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Former UConn football offensive lineman Trey Rutherford was taken with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 Canadian Football League draft by the Montreal Alouettes. The Alouettes originally held the No. 1 pick in the draft, but Montreal traded the first pick and future picks to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for the No. 2 selection and a handful of current CFL players the day before the draft.
Rutherford was projected by many as the best player available in the CFL draft, but the Tiger-Cats looked to fill a need and selected Central Michigan wide receiver Mark Chapman with the No. 1 pick. That led to Rutherford ending up in Montreal, where he was the first of five consecutive offensive linemen to be selected.
The 6-foot-5 Markham, Ontario native played in 10 games in both his freshman and sophomore seasons, even seeing some time as an H-back during his sophomore season under Bob Diaco. As an upperclassman, Rutherford played in all 12 games as a junior and senior.
After the NFL draft concluded last week, Rutherford turned down NFL training camp offers to focus completely on returning home to play professional football.
Canadian OL Trey Rutherford from UConn is declining #NFL mini-camp invited to focus on the #CFLDraft. Ranked #4 on CFL Scouting Bureau rankings.
— Farhan Lalji (@FarhanLaljiTSN) April 29, 2018
With Hunter & Shepley signing UDFA deals in NFL, expect Rutherford to be picked in top 2 on May 3
Prior to UConn, Rutherford was rated as the top Canadian lineman prospect for the class of 2014 by CanadianFootballChat.com.
Rutherford joins numerous UConn football alumni such as Larry Taylor of the Toronto Argonauts and Alex Mateas, who was taken No. 1 overall by the Ottawa RedBlacks in the 2015 CFL draft.