TORONTO

This year’s CFL draft class has lost a top prospect.

According to sources, the CFL has informed teams that receiver Rashaun Simonise’s draft year is being deferred from 2017 to 2018 due to a positive performance-enhancing drug test during his time in Cincinnati Bengals’ training camp last summer.

Simonise was released by the Bengals on Sept. 3, just prior to the regular season, but not before the NFL suspended the 6-foot-5 wideout for four games.

Simonise’s NFL suspension was lifted Oct. 11, and the Vancouver native decided to join the Okanagan Sun of the Canadian Junior Football League for the remainder of the season.

A new CFL drug policy put in place last year added a provision for draft-eligible players who test positive for a banned substance.

“An individual who incurs an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the Canadian Anti-Doping Program (CADP) or who tests positive for a substance banned under the CFL drug policy in the year of his CFL draft, or the immediate year prior to his CFL draft, will have his draft year deferred for one year,” the league wrote when announcing the changes Feb. 25, 2016.

Considered the top receiver available in the 2017 CFL Draft on May 7, Simonise was expected to focus on finding another NFL opportunity, anyway, but this news means his fall-back plan north of the border is on hold for at least another year.

Simonise was ranked fourth on the latest December version of the CFL scouting bureau’s draft rankings, up from the No. 7 spot he occupied in September.

It’s been an interesting year for the 21-year-old, who, after an All-Canadian campaign as a junior that saw him pile up 1,079 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns, was ruled academically ineligible heading into his senior season with the University of Calgary Dinos.

Simonise went on to play in the Champions Indoor Football League for the Chicago Eagles as he hoped to be selected in the 2016 NFL Supplemental Draft last July, but that did not come to fruition.

A handful of teams showed interest in signing Simonise as a free agent, and he ultimately chose the Bengals.

In October, Simonise told Global News in the Okanagan that his NFL suspension resulted from taking “an over-the-counter training supplement.”

Simonise’s agent, Paul Sheehy of ProStar Sports Agency, could not be reached for comment.