Photo credit: Facebook Saskatchewan Roughriders

The Saskatchewan Roughriders dove into the South Pacific, via N-C-Double-A Division 1 schools, for their two picks in Tuesday morning’s C-F-L Global Draft.

With the third pick overall, the Green and White selected Samoan Tyrone Taleni – a defensive lineman who spent the last two years at Southern California and two years before that at Kansas State. In the second round, the Riders chose Australian punter Jordy Sandy who played the last five years at Texas Christian. Tonight, it’s the eight round Canadian College Draft with the Roughriders owning the third pick in each round. Edmonton has the first overall selection. Among the Top 25 prospects for the Draft, according to Three Down Nation, is U of S Huskies linebacker Nick Wiebe along with Saskatoon product and San Diego State defensive lineman Daniel Okpoko. Following is the news release from Saskatchewan about their Global Draft picks…..

DATE:                       April 30, 2024

RELEASE TIME:      IMMEDIATELY

RELEASE:                SR24-057

RIDERS SELECT TALENI, SANDY IN THE 2024 GLOBAL DRAFT

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have selected two prospects in the 2024 CFL Global Draft:

• Tyrone Taleni (Defensive Lineman – Samoa) – first round, third overall
• Jordy Sandy (Punter – Australia) – second round, 12th overall

Taleni (6’2-280) spent two collegiate seasons at the University of Southern California (2022-23), suiting up for 22 games as a Trojan. He tallied 36 tackles, eight tackles for loss, six sacks and one forced fumble. In 2022, he was named All-Pac-12 Second Team after a breakout season on defence.

Prior to transferring to USC, Taleni spent two seasons (2021-22) at Kansas State, where he played four games and tallied five tackles, two tackles for loss and two sacks. The Samoa native started his collegiate career at Mt. San Antonio College where he earned 26 tackles, six tackles for loss and four sacks over one season.

Sandy (6’3-215) spent five collegiate seasons (2019-2023) at TCU, playing in 61 career games. He made 261 punts totalling 10,611 yards and a 40.7-yard average. Ninety-one of his punts were dropped inside the 20-yard line and 35 were launched over 50 yards.

In his final season he registered only two touchbacks on 37 punts with 11 punts landing inside the 20 and only 11 being returned by opposing teams. He was named All-Big 12 Honourable Mention in both 2022 and 2023 and was named Second Team All-Big 12 in 2020.