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Gryphons football may lose another player to NCAA

Defensive back Devynn Cromwell may follow former teammates to play for Ole Miss
Rob Massey

The Guelph Gryphons are bracing themselves for the loss of a third football player in four years to a top-level NCAA squad.

Defensive back Devynn Cromwell of Toronto, who has played three seasons with the Gryphons, is the latest who could wind up his collegiate football career in the U.S. as he’s been linked to a few NCAA teams including West Virginia.

If he leaves, he’ll followed fellow defensive players Tavius Robinson and Jaden Dicks who both went to Ole Miss, Robinson in 2020 and Dicks the following year.

“The guys leaving Canadian programs to go to the NCAA, they're special people. They're special talents,” Gryphon head coach Ryan Sheahan said. “The fact that we've had three now in the past four years is a combination of things. Number One, I think it shows our staff's ability to identify talents and recruit that type of talent into this environment. Number Two, to provide them with the amount of structure, support and elite level coaching that they can develop their skills to improve as players, improve as people in order to get on a Mississippi's radar or whatever comes Mr. Cromwell's way because he's got a few offers in his pocket now.”

While the loss of players to the NCAA leaves holes for the Gryphons to fill, they can’t be bitter about it.

“The most we can do is be happy for them because you only get to go through this life one time and if the dream comes calling, I think it's our role as coaches to be nothing less than supportive,” Sheahan said. “We would be thrilled if players of that calibre would play their whole careers here and then move on to bigger, brighter things, but when destiny calls you have to be courageous enough to answer the bell.”

The fact that all three are defensive players might just be a coincidence.

“It's tough to say,” Sheahan said. “I think each one of them was an outlier in their own way from size, length in Tavius, power, speed in Jaden Dicks and, obviously, Devynn Cromwell is one of those unique athletes in our country that's fast, strong, tough, intelligent. Each one of them is unique. They're special players, special athletes and I think if talent evaluators south of the border are looking for high-calibre players and people, in those three names they're bang-on.”

Guelph native Robinson left Guelph for Ole Miss when it was announced the 2020 OUA season would be cancelled due to the pandemic. He’d had 36 tackles and 10 sacks in two seasons with the Gryphons and was on the OUA all-rookie team in 2018 and a second-team OUA all-star his second season.

He recorded 90 tackles, 11.5 sacks and two fumble recoveries in three seasons with Ole Miss before being selected in the fourth round of this year’s NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens. A defensive lineman who’s been converted to outside linebacker, the 6-foot-6 Robinson has 18 tackles and a sack in 13 games during his rookie season with the Ravens.

Dicks, a 6-foot-6 defensive lineman, is awaiting his first collegiate action. He was on the Gryphon roster for the cancelled 2020 season before redshirting (not playing and not having it count against his eligibility) his first two seasons at Ole Miss. He was on the roster this season, but didn’t get into any games.

Cromwell, a 6-foot-1 defensive back, has played two seasons with the Gryphons. In 10 games he’s registered 29 tackles, had two interceptions and a fumble recovery and was a second-team OUA all-star this year.

Going from the OUA to NCAA football is not the typical route, Usually it’s Canadian players who went south and then became disillusioned with four-down football who return to play three-down football in their home country. Players with offers from smaller NCAA schools often decide to stay in Canada for their collegiate football.

“We try and go for the best of the best,” Sheahan said. “They're typically guys that have NCAA offers, whether they'e committable or not, or where the NCAA offer is not the same as what we would call a Power Five (schools in the top five NCAA football conferences) offer. This place (Guelph Gryphons football pavilion) was designed to attract those type of athletes.

"There are seven full-time staff here, eight during the season, with a premier facility, premier weight room and in a town where football is important. This is a place where student-athletes of all shapes and sizes who want to be elite should come to train and play.”

For sure the local District 10 high school players who are looking at playing OUA football are on the Gryphons’ radar. It helps that Alumni Stadium has become the home of D10 football with the majority of the league’s games played there.

“No question you always want to take care of your own backyard so we've been in conversation with many of them,” Sheahan said. “Some of them are coming. Others are undecided. Some of them are underclassmen.

“There are others that we have spoken to where their destiny lies outside of District 10, where they want to leave town and have that go-away-to-school experience and we respect that whole-heartedly because that's a part of growing up, too," he continued. “We know that we're a great option for our local athletes and we hope that they take advantage of what's right in front of them, but if they feel they need to get away to do some growing up, I know what that's like, as well.”

While it’s early in the off-season, the Gryphons are happy with their recruiting for next season.

“So far so good,” Sheahan said. “We've got five guys committed so far  – two offensive linemen, a defensive lineman, a linebacker and receiver. This is a year where it's got to be very, very focused. We've got to be very selective based on talent and especially character to surround a growing nucleus here and then fill in a few spots with some graduating players.

“The gap year caused by the 2020 pandemic is really putting a few juniors into senior spots and seniors into senior-plus. It's unique to see who's going to graduate, who still has time and who can afford to come back which is a new challenge because it's not getting any easier at the grocery store so the cost of living has gone up due to inflation," he added.

"There's something building here. There's some talented players which (we) saw perform well in 2023 and if we can get a few more pieces around them, I think that the future is bright.”