'The Beast': A Huskies guide for Tuesday night's 2022 CFL Draft

At last, the wait is over.

After a program record of five players being selected in the 2021 edition of the CFL Draft, Nathan Cherry, Riley Pickett, David Solie and Noah Zerr are all hoping to become the latest Huskies to hear their name called on draft night when the 2022 CFL Draft gets underway on Tuesday night.

Cherry, Pickett, Solie and Zerr — who were all named Canada West All-Stars after standout 2021 seasons — all attended CFL combines and are aiming to book end the draft process with a selection tomorrow night. The quartet of Huskies are the latest in what has been a constant trend of the program sending players to the next level, as since 2019, the Huskies are second in the nation with ten selections in the last three drafts.

Saskatchewan has had six first round selections since 2007 — third most in the nation and would become the only school in the country to have had a player be a first round pick in the last three drafts should one of this years draft eligible go off the board in the first nine selections, after Nelson Lokombo and Mattland Riley were each first rounders in 2020 and 2021.

Here's more on the four Huskies looking to make the leap to the pro game, including information and insights from some of Canadian football's top experts in Duane Ford of TSN, Justin Dunk of 3DownNation and Marshall Ferguson of CFL.ca.

Nathan Cherry

POSITION: Defensive Lineman
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6-3, 245 lbs
HOMETOWN: Saskatoon, Sask.
HIGH SCHOOL: Aden Bowman Collegiate
MAJOR: Business

BACKGROUND: A product of Aden Bowman Collegiate in Saskatoon, Nathan Cherry joined the Huskies roster in 2016. After redshirting his first season, Cherry quickly became a rotational piece over the next three seasons along a loaded Saskatchewan line, which has featured fellow CFL draftees such as Evan Machibroda and Nicholas Dheilly.

2021 was a breakout season for Cherry, who became a full-time starter for the first-time in his Huskies career and he took full advantage. The Saskatoon product finished in a tie for third in the country with 5.5 regular-season sacks helping him earn a national honour for the first-time in his career. The fourth-year linemen also chipped in 13.5 total tackles in his six regular-season games this season.

Cherry was a monster in the Canada West playoffs, registering a pair of sacks in each of the team’s postseason games, helping the Huskies hoist the Hardy Cup for the second-time in the last three seasons.

He earned an invite to the CFL National Combine in Toronto, where he put up impressive numbers, including 26 reps on the bench.

The Buzz

Marshall Ferguson, CFL.ca “He is going to be be up against Deionte Knight of Western, who will probably be the first interior defensive lineman taken. I think he is probably the second.”

Duane Ford, TSN: “Nathan is one of the guys in this draft class that I’ve most enjoyed watching. Watching his film, watching his highlights, he has a relentless motor. The things I think about with him are hands and feet. He does a very good job with his hands. He’s not necessarily the biggest guy, or what you would label as the most long-armed guy, but he does a very good job with his hands of keeping blockers off of him, and the fact that he has good leg drive, a high motor and keeps his legs moving."

Marshall Ferguson, CFL.ca: “He's slightly underweight for a defensive lineman, he's right at the 50th, 60th percentile, but strong bench, ran well, lower body burst, decent quickness scores, all that kind of stuff — and it shows up when he plays. I like him. I think that he's going to be a top 20 pick.”

Justin Dunk, 3DownNation: “You can see the way he was able to physically dominate at the U SPORTS level and how that could translate to being a special teams contributor in the CFL — He also has the ability to put on some weight to slide inside depending on what team drafts him and how they view him.”

Duane Ford, TSN: “I find he does a real good job of keeping blockers off balance. He’s not really letting guys take him down the middle and get a good piece of him. He's a tough guy to block.”

Marshall Ferguson, CFL.ca: “I actually kind of tagged him as being an Edmonton guy, because I think Chris Jones will like the way that he is — quiet, goes to work, and plays with a style that I think is conducive to a long career.”

Riley Pickett

POSITION: Defensive Lineman
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6-4, 250 lbs
HOMETOWN: Saskatoon, Sask.
HIGH SCHOOL: Centennial Collegiate
MAJOR: Business

BACKGROUND: Prior to joining the Huskies program, Pickett won three Canadian Bowls with the Saskatoon Hilltops, as well as the CJFL Defensive Linemen of the Year award in 2017. Pickett joined the Hilltops program after a standout high school career with the Centennial Chargers in Saskatoon.

Pickett quickly became a dominant force at the U SPORTS level after making the jump to the Huskies in 2018, where he registered 27 total tackles.

