Piper Sports Photography/Regina Rams University of Regina Rams defensive back Carson Sombach returns an interception against the University of Alberta Golden Bears during the 2025 Canada West season.
Taylor Shire
Regina Leader-Post
A pair of University of Regina Rams are hoping to take the next step in their football journey.
Defensive back Carson Sombach and offensive lineman Ethan Graham have both been invited to the national CFL Combine from Mar. 27-29 in Edmonton; a showcase event for the top draft-eligible prospects ahead of the CFL Draft on Apr. 28.
Meanwhile, Rams offensive lineman Riley Schick, defensive lineman Anthony Montas Leipert and linebacker Colin McKellar have been selected to attend the invitational CFL combine — which goes this Friday in Waterloo, Ont. — with the hopes of earning an invite to the national combine.
There are 83 draft-eligible prospects heading to the invitational combine while more than 70 have already been selected to attend the national combine, including University of Saskatchewan Huskies defensive lineman and Regina product Charlie Parks. Last year, 11 prospects advanced from the invitational to the national while eight were selected in 2024.
For Sombach and Graham, two Regina products, knowing they’ve earned an invite to the main combine is a sigh of relief.
“It takes off a lot of stress,” Sombach said this week. “Because if you go the invitational, your goal is to get invited to the national so already having that takes off that stress.
“Now I get to just go straight to the national and get to be in front of as many people as I possibly can to show them what I can do and my football knowledge and my football ability.”
“It was a goal for me since I’ve joined the Rams back in 2021 to make the CFL Combine,” said Graham, a 6-foot-7, 315-pound Sheldon-Williams Collegiate grad. “After the last two years, this was my expectation.
“I’ve put in a lot of work since I’ve joined the Rams to be where I am today, and it’s great to be noticed by the CFL and finally get that recognition that says, ‘Hey, we do notice the work you put in and we’d like to you to show out in front of our clubs.’”
While the combine is in Edmonton this year, Regina hosted the annual event in 2025 inside the AffinityPlex with both Sombach and Graham in attendance as observant spectators.
“I’m glad I went and watched now I have a good idea of what those days look like,” said Sombach. “It was really cool to see those athletes work and move.
“It’s kind of surreal that I’ll be in that same spot that I was just watching last year.”
“It was pretty cool to see it in person for the first time,” added Graham, who recently attended the College Gridiron Showcase in Texas in January. “I had done the drills before the past, so I compared a lot of their numbers to my numbers … I imagined myself running the 40 (-yard dash) in front of all the scouts and whatnot so it’s pretty cool that I’ll be able to do that in three weeks.
“Having it in Regina last year was actually a great tool to be able to not go in totally blind. I know how it works, and how they move from drill to drill, and the format of it.”
A main component of the CFL combine is the individual testing where players perform a 40-yard dash, 20-yard short shuttle, three-cone drill, bench press, broad jump and vertical jump in front of scouts.
There’s also one-on-one and team drills in the three-day event, along with meetings with each team where prospects can be asked a range of questions.
While game-action reps are sometimes challenging to mimic in the off-season, Sombach and Graham — who each have one more season of U Sports eligibility — have been hard at work over the last couple of months trying to increase their times and reps in the individual drills so they can be at their best come Mar. 27.
“Just repping them over and over again,” said Graham. “When I get out there to run, say like the shuttle, I don’t want to think about running the shuttle. I just wanted to feel like second nature.”
“Ever since I started training, my numbers are getting better and better as the weeks go on here which is very exciting to see,” added the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Sombach. “Also, just the fact that I just keep improving makes you want more time because the numbers just keep dropping.”
Sombach said he’s compared his numbers to other defensive backs from previous combines and feels comfortable where he’s at heading in.
“I’ve looked at all the other combines, what DBs have gotten drafted, what times (they had) and what they ran when they went to the combine just kind of get a little baseline of what I need to do when I go down there,” said Sombach, who was named a second-team All-Canadian and Canada West all-star safety in 2025. “It gives myself a goal to get to.”
The former Miller Marauder also picked the brain of his older brother Jackson Sombach, who attended the combine in 2024 before being drafted by the Calgary Stampeders.
“Mainly about the interview process and stuff like that and what I might experience,” said Carson. “It’s nice having somebody who’s done that in my own household give me tips and tricks on how to manage that day and how to manage the whole week.”
While teams will also evaluate game film, the combine can go a long way in determining where a player goes in the draft.
For the Rams duo, they’re just hoping to put their best foot forward at the combine in hopes of hearing their name called by any one of the nine CFL teams at the draft.
“It would be a dream come true,” said Graham. “It would be the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Going into the season, my goal was to make it to the combine and give myself a good opportunity to be drafted,” said Sombach. “That’s something you dream about since you’re a kid when you’re in elementary school playing atom football.
“To have my name get called … I don’t think I could put it into words on how I think it would make me feel. But I feel like I’ll have a lot of emotions the day of if it does happen.”
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