Katie Lawrence
BCLions.com

Jabar Westerman didn’t really have a specific CFL team in mind that he wanted to be drafted by on Thursday, he just wanted to be picked early.
 
His wish came true: the BC Lions took him second overall, after receiving the pick in a trade with the Edmonton Eskimos earlier that morning.

Westerman, who has never been further west in Canada than Ontario, is excited to see where his new endeavor into the CFL will take him.

“[Going to BC] is going to be a good adventure. I’ve never been [to Vancouver] before, but I’ve heard that it’s a good city,” he said.

Westerman also says that he’s received nothing but positive messages and congratulations from friends and family, who he will be leaving behind in Ontario.

“Everyone in my family is happy. I’m the first person drafted [into the CFL] in my family, so it’s a big deal.”

His older brother, Jamaal, has played in the NFL for three years, after being signed as an undrafted free agent by the New York Jets in 2009. He is currently part of the Miami Dolphins organization.

When he was 10, Westerman’s family moved to Brampton, Ontario, in 1999 to join his mother’s family there. However, since he was born in Florida, he had had the “import” tag on his back. In the months before the draft, he had to go look into his elementary school records to gain the necessary evidence to obtain his non-import status.

As he told TSN in his interview this afternoon, that’s when interest from CFL teams really picked up.

Westerman is eager to join the club and hopes to arrive in Vancouver soon.