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As the CFL draft was in its final stages well into the seventh of eight rounds earlier this month, Samson Abbott took a break to grab a glass of water while his dad Burton and mom Joanne continued to watch the names go by.

He heard Burton let out a big yell … “Samson Jack James Abbott.”

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“The roof in my house kind of blew off,” said Abbott. “I heard my dad starting to go off. He was using my full name – that usually means I’m in a lot of trouble or something crazy has happened.”

Photo by Julie Oliver / Postmedia

Something crazy, indeed. The Ottawa Redblacks grabbed Abbott, a defensive lineman/special teams ace out of the University of Manitoba, with the 63rd overall choice in the draft. And, now, Abbott is in training camp with the Redblacks.

“There’s a tendency in football players to not bring a lot of detail to special teams,” said Abbott. “I like to take care of the little stuff – hand placement, all the stuff people do for defence, I also do for special teams. I pride myself on working really, really hard. I don’t take plays off, whether it’s on defence or special teams. If you want to put me in, I’m going to give you 100%.”