OTTAWA

More than 100 CFL wannabes, in all shapes and sizes — a few of them looking like they’d swallowed too many Happy Meals — ran, threw, caught passes, kicked, blocked and tackled in front of Ottawa RedBlacks coaches and football operations peeps at a tryout camp Saturday at TD Place.

It was obviously not an invite-only camp — for some guys, it’s tough to give up the dream — the RedBlacks opened it up and the football community, from the Ottawa area, across Canada and into the United States, responded.

There were former CFLers — including kicker Anthony Alix and defensive back Hugo Lopez (two RedBlacks from the 2015 season), receiver Ezra Millington and Stittsville linebacker Kyle Norris (a third-round pick of the Edmonton Eskimos in 2013). There were also guys eligible for this year’s draft, guys who can’t be signed. For them, it was about getting noticed.

There was also Jonathan Jones, a 25-year-old linebacker who has 17 siblings — eight brothers and nine sisters — among those is a brother (Travis Anderson) who played for the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1996 and another brother (Andrew Jones) who has three Grey Cup rings with three different teams.

OK, there is a bit of an age difference between the kids, but 18 children?

“There was a lot of arguing, but at the same time you never wanted for friends,” said Jones, a star for the University of Manitoba Bisons in 2014. “We’re a really close-knit family. Christmas and holidays are always crazy. There are two, sometimes three tables. It was a big house, but it didn’t seem like a big house. We managed. I shared a room with one brother, sometimes two, until I was 18.”

Andrew, an offensive lineman, has won Grey Cups with three different teams — B.C., Toronto and Edmonton. He has been a strong football mentor for his younger bro.

“It’s a bit of a shadow to step out of, but I’m trying to make my own way,” Jones said.

Jones and his girlfriend Brittney paid about $900 to fly into Ottawa on Thursday.

“I’m hungry, I want it,” he said after the tryout, which lasted about three hours. “Any team that gets me into camp will love me. That’s my confidence in my ability. I can say I haven’t been the best numbers guy in the past, but my true skill is in my level of play. I believe I show up for practice and for game days.”

A personal trainer at a Shapes Fitness Centre in Winnipeg, Jones knows what adversity feels like, he knows what it feels like to battle to get something you really want. He spent a year and a half recovering from a torn ACL in 2011. Now, he feels like he’s so close to getting his CFL shot.

“I just need someone to definitively say no to me before I stop trying,” he said.

It didn’t happen on Saturday. While there are players that may get a future look, nobody got a contract to participate in the RedBlacks’ three-day mini camp that begins Sunday morning.

“For some guys, we’ll go back and look at some film,” RedBlacks GM Marcel Desjardins said. “There were guys who jumped out. But you have to go back to the numbers, in terms of the testing. If they’re running 4.9 (seconds in the 40-yard dash), that’s not really going to do a whole lot for you. We have two Canadians who are on the radar that we may want to do something with. It’s nice to have a guy on the list, but let’s see how it goes.”

JUST FOR KICKS

For two years, Conor Mangan has been a cheerleader for the Ottawa RedBlacks.

On Saturday, he tried to earn a spot to play on the CFL team.

Mangan, who moved from Ireland two and a half years ago, is no stranger to kicking, but a different-shaped ball. The 25-year-old grew up with rugby and has played for the Ottawa Irish and The Rock in St. John’s.

He has been practising kicking a football since December, working out with coaches Sam Watts, Denis Boisclair and former NFLer John Carney.

He enjoys the CFL brand of football and hopes he’ll someday get a shot to play.

“Like (UFC star) Conor McGregor says, it’s not about talent, it’s about obsession. You have to be ruthless enough to stay there and keep kicking and hopefully one of the coaches will see you.

“I’ve played a lot of high-level rugby, I’ve played in a couple of finals in Ireland in stadiums not as big as this, but pretty big. I’m a guy who enjoys the pressure and loves kicking and loves competition. This is something I would love to do.”

There are obvious differences between football and rugby in the rules and in the ball itself.

“The Canadian football, it’s such a different shape,” Mangan said. “The difference is the sweet spot. On a CFL ball, it’s a lot smaller. Even if you don’t hit a rugby ball right, it can still go very far. A football, you don’t kick it right, it takes a dive and goes 20 yards.

"In rugby you can take all day, you can actually take 90 seconds to take your kick. In football, once it’s snapped, you have to go. I had to make some adjustments to speed up my stance.”

As for the cheerleading, Mangan said: “I’ve told them I’m trying to take a slightly different path toward the RedBlacks this year. They’re behind me 100% so we’ll see how it goes.”