After a 17-tackle, 3.5-sack 2019 season, Pickett emerged in an elevated role for the 2021 season. He developed a dominant one-two punch with Cherry along the defensive line this season for the Huskies and earned the first Canada West All-Star nod of his Huskies career, after racking up 11 total tackles and three sacks in only five-regular season games.

He went on to add another 22 total tackles and three sacks in four postseason games. Two of those sacks came against the Montreal Carabins, where he was named the defensive MVP of the Uteck Bowl.

Pickett’s best performance of Huskies career was arguably on the national stage in Saskatchewan’s win over the Montreal Carabins in the 2021 Uteck Bowl, where he was named the defensive MVP of the national semifinal with a two-sack performance. Pickett finished his four-game postseason with 22 total tackles and three sacks.

The Saskatoon product tied teammate Nathan Cherry with 26 reps on the bench press at the 2022 CFL National Combine — which was tied for third among participants and tied for first among defensive lineman.

The Buzz

Justin Dunk, 3DownNation: “Riley is just a high motor dude. He has a lot of energy when you talk to him and he is certainly a guy that if you’re a CFL team you can look at him and see where you could get value from him right away because he can play special teams — he’s got that kind of tenacity. He has that kind of want-to. That allows him the ability to develop as a defensive player.

Marshall Ferguson, CFL.ca: “When you start looking at the defensive ends in the class,  it's like, ‘okay, well who can give you the burst off the ball, the production, the tenacity, the toughness — I think Pickett probably gives you the greatest amount of that from what I’ve seen.”

Duane Ford, TSN: “He is another guy, who is a high motor guy and has been a very productive player. One of the things that stood out for me and watching him is he's fundamentally and I would say, assignment wise as well, you can see he's very, very well coached and very environment conscious.”

Justin Dunk, 3DownNation: “There’s some people that thing ‘Will he be inside or outside in the CFL?’ But it’s good to have that versatility. Pending where he gets drafted, that will be decided, but the fact that he has that high motor, that energy, that want-to — he just loves to football — and I think that’s going to benefit him right off the jump to be able to help on special teams an then allow him time to develop and earn defensive reps as he goes along in his career.”

Duane Ford, TSN: “Where you notice his athleticism is plays where he does a good job of maintaining his outside leverage to play a quarterback bootleg and on run-pass options. He still has the athleticism and quickness to recover after securing the edge and securing contain, then he’s still able to run down the ball carrier a lot of the time.”

Marshall Ferguson, CFL.ca: “I feel like in-game is when a lot of these Saskatchewan guys show their best. That again helps all of their draft stock, but Pickett is certainly one of those for me. He consistently, in-game, gives his best stuff and shows his effort — which is exactly what they’re looking for.”

Duane Ford, TSN: “Both he and Nathan are physically very well prepared to play at the next level. They’ve not just spent time in the gym lifting, but they’re both pretty explosive guys. That’s something that standouts out both on film and their testing in the combine.”

David Solie

POSITION: Kicker/Punter
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 5-9, 200 lbs
HOMETOWN: Saskatoon, Sask.
HIGH SCHOOL: Holy Cross High School
MAJOR: Arts & Science

BACKGROUND: A talented pass catcher at Holy Cross High School in Saskatoon, David Solie was originally recruited to the University of Saskatchewan in 2016 as a receiver. Solie starred for Team Saskatchewan at the 2015 and 2016 Canada Cups, and ultimately as a member of the Huskies receiving corps for the 2017 Canada West season.

Solie stepped away from the Huskies following the season, electing to play a year in the CJFL where he won a Canadian Bowl with the Saskatoon Hilltops in 2018. But Solie rejoined the Huskies for the following season— this time as a full-time punter and kicker. He’s quickly affirmed his leg as one of the nation’s best. Solie’s 43.4 yards-per-punt was first in U SPORTS, flipping field position all season long for Saskatchewan. Solie was one of four Huskies named a First-Team U SPORTS All-Canadian, along with fellow draft eligibles in Zerr and Cherry, along with Adam Machart.

Solie registered a 77-yard punt in week-one against the Calgary Dinos, which stood as the second-longest recorded punt in U SPORTS this season. He also finished first in the Canada West and tied for third in the country in punts placed inside the 20-yard-line.

Solie is looking to become the fifth Huskie kicker in the modern CFL Draft era to hear his name called on draft night, with the last being Grant Shaw who was selected by the Toronto Argonauts in the second round, 11th overall in 2010.

