Gore beat odds only receiver (or 8) to be signed after mini-camp

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Before he flew into the land of Cheesehead Nation for a tryout with the Green Bay Packers, Shawn Gore bid farewell to Canada on the social network Twitter.

His tweet read: “I’ll be sending postcards because I don’t plan on coming back … lol [laugh out loud].”

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Well, Gore did come back on Monday morning to his home in Don Mills, Ont., but he’s not staying for long. In two weeks’ time, Gore is returning to Green Bay again for OTAs (organized team activities) with the NFL team.

The newly minted B.C. Lions draft pick was one of just three players among 28 tryout prospects offered a chance to go to the Packers’ main camp in July, and the only free-agent receiver among eight wannabes at his position moving on with the Pack following a three-day mini-camp.

Gore, from Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, Que., was targeted by the Lions as their first pick in the Canadian Football League draft Sunday. But after word reached them that Gore had committed to attending the Packers’ training camp, coach and GM Wally Buono changed course and selected Baylor left tackle Danny Watkins of Kelowna with the fourth overall pick.

Fortuitously, Gore was still available when the Lions picked again at No. 10, and the receiver’s CFL rights belong to B.C.

“I had no idea I’d even been drafted or that the Lions wanted me,” Gore admitted. “I found out later when somebody texted me, a lot later. I’m a pretty focused individual and I’d forgotten about the draft. My mind was on practice and meetings and I didn’t even think about it.”

Gore was one of two Bishop’s players working out in the Midwest with NFL teams last weekend. Steven Turner, who is also a receiver, got an invitation to the mini-camp of the Chicago Bears and was drafted by the Toronto Argonauts while he was in the Bears’ camp. Chicago’s new director of player personnel, Tim Ruskell, got his start in player personnel with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, but it was Turner’s performance at the CFL evaluation camp in March that more likely caught the Bears’ attention. Turner posted an Ecamp record time of 4.31 seconds in the 40-yard dash, breaking the record of 4.39 set last year by Bishop’s running back Jamall Lee, now with the Lions. And Turner’s vertical leap of 43.5 inches was just a half-inch shy of Lee’s 44-inch standard.

Turner, however, is 5-9, 185. Gore is 6-0, 200, and his 40 time (4.50) and vert (43.5) compare favourably with NCAA prospects of his size. Which is probably why, on Monday, Gore had an NFL contract in his pocket and Turner was waiting to see if he would be offered one.

“NFL teams were actually looking at Steve [Turner] first and my name kept coming up with his,” Gore explained. “Teams started checking out my highlights on YouTube, then they checked out my combine statistics, then they wanted me to send them tapes of game footage. Green Bay was on the phone to me 20 minutes after the [NFL] draft.”

Gore, 23, was one of a half-dozen players from Canadian Interuniversity Sport who were invited to tryouts after the NFL selected a total of 255 collegians. Two of the CIS players — offensive lineman Joe Reinders of Waterloo and Kristian Matte of Concordia — inked free-agent contracts that included signing bonuses of $25,000.