The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have selected wide receiver Mark Chapman with their first round draft pick in the 2018 Canadian Football League Draft on Thursday. Chapman, who is a native of Port Huron, Michigan, was considered eligible to be taken in the CFL Draft because his mother is from Sarnia, Ontario and Chapman has dual citizenship.
Chapman is a wide receiver who played last year with the University of Central Michigan Chippewas in the Mid-American Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. This past season he caught 59 passes for 875 yards and five touchdowns. His best game was a 45-27 Central Michigan win over the University of Kansas Jayhawks, where Chapman caught eight passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns.
Chapman becomes only the fifth wide receiver in CFL history to be a first overall draft pick. He has followed Jim Young of Hamilton, Ontario, who was selected first overall by the Toronto Argonauts out of Queen’s University in 1965, Mike Eben of Toronto, Ontario who was selected first overall by the British Columbia Lions out of the University of Toronto in 1968, Nick Mazzoli of Markham, Ontario, who was selected first overall by the Tiger-Cats out of Simon Fraser University in 1991 and Chris Bauman of Brandon, Manitoba, who was selected first overall by the Tiger-Cats out of the University of Regina in 2007.
The Tiger-Cats got the first overall draft pick after making a trade with the Montreal Alouettes. On Wednesday, the Tiger-Cats traded their first round draft pick (second overall) and offensive guard Ryan Bomben of Burlington, Ontario to the Alouettes for their first overall pick.