During the 2017 season, Solie was a teammate of older brother Jacob, who was a defensive back for the Huskies. David and Jacob’s father Greg played for the Huskies during the 1983 season.

The Buzz

Duane Ford, TSN: “He’s definitely on my radar. Going through the specialists, some of his numbers very much stood out to me — In terms of qualifications, David is certainly a guy that qualifies and can go into a camp and compete if given the opportunity.”

Noah Zerr

POSITION: Offensive Lineman
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6-7, 330 lbs
HOMETOWN: Langenburg, Sask.
HIGH SCHOOL: Yorkton Regional High School
MAJOR: Kinesiology

BACKGROUND: Noah Zerr is looking to become the latest in a long line of Huskie offensive linemen to go high on draft day. The Langenburg, Sask. product would become the fourth Huskie offensive linemen to be selected in the first round since 2012, joining former teammates Mattland Riley and Evan Johnson, as well as former number-one overall pick Ben Heenan. He is set to become the seventh Huskies offensive lineman to be selected in the draft since 2010, along with the aforementioned Riley, Johnson and Heenan, as well as Connor Berglof, Nicholas Summach and two-time Grey Cup Champion Paddy Neufeld.

Zerr moved from Langenburg to Yorkton to play high school football, where he attended Yorkton Regional High School. With the Raiders, Zerr was a teammate of Peter Kozushka, who is an offensive lineman with the Alberta Golden Bears and is also set to be selected on Tuesday night. 

The son of former Huskies offensive linemen Rob Zerr, Noah was a part of the Huskies 2016 recruiting class along with, amongst others, Cherry, Mason Nyhus and now-Toronto Argonauts defensive back Josh Hagerty and now will be looking to follow in the footsteps of Hagerty to the CFL.

After redshirting in his first season with the program in 2016, Zerr became a starter in 2017 and hasn’t looked back since. He has started all but one of the 29 Canada West regular-season games in the last four seasons — all as the team’s left tackle.

Zerr was named both a Canada West All-Star and U SPORTS First-Team All-Canadian in 2022 after a standout season at left tackle, where he helped keep the pocket clean of Nyhus — who was sacked just five times all season.

An invite to the 2022 CFL National Combine in Toronto alongside Pickett, Machart and Cherry, Zerr put up 18 reps on the bench — fifth most among offensive linemen attendees. He was the highest-ranked offensive lineman in the CFL Scouting Bureau's spring rankings at number-ten

The Buzz

Justin Dunk, 3DownNation: “Based on the people I’ve talked to around the league — Zerr is the most pro-ready offensive lineman in the draft.”

Marshall Ferguson, CFL.ca: “I think that he will be the first or second offensive lineman off the board and that will probably be late first round, if I had to guess. But I just I think his combine weekend he pretty much did everything he needed to probably wanted some testing numbers to be higher, but really his film speaks for itself better than anything else.”

Duane Ford, TSN: “You look at his body of work and certainly I think that the history of offensive linemen coming out of the U of S is something of a factor as well. You know you’re getting a guy who has been well coached and has something of a pedigree there. All of those things combine I think to make him a very good prospect.”

Marshall Ferguson, CFL.ca: “He’s just so physical. The thing that I love about him was walking around him near the hotel during combine weekend, which was my first chance to see him in person — he’s built like a brick — when he's in shorts and a tee-shirt, he does not look like the average human being.”

Justin Dunk, 3DownNation: “When you turn on the tape — Zerr is a monster. He’s big. Some people want him to move a little better but I think he has the chance to develop even more in the pros.”

Marshall Ferguson, CFL.ca: “When I saw Noah’s build, I was impressed. Then I saw the way that he moves on him and how he moved in the Uteck — he’s just so stable and he doesn’t ever get pushed on his heels. It feels like the base that he plays with is so good. I like his general build and the way he approaches the game, because he has such a great fundamental base to work from, which is totally a Scott Flory coached thing.”

Justin Dunk, 3DownNation: “He’s been trained under Scott Flory which helps a lot. He’s a Hall of Fame offensive lineman. The Huskies have become a developmental school to send offensive lineman to the draft, so I think that certainly helps him.”

The 2022 CFL Draft gets underway at 6:00 p.m. The first two rounds will be broadcasted on TSN, with exclusive coverage of Rounds 3-8 being shown on tsn.ca and the TSN app. You can stay up to date with all the Saskatchewan selections on the @skhuskies Twitter feed and on huskies.usask.ca

Images provided by CFL.ca and getmyphoto.ca