Recent Ottawa Sooners News
June 1, 2024 players can officially sign with a CJFL team
For some Saturday June 1st is the biggest day of their young lives, as the CJFL presents its National Signing Day.
The day is earmarked every year on June 1st, the day in which players can finally sign with a CJFL club. When a player signs they are essentially signing for their entire junior football career as the player then becomes the property of that team.
So many considerations are made before signing with a CJFL club; location, team support, roster depth, coaching staff, scholarship program, etc all weighs in on a player’s decision.
National Signing Day is not only exciting for the players, but the coaches as well. Their ideas, hopes and hard work will finally come to fruition as they start to fill their roster spots.
Following National Signing Day coaches can continue to recruit and sign a player immediately if they are a good fit for their team. That said the bulk of the players ready to play in the CJFL will sign on Saturday.
Once players sign on the dotted line, coaches can begin developing their schemes and systems around their potential starters. They can also begin preparing for their Main Camp along with Week 1 of the regular season.
All three Conferences and 19 CJFL teams will participate on June 1st, signing players to their 2024 roster.
Fans can keep up to date with CJFL National Signing Day on social media with #CJFLSigningDay as teams will be posting once a player signs.
Kick-off is set for August 17 in Ontario
The CJFL in conjunction with the Ontario Conference (OFC) have released their 2024 schedule that will see the six-member Conference open the CJFL season the weekend of August 17, 2024 with a full slate of games
The defending Conference champion St. Clair Saints begin their title defence in a Conference final rematch when they visit the London Beefeaters that afternoon at 3:00pm. The Hamilton Hurricanes will visit the Ottawa Sooners that night at 7:00pm, then the GTA Grizzlies host the Quinte Skyhawks the next day at 1:00pm.
The teams are scheduled to play an eight-week regular season concluding on October 6th. The Conference playoffs have a bit of a twist this year, with all six teams qualifying for postseason play, beginning with a pair of quarterfinals on October 12. The top two seeds will have a bye into a semi-final and will await the quarterfinal winners the following weekend before the Conference championship game scheduled for Saturday October 26th. The winner of the Conference will host the 2024 Canadian Bowl on their home field on Saturday November 9th when they host the winner of the CJFL National Semi-Final between the champion from BC and the champion from the Prairie Conference.
It was 2021, the last time the Ontario Conference hosted the Canadian Bowl. That season the Beefeaters fell to the visiting Langley Rams.
The Ottawa Sooner shares his love of football
For the most part, players in the CJFL fell in love with the game of football at a young age. The first chance they got they were involved in the game, whether playing, filling water bottles or cheering on their favourite teams.
Regardless of how they got to their current CJFL team, each one of the players has a story. This is the story of defensive lineman Richard Graham who just graduated from the Ottawa Sooners program. He was a dynamic player on the defensive side of the ball for his club and every now and then would appear offensively as well.
Following the Sooners season, Graham was invited to the CFL’s Invitational Combine and he impressed some of the professional teams so much that they are still talking with as the draft approaches.
Richard talks with Ryan Watters about his Football Story.
Sooners, Hall Bound
- By Ryan Watters 03/22/2024, 5:30am PDT