There will be some Kamloops talent on the field next week at BC Lions Rookie Camp at Hillside Stadium.
Wide-Receiver Colton Meikle will be at camp May 8 to 10, after spending the last three seasons with the Kamloops Broncos of the BC Football Conference.
The six-foot-four, 220lb physical pass-catcher tells NL Sports he learned the news this past weekend on his 19th birthday.
“It was a pretty good birthday gift I’d say,” Meikle said.
Meikle led the BCFC in receiving yards and touchdowns in the 2022 season and this past season finished third in the league in yards with 598 on 39 receptions.
“I tested well at the combine so I was hoping for an invite. You can never be sure. It was a relief off my shoulders when the invite came,” Meikle, a Westsyde Secondary graduate, added.
“It’ll be cool to have all my family there and friends watching. I hope to make it all the way to FanFest when the whole community will be out. That would be a neat experience.”
Meikle’s coach with the Kamloops Broncos, Brayden VanKoughnett, is thrilled for his standout player.
“This is a young man who has taken every opportunity given to him and worked his butt off to accomplish his goals,” VanKoughnett said. “He won the starting job with us a 16 year-old and followed that up his next year leading Canada in receiving yards.”
“I look forward to watching him compete at Lions camp and show the CFL what he brings both to the field and locker room.”
Meikle got a late start to the game of football, having not played until his grade 10 year.
“I would say I was a little late in the game. I haven’t really gotten to the level I’m out now until I was done high school,” he said. “Pro football would be amazing but we’ll just see where the road takes me.”