Zylstra proves a quick study in CFL game Edmonton Eskimos receiver may not have been a household CFL name when this season began, but he’s quickly drawn more than his share of attention, Dave Naylor writes.

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The leading receiver in the Canadian Football League is a 24-year-old who played Division III college football in Minnesota, never attended an NFL camp and spent most of last season on the Edmonton Eskimos practice roster.

But while Brandon Zylstra may not have been a household CFL name when this season began, he’s quickly drawn more than his share of attention.

After playing in just in just six games last season, Zylstra leads the CFL with 1,514 yards. He’s also eclipsed the 100-yard mark in nine games this season, tying an Eskimos record with two games to play.

In the first 18 games of his career he had 1,843 yards receiving, which, had it occurred in a single season, would have been the seventh-best season in CFL history.

So how did such an unheralded player become such a quick study in the three-down game?

Well, professional football players often come from off the grid and that’s the case with Zylstra, who grew up in Spicer, Minn., a town of roughly 1,200 people located just less than two hours from Minneapolis.

The big-time schools took a pass on him at the end of his high school career. Three Division II schools offered him scholarships. The rest of his invites came from Division III schools within Minnesota.

“Everyone told me I wasn’t fast enough or I didn’t play against the right competition,” he said.

After one season playing for Division II Augustana University in Sioux Falls, S.D., Zylstra transferred to Division III Concordia College. He managed to catch 120 passes for 1,932 yards and 18 touchdowns over three seasons with the Cobbers, despite playing in a triple-option offence – a scheme that features the run.

At the end of his senior season, the pro scouts weren’t exactly knocking down his door. So he and his quarterback, Griffin Neal, jumped into a car and drove to Arizona where they stayed with Neal’s grandmother, living frugally while working out in preparation for tryouts with any team in any league that would see them.

Zylstra attended an NFL regional combine and worked his way into the North Dakota State pro day where NFL personnel had assembled to watch future Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz.

It got him some NFL attention but only the Eskimos wanted to sign him.

“I’d had this dream of playing pro since I was a kid,” said Zylstra. “I just believed in myself because I’m willing to work harder than anyone else.

“…I did an assortment of NFL and CFL tryouts and ended up coming to the Esks.”

As unlikely as Zylstra’s journey to the CFL has been, it almost ended midway through his college career when he sliced his big toe with a lawn mower while cutting grass at a golf course.

“It was the morning and I had to mow this hill and it was super wet,” he said. “When I slipped I pulled back on the mower and it clipped my toe pretty good.”

Zylstra needed surgery to repair a tendon and had to have his foot elevated for two months. A second procedure involved taking a chunk out of his thigh and putting in on his toe. He only became able to bend the knuckle partially this past February.

“I wasn’t supposed to play for the first three or four weeks [of his junior season] but I only missed on game,” said Zylstra. “But I wasn’t myself until week seven or eight. It took me off a bit coming back so early because I ripped open the graft. It definitely wasn’t pretty. I just tried to stay positive and learn patience.”

Learning to be patient would come in handy during his first pro season where he spent the first 14 weeks on the Eskimos practice roster.

During that time, he went to school on the CFL game, relying on the expertise of fellow receivers Adarius Bowman, Derel Walker and Chris Getzlaf to hone his craft and learn the intricacies of the Canadian game.

“What Chris did most for me was about the game and the league and the techniques,” said Zylstra. “When I watched how he played, I could see how open he got by understanding the defence. I said, ‘Okay, I want to re-up on understanding,’ so I paid attention to the finer points.

“With Adarius Bowman, I would pick his mind. I would ask different questions. Sometimes I would know the answer but I would ask anyway just to get on the same page … anything to learn from guys who were having success.”

When his turn came, Zylstra proved a quick study, displaying a tremendous sense of getting open and adjusting to the ball, plus a toughness and awareness on the field that’s allowed him to rack up plenty of yards after catches.

Zylstra is a free agent after this season. While the Eskimos would undoubtedly like to re-sign him, he’s expected to garner significant interest from the league that passed on him when he was coming out of Concordia.

“I’ve heard that but I’m not too worried about it right now,” Zylstra said. “I set my goals and have reached all of them, but the main goal is that Grey Cup. I’m going to try to do everything I can to get it.”