The Sidney native was selected 39th overall by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Monday鈥檚 annual Canadian Football League draft.
Anthony, a receiver with the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks, was one of three straight selections made by the Riders in the fifth round after trading away a third-round pick for a pair of extra later choices.
The six-foot-two, 205-pound graduate of Mount Douglas Secondary (2005-09) was taken two picks after his Golden Hawks鈥� roommate, fullback Dell Isaac, who was selected 37th 鈥� the first pick of the fifth round 鈥� by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
鈥淲e were texting each other all day, wondering what was happening. When are we gonna go? If we鈥檙e going to go and who we were going to go to? And then, in a matter of seconds, we both went,鈥� said Anthony. 鈥淢y name popped up, it caught me off guard first because I thought they would call before, but coaches called me about a half-hour after.鈥�
He was taken right after the Riders selected Waterloo offensive lineman Matt Vonk with the 38th pick and just ahead of Saskatchewan鈥檚 third straight choice, Levi Steinhauer, a defensive lineman with the University of Saskatchewan at No. 40.
鈥淚t was stressful, but overall is was an awesome experience,鈥� said Anthony. 鈥淛ust hearing your name called is a special moment for me and my family.
鈥淭hey have the best fans in the CFL and I鈥檓 really excited to go there and strap it up as a Saskatchewan Roughrider.鈥�
Anthony had just returned home to Vancouver Island on Sunday night.
鈥淚 woke up and started watching it on TSN,鈥� he said of the annual draft. 鈥淚 saw a few guys I鈥檝e played with and against go in the first couple of rounds, then we switched over to the livestream on tsn.ca.鈥�
He noticed Isaac go and: 鈥淚 was picked about 30 seconds later by Saskatchewan. It caught me by surprise and then my cellphone started going off,鈥� he said.
Anthony 鈥� who has played four seasons with the Golden Hawks, totalling 47 receptions for 722 yards and seven touchdowns 鈥� will return to Laurier then attend rookie camp on May 29 and could progress to main camp. His options would be to make the main club, be assigned to the practice roster or go play his fifth year of university.
Last season he was selected to participate in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport East-West Bowl along with Tyler Lavin of Nanaimo (a McGill University linebacker) and Anthony鈥檚 Mount Doug teammate Bryan Rideout (a UBC defensive back). The latter two were not selected Monday, but could still be signed as free agents.
The day capped off a long journey for Anthony.
鈥淚t was a lot of waiting around at evaluation camp and at the combine. Then it was wait for draft day, and now things are happening quick,鈥� said Anthony.
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
