there, however with the signing of Justin Davis also came with Hunt being placed on the suspended list. The suspended list has been used as a eligibility tool as of recent because of the amount of players there are in camp. You can only have 100 players on the field at a time due to the CFL’s 2021 training camp rules so if you are placed on the suspended list you cannot practice and will not be on the field. It has also been used as the Covid-19 list or the list for new players coming in that need to quarantine, like Justin Davis.
As the Ottawa Redblacks wind down week one of CFL training camp the team has announced that they have released two defensive linemen and have added two to their active roster. Defensive tackle Conner Flagel was cut as well as defensive end Bryson Young. The team has since added Daniel Omara and Frank Beltre onto their active roster from the suspended list.
Frank Beltre is an experienced defensive end, having played for both the Calgary Stampeders and Toronto Argonauts previously in his career, most recently being looked at as one of the premier special teams players in the league with the Argonauts. He looks to shine alongside other defensive ends Avery Ellis, Stansly Maponga, Praise Martin-Oguike, Ese Mrabure, Kene Onyeka and Reshaan Davis on the Redblacks meanwhile Daniel Omara, who was signed the day that centre Alex Mateas announced his retirement looks to make it onto the starting offensive line. He is among Na’ty Rodgers, Brandon Hitner, Jakub Szott, Tyler Catalina, Jamar McGloster, Ketel Asse and others in doing so.
For the players in the CFL it has been a long time coming to be in the position they are today. Nearing the end of the first week of 2021 CFL training camp players are back on CFL fields for the first time in a full year and a half and in any field of work or way of life a year and a half is a long time. A lot can change in a year and a half and for the majority of the CFL a lot has changed, especially for the Ottawa Redblacks.
Just a few days into training camp in Ottawa a lot of new faces have hit the field at TD Place in Ottawa and have talked to media, and if you take a look at who these players are there are more new faces than familiar faces considering the rebuild that happened following the 2019 season where the team went 3-15. A part of the rebuild was head coach Paul LaPolice, defensive co-ordinator Mike Benevides and quarterback Matt Nichols. These three are looked at to be in the centre of the team’s improvements this year and will each help the team succeed in their own ways. For Nichols and LaPolice that will be on the offensive side of the ball, helping lead the young group of players that the Ottawa Redblacks have, including quarterbacks Taryn Christion and Caleb Evans who battle for the third string quarterback spot and a list of offensive skill position players that come into Ottawa for their very first CFL opportunity. As for Benevides, he looks to evolve a defence in Ottawa which looks to be one of the best in the CFL on paper into being the best on the field. He is working with CFL veterans Cleyon Laing, Avery Ellis, Don Unamba, Micah Awe, Antoine Pruneau, Sherrod Baltimore, Abdul Kanneh and Avery Williams on the defence alongside a number of other talents who look to headline not only the defence in Ottawa but the entire team and help win games.
Picture taken by Ottawa REDBLACKS’ communications manager Chris Hofley (same with featured image)
The three names mentioned are some of the key people in this year’s CFL training camp in the capital as for making an immediate impact on the team and helping the team get ready for the season but there are also a good group of players, among the 100 players at camp to look out for to make an impact. Some of those players would include offensive skill players Timothy Flanders, Akeem Hunt, Ryan Davis, Jerminic Smith, DeVonte Dedmon, Jordan Smallwood and Kendrick Rogers as well as offensive linemen Na’ty Rodgers, Chris Ferguson, Jakub Szott and Ketel Asse, defensive players Ironhead Gallon, Praise Martin-Oguike, Kene Onyeka, Adam Auclair, Marcus Roberson, Gump Hayes and Christophe Mulumba.
Of course when you have 100 players at training camp there are a number of players to choose from to make an impact in camp and in the 2021 CFL season so in reality all 100 players should be very closely watched because this is the CFL and anyone can make an impact at any time, but the 2021 CFL season will be based off of veterans and who makes the biggest impact in training camp because of the short camp, no pre-season and shortage of games in the season.
The Ottawa Redblacks began practices on Sunday and have since had 3 full practices to start off the 2021 CFL season. Taking a look in at the roster, it has changed drastically since the Redblacks last played in 2019 and has changed mostly on the offensive side of the ball at wide receiver but the changes have yet to stop even though they are well into the first week of training camp.
As the Redblacks head into day 4 of their 2021 CFL training camp on Wednesday the team has added some players. They have announced the signings of both Terry Wright and Jaquan Blair at the wide receiver position. These players will not practice right away as they will have to go through their 7 day quarantine following their crossing of the border but will still be able to get some practices in during training camp.
