TORONTO

Members of the Toronto Argonauts coaching and management staff are throwing plenty of tough questions at St. Francis-Xavier receiver Devon Bailey, and the young man is barely flinching.

It's Saturday night at the CFL combine, and Bailey is seated on one side of a square conference table in a third-floor ballroom at Toronto's Park Hyatt hotel. Bailey, wearing a black dress shirt, a silver tie and a gold chain on the outside of his shirt but underneath the tie, is the No. 4-ranked player at the combine and the top-rated receiver. Every team interviewed him, but the Argos are known for seeing how prospects deal with uncomfortable questioning.

"The goal is to expose them so we can see what they are really about," Argos general manager Jim Barker said. "Can they handle the mental pressures of handling professional football?"

Seated throughout the conference room, essentially surrounding the 6-foot-5, 202-pound receiver on all three sides, are 10 members of Toronto's brass -- mostly on the offensive side of the ball since Bailey is a receiver -- and one QMI Agency reporter, whom the Argos have allowed to sit in on the proceedings on the condition that their questions not be published. It's an eye-opening experience for an outsider.

"How's it been going?" Barker asks Bailey as he sits down.

"It's been going all right," Bailey said.

"You look nervous," Barker quickly adds.

"I do? I don't feel nervous," Bailey responds.

And so begins 13 minutes of interesting back-and-forth between Bailey and 10 men who could one day be his bosses.

Bailey looks stiff but confident throughout the session, stumbling a couple of times and pausing on other occasions. For the most part, however, the Argos are impressed with how the young man handles himself.

"Devon had an incredible poise," Barker said afterwards. "He did a great job."

It couldn't have been easy for the Mississauga, Ont., native. One thing the Argos did was take one of his answers and spin it against him in their follow-up question. They've studied enough film to know the answers to the questions they're asking, so the point is to see how he reacts to stress.

Bailey admits his route-running needs work, so the Argos ask him why that is. When he lets it slip that he maybe doesn't have the best work ethic when it comes to practising his route running, the Argos pounce.

"You don't work hard at it?" Barker asks.

"That's not the case," Bailey says. "That's just what I "¦" Barker cuts him off. "Didn't he just say the work ethic, Jason?" Barker says to receivers coach Jason Maas, who is sitting directly across from the prospect.

"Yes," Maas says, answering Barker but not taking his eyes off Bailey.

This is the roughest part of the interview for the kid, who tries to form an answer but can't string the words together without Barker and Maas continuing their interrogation. Maas asks a long question, and it seemingly allows Bailey to regain his composure and explain to his questioners that route running is simply the aspect of his game he works on the least.

That pleases the Argos, who accept his answer and move on.

"Every team pointed out what I needed to work on, which was my route running or some people even said strength, but in a less in-your-face, direct kind of way," Bailey told QMI Agency after the interview. "Some implied it, but Toronto just threw it at you."

And it wasn't just Barker and Maas tossing bombs, either. No fewer than six members of the organization pepper him with questions, including head coach Scott Milanovich, who seems to take (and really enjoy) the bad-cop role, offensive co-ordinator Marcus Brady, offensive line coach Pat Perles and U.S. scouting director Demetri Betzios.

All in all, the Argos ask Bailey 70 questions in 13 minutes. They are about his personal life, football and even the bling around his neck.

"It's not even like only the people at the table are asking you questions. There's people in the back," Bailey said. "It was from everywhere."

When all was said and done, both the Argos and Bailey felt he did a good job. Bailey, in fact, said he had a good time, even though his buddies who had gone before him told him to be prepared for the worst.

"I was very nervous at first going into it, but I feel like the speculations were kind of wrong," Bailey said. "They were very in your face and had a lot to say, but it was fun. I really enjoyed it."

The Argos have the sixth pick in the CFL draft on May 13 and Bailey had a solid combine by most accounts, so he might not be there when it's Toronto's turn to pick. Judging by the give and take, it appears Bailey could be an option. The Argos currently have four non-import receivers on the roster.

If nothing else, Bailey felt those 13 intense minutes with the Boatmen made him only stronger.

"I'm Superman," he said, "after that interview."

PENTON'S UP-DOWN REPORT

Players whose stocks rose and fell during the CFL combine over the weekend in Toronto, according to various scouts:

UP-DT Quinn Smith

The Concordia Stingers product was a one-man wrecking crew in the one-on-ones, blowing past offensive linemen all day long; also did well on some O-line reps

DOWN-DT Evan Gill

The Manitoba Bisons big man entered the weekend as the undisputed king of the defensive tackles, but that's no longer the case after a less than stellar one-on-one performance

UP-LB Jesse Briggs

The McGill Redmen product did well at nearly every stop on the weekend, including a time of 4.57 in the 40

DOWN-OL Matthias Goossen

The Simon Fraser Clansmen's main competition at centre, Pierre Lavertu, was more steady during the one-on-ones, causing Goossen to fall a bit

UP-RB Anthony Coombs

The Manitoba Bisons tailback had the fourth-best 40 time on Sunday, and the versatile threat made defenders look silly during pass catching drills

DOWN-LB Beau Landry

The Western Mustang was average in the testing as well as in the one-on-ones; has fallen behind other linebackers

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Ask any scout who rocketed up the draft boards on Sunday at the CFL combine, and the answer was invariably Quinn Smith.

