Verdone thrilled to sign Lions contract

Taken in the fifth round by the Lions in the 2012 CFL draft, Linebacker/long snapper Jordan Verdone is excited to sign Lions contract.

“If it doesn’t work out, I’ll be very upset,” Verdone said. “I’m definitely motivated to play for the B.C. Lions this year. My mindset is I’ll be there in 2012.”

From Vancouversun.com:

Though he has two years of CIS eligibility remaining, Verdone has no intention of returning to Calgary, even though the Dinos offered a lifeline to his college football career.

Two years ago, he was caught up in the football steroids scandal at the University of Waterloo, a school he attended because his older brother, Jamie, went there and won a Yates Cup (Ontario university championship) in 1999.

A regional police raid at two residences at the university in March 2010, turned up a quantity of anabolic steroids and HGH (human growth hormone) which implicated members of the football team.

The director of Waterloo athletics ordered the entire squad to be tested for performance-enhancing drugs. Nine tested positive, in the biggest doping scandal in Canadian university sports history.

“It’s a football factory, man. Awesome, really cool,” he explained. “The whole program at Waterloo was thrown into the garbage can. It was a terrible decision. I was bitter for so long. But when I got to Calgary, I never thought about it again. The players, the coaching, the alumni, the organization, the support ... it’s all first class. It makes you forget how badly you’ve been treated.”