Terry Wright, a 5-foot-10, 177 pound receiver out of Purdue has spent time with the Seattle Seahawks, Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins in his professional career and is featured as a versatile speed receiver, similar to a Ryan Davis or Cortrelle Simpson that the team already has at training camp. As for Jaquan Blair, the 6-foot-2, 205 pound receiver could be the next big body receiver for the Ottawa Redblacks. The team also has Jordan Smallwood, Joe Walker, Kendrick Rogers, Wesley Lewis and Marco Dubois but Blair will come in to battle with them. The Maine product had played in 39 games over the 4 seasons in college, catching a total 118 passes for 1,511 yards and 10 touchdowns.
On New Year’s Day in 2016 the Florida Gators played the Michigan Wolverines in the 70th annual Citrus Bowl. The 14th ranked Wolverines won in a 41-7 blowout over the 19th ranked Gators thanks to headlining performances of quarterback Jake Rudock, running back De’Veon Smith and receiver Jehu Chesson. Despite this game being a large achievement for all of the Michigan Wolverines players and a large defeat for the Gators, the 2016 Citrus Bowl marks a big shift in the life of former Florida Gators’ quarterback Joshua Grady. This game was Grady’s last football game. He completed 1 pass for 7 yards to now NFL receiver Antonio Callaway but that had nothing to do with what happened next. Over the span of 4 seasons in the SEC Joshua Grady ran the ball 14 times for just 38 yards, caught 8 passes for 114 yards and completed 6 of 11 passes for 44 yards while throwing 2 interceptions. His numbers aren’t eye opening and didn’t create any professional football opportunities, taking his dream of one day playing in the NFL out of the picture but his dream of being around the game of football remained in the picture, he said in an interview with JZ Media’s Jordan Zlomislic, “When I realized in 2015 that I wasn’t going to the NFL I knew I wanted to be around the game and I only needed to know how.” Joshua Grady may not have heard his name called on his draft night the way he may have envisioned it to be when he first signed his letters of intent at Vanderbilt University in 2012 but he was in fact in attendance at the 2015 NFL Draft. He was there with his father (Woodrow Grady) and god-brother Dante Fowler Jr who was drafted 3rd overall being represented by the late Eugene Parker. Grady said, “It was graduation week and my friends were planning on going to Panama City Beach but my dad was going to the Draft and said I could either go to the beach with my friends and do that or go to the NFL Draft. I went to the Draft and that experience introduced me to the idea of being an agent. Seeing what Eugene (Parker, Dante Fowler’s agent and friend of Woodrow Grady) was doing, he really set the template for me.”
Setting the template for him, Eugene Parker who represented NFL superstars Deion Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Hines Ward, Rod Woodson, Derrick Brooks, Larry Fitzgerald and more was going to be Joshua Grady’s role model and mentor going into his career as a sports agent. Parker was extremely well known by the public, having success representing some of the NFL’s best players and breaking barriers as an African American sports agent. Grady had said, “Seeing Eugene really painted the picture for me and I wanted to follow in his footsteps.” For Joshua Grady, being mentored and groomed into a career as a sports agent by one of the best to do it in Eugene Parker would have been a perfect scenario and would have been a great start however he had to do it on his own early on. Unfortunately Parker had passed away with cancer in 2016, putting the idea of Joshua being groomed by him as an agent to rest and leaving Joshua by himself to launch his career on his own but at the time he still wasn’t sure if being a sports agent was for him. “I didn’t know I was going to be an agent until I took the (NFLPA Agent) exam.” he told Zlomislic, “Going into it I didn’t know too much about the agent industry. I just saw Eugene (Parker) doing his thing, did some marketing (with JABEZ Marketing Group) and it seemed interesting.”
Following the NFLPA Agent Exam and previously spending time around Eugene Parker as well as the people at JABEZ Marketing Group Joshua Grady had started his own agency, Grady Sports Agency and even-though he may not have been fully informed about what being a sports agent really entails, within just the first year of becoming a certified NFLPA agent he got his first client drafted. Just 15 months after his last college football game as a part of the Florida Gators Grady had his client Leon McQuay iii drafted in the sixth round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs. “In that year there were a lot of learning lessons.” he said, “When I signed Leon all I knew was that you pay for his training, go to his pro day and hope he gets drafted so I learned a lot that year.” McQuay was a 2 year starter for the University of Southern California, making 50 tackles, 4 for a loss, one sack and intercepting one pass over 13 games in his senior year. With his success in the PAC-12 with USC Leon McQuay was talked about leading into the Draft, at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds he was looked at as a nickel that has explosive qualities for the NFL game and he was a great player for Grady to represent in his first year. “One of the biggest things I learned in that first year was that, Leon got drafted by the Chiefs and I never talked to the Chiefs, 95% of this is your client.” Grady explained, “They are the ones running the 40 yard dash, talking to teams pre-draft and going through the entire process so when Leon was drafted I didn’t necessarily feel like I deserved it because I didn’t do anything, I didn’t know what to do, like he had his (East-West) Shrine game and I didn’t go because I didn’t know agents were supposed to go. The first year taught me a lot, I didn’t really enjoy it because I was so new to it and I didn’t know too much but it broke a lot of misconceptions I had for the agent field. It was very eye-opening.”
