Standing at six feet eight inches and weighing in at 306 lbs, Brackendale born offensive lineman Joe Eppele didn't go unnoticed at the Canadian Football League (CFL) evaluation camp in Toronto.
But it was more than his size that hit the mark. It was Eppele's overall performance at the three-day camp in March garnered him some favourable attention.
During the camp 22-year-old bench pressed 28 repetitions of 225-lbs weights, jumped a vertical height of 36 inches and broke the old IQ CFL record.
"I scored a 35 on my Wonderlic [IQ test] which is good. There's 50 questions but you have 12 minutes to answer as many as you can and so it's really rushed and that adds a lot of pressure," he said from Washington State where he attends college.
Eppele said another football player at the evaluation camp broke the record with a score of 36, so he not Eppele is the new IQ test record holder.
When asked if his results mean he's the second smartest football player of the bunch, Eppele chuckled and humbly responded, "I did alright.
"Testing went really well for me. Everyone was really happy about the numbers I put up."
The psychology major said he really enjoyed the CFL camp because he got to be exposed to the Canadian game rules, something he hasn't been exposed to since he played high school football in Vancouver.
"It was really cool. It was neat because I had never been around the CFL game that much, I've been mostly American style football mostly my whole career, so it was fun to see what other athletes do."
Eppele said his modified his training regime to include more endurance conditioning in preparation for the annual evaluation camp.
"You have to do specific training for each drills so instead of doing my normal football workouts we try to focus in on speed, acceleration, explosiveness and things like that."
On top of being in excellent physical condition, the lineman said unlike other CFL-hopefuls he brought his A game nerves to the camp.
"A lot of the other guys are having problems with their nerves but I think because of my experience playing football over here playing football for Washington State, I've been under a lot of pressure in a lot of situations so for me having the cameras in my face and being in interviews with the coaches it didn't really throw me off that much."
The approach served him well as rumours are swirling that he could be the CFL's top overall draft pick, but Eppele won't let himself get overly confident.
"That's just hear say, you never know," he said. "It would be a great feeling to be picked first overall, it would be an amazing achievement. But anywhere I go I'd be happy to get picked up so I'm not going to be too upset if I don't go first overall."
Eppele said playing for the BC Lions would be "an amazing opportunity" because he'd be close to his family, friends and his ever-growing fan base. But anywhere will do.
"Anybody who's crazy enough to pay me to play the sport that I love, I'd be more than happy to strap on a badge for them any day."
Eppele said young football hopefuls looking to make a name for themselves should keep in mind dedication and sacrifice are keys to success.
"I missed out on a lot growing up, in a sense, I had to dedicate myself for my sport so, don't be afraid to sacrifice because it all pays off in the end."
The CFL draft pick is on Sunday May 2.