Or, as one bird dog so eloquently put it: "Holy s---! Are you kidding me?"

The Concordia Stingers defensive tackle was on fire during the all-important one-on-one battles under the bubble at Varsity Stadium. He had remarkable success against pretty much every offensive lineman, whether he was a top-rated or not.

The Scarborough, Ont., native also showed off his versatility, taking a few reps on the offensive line and holding his own against top-ranked defensive tackle Evan Gill on a couple of occasions.

"Yeah, it felt great," Smith said. "The first day I wasn't too pleased with my stuff. My jumps "¦ I don't know. The carpet (in the hotel ballroom) kinda messed me up.

"This is the big day, and I thought I proved myself well on both sides of the ball."

The 6-foot-2, 305-pound Quinn credited his success to his time in the Quebec conference trenches, where he regularly battled Montreal's David Foucault and Laval's Pierre Lavertu.

"I feel very confident in myself now," Smith said. "I knew it was going to be pretty tough, but I thought I was going to do just as well as I did today. My goal was to not lose a one-on-one. I lost a couple, but it happens."

WHO'S FIRST?

The Ottawa RedBlacks are now on the clock with the first pick in the May 13 draft, and general manager Marcel Desjardins will continue to hold his cards close to his vest after watching the top prospects strut their stuff over the weekend.

"I'm not going to sit here today and say we have all the answers, but we have a pretty good feel," Desjardins said.

Since consensus top pick Laurent Duvernay-Tardif of McGill is expected to be taken in the NFL draft this year, it leaves a large group of prospects who all have the same talent level. That could allow Desjardins to trade down if he can do some manoeuvring to ensure he gets who he wants with a lower pick.

"In a perfect world we pick with that pick and we take who we feel is the best guy, taking (Duvernay-Tardif) out of the equation," he said. "That's how we would approach it, but if something comes our way where we could get maybe a guy or two that can come in and play right away versus a draft pick that may have to wait on a few years in terms of him being a significant contributor, then maybe that's something we consider.

"I'm not going to close the door on anything at this point."

MAN DOWN

Many were interested to see how the three top-rated offensive linemen would fare, and there were quite a few gasps Sunday morning when Western defensive end Dylan Ainsworth absolutely steamrolled 6-foot-7, 300-pound tackle David Foucault during the one-on-ones.

If you had to pick one O-linemen out of Foucault, Pierre Lavertu and Matthias Goossen, it would probably be Lavertu, whom Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O'Shea described as "polished."

Foucault said he's been battling a flu bug since his return from training in Florida, and he had done several draining reps in a row because the scouts wanted to see him battle certain defensive linemen. Then again "¦

"He just took my weakness. I'm just too high on my stance," Foucault said. "He tried the bull rush, and he kicked my ass. It's OK. I just need to step up. He played with my weakness."

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

The Bombers, who have the second overall pick, desperately need a centre, but general manager Kyle Walters said that doesn't necessarily mean Lavertu or Goossen will be their choice.

"You don't want to reach," Walters said. "If we decided that a defensive tackle or an offensive tackle or guard was such a superior football player, you're not just gonna reach by taking one of the centres because that's a position you need.

"You have to go with the best football player, particularly in the Canadian draft. You take the best Canadian starter that you're going to get out of it."

CANUCK CONUNDRUM

Finding enough quality, healthy Canadian football players has often been an issue for CFL teams, and it will get even more difficult for them this year.

Not only is a ninth team being added in Ottawa, creating about 30 more jobs for Canadians, but the change in draft rules means NCAA juniors are no longer eligible. That will create a bit of a Canadian crunch around the league, but especially in Ottawa, where they're starting their roster from scratch.

"It's challenging. It really is," Desjardins said. "We were able to get some good Canadians through the expansion draft. We were able to sign a few through free agency, but beyond that, that's where it stops."

SPEEDSTERS

Laval defensive back Adam Thibault posted the fastest 40-yard dash time on Sunday, blazing to a time of 4.45 seconds.

Thibault was followed by two more defensive backs in Montreal's Antoine Pruneau (4.48) and Simon Fraser's Derek Jones (4.51). Manitoba tailback Anthony Coombs was fourth at 4.52 seconds.

kirk.penton@sunmedia.ca

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