Leon McQuay was drafted 218th overall in the 6th round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs marking Joshua Grady and Grady Sports Agency’s first ever NFL Draft pick. The next year Joshua represented Jordan Wilkins who was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft, followed by Byron Coward a 5th round pick by the New England Patriots in 2019, Falcons’ 2020 7th rounder Sterling Hofrichter as well as both Jason Pinnock and Grant Stuard who got the call during the 2021NFL Draft. Grady Sports Agency has had a client drafted in each of the last 5 NFL drafts. When asked about that streak and the success he’s had Joshua had stated, “It’s humbling to be where we are. It shows me that other people can do it. Thats why with my podcast (Agent Talk Podcast) and my classes (Agent Academy) I try to show that you can do it too.” he continued, “There’s no secret sauce or secret recipe that you have to have. It’s just by being intentional and having some guidance so that you can avoid the pitfalls that I fell into when I was starting out because the opportunities are endless in this field.” Not only are the opportunities in the sports industry endless but Joshua Grady has been consistently furthering his opportunities.
While representing a number of professional football players and growing Grady Sports Agency to one day be a house hold name Joshua Grady has been building his personal brand and expanding his audience. Doing so he has launched a digital marketing company in Grady Media, a podcast in The Agent Talk Podcast and an Agent Academy. Each of the three startups have helped his name get out there more not only as an NFL agent but as an entrepreneur and a hustler having also dabbled in some side incomes like dog sitting, Uber eats and investing. Doing these things and also being a former collegiate athlete with both Vanderbilt and Florida has made Grady more relatable for football players, giving him what should be an advantage when it comes to signing a player and building a relationship with a player. “People want to work with someone that they can relate to in some sort of way and I’ve noticed that every client that I have signed with has connected with me with something.” Grady mentioned, “I think it’s very important to have something to connect and bond over with someone because it builds a trust factor and sets a comfortability level. For a lot of these guys they feel poached, agents just want something from them and that is the case a lot of the time where these young men are seen as just cheques by some agents so if you can build that relationship and establish that synergy with them it will carry you for years and it’s rewarding when you have success with someone that you know has your back.” It’s only been 5 years since Joshua had started his career as a sports agent but the amount of people he’s come across and built connections with in those five years is extremely impressive. He has been able to not only expand his companies that he’s started but also his network, giving him the ability to continue to grow and prepare for a future, a bright future.
The bright future of Joshua Grady, Grady Sports Agency, Grady Media and The Agent Talk Podcast has been and will continue to be in the works as opportunities come. Right now, following the NCAA’s rule change where student athletes can now profit from their name, image and likeness Grady and his team at both GSA and Grady Media have been busy making sure that the athletes make the right decisions moving forward with their careers on and off of the football field while also preparing for what’s next. “The N.I.L is our main focus right now, we’re working with some athletes to help them grow their platform to benefit them not only for their university careers but also what comes after.” Joshua Grady said when asked about his future plans, “I want to continue to grow Grady Media. The majority of projects we’ve had have been with individuals such as athletes so I would like to market companies, brands, organizations, teams and have events for Grady Media that could get us more into the community because my main goal is to entrench ourselves into different places, cities and even countries with two of our guys playing in the CFL this year so this year I want to expand and sharpen what we are already doing while also having another successful NFL Draft next year.”
Touching on next year’s NFL Draft, what would be the 6th in Grady Sports Agency history he had also said, “We have a lot of momentum right now. I want to keep our draft class small so probably no more than 5 GSA players but we’ve got a good group that if they had to sign today would be big signings for us because we are about the quality over quantity. A quality 3 players would be perfect because we are shooting for a high pick this year. I don’t see why we can’t. I just want to continue to progress and that would be a huge progression for us and one I am excited about because I know the value we provide and there are not a lot of agencies as a whole that are doing what we’re doing.” Everything that both Joshua and his companies do they do it big, making it that much more exciting for all football fans to see what he as an up and coming agent can do to change the game. He’s already scratching the surface for changing how people think about marketing around athletes and it won’t be too long before he is a house hold name for not only football fans but sports fans in general with the sky being the limit for everything he does.
Just prior to opening the Ottawa Redblacks 2021 CFL training camp on Sunday the organization has announced that they have defensive linemen Shaneil Jenkins and Frank Beltre, offensive linemen Alex Fontana and Daniel Omara, linebacker Christophe Mulumba, defensive backs Shamarko Thomas, Jonathan Alston and Tony Anderson and receiver Ervin Phillips on the suspended list. These players will remain on the Ottawa Redblacks roster and some will likely play this season while some may not, like Alex Fontana who has decided to take the year off alongside Shamarko Thomas.
The Ottawa Redblacks also released quarterback Chase Litton. Litton, a Marshall product was set to come in and fight for the 3rd string spot at quarterback with Taryn Christion and Caleb Evans.
JZ MEDIA 