When the 2025 CFL Draft gets underway in April, TSN colour commentator and draft expert Duane Forde will have to deliver his analysis while experiencing a sensation all too familiar to U Sports quarterbacks: the feeling of Darien Newell bearing down on you.
The outstanding defensive tackle out of Queen’s University is expected to be one of the first players off the board this year, coming in at number two on 3DownNation‘s first mock draft. However, Newell already knows what career he wants to transition into when he eventually hangs his cleats up: broadcasting.
“The goal is to use football almost as a stepping stone. When I know my career is coming to an end and, hopefully, I’ve established myself enough to where I’m a recognized name, I definitely would love to go into commentating,” Newell told 3DownNation in an interview earlier this offseason. “I’d rather watch football in a box and talk about it than sit on my couch and watch it.”
Newell’s dreams of calling games from the booth date back to high school, when he and his friends used to sit on the sideline of basketball games and provide commentary. It’s a habit he naturally falls back into when watching sports now — something he does an awful lot as a self-professed film junkie.
The Brampton, Ont. native hopes to one day follow the lead of former teammates Anthony Federico and Theo Grant into the CFLPA Mentorship Program to get a peek behind the curtain of the TSN studios. Still, Forde, Glen Suitor, and the rest of their colleagues can rest easy knowing that Newell has many years left on the gridiron before he picks up a microphone and challenges for their jobs.
The three-time All-Canadian honoree is entirely focused on maximizing his professional opportunities and has limited time for other hobbies while he works to perfect his craft as a pass rusher.
“I have a lot of friends that have played football for 13 years, 15 years, and they would have killed to be in the position I’m in. At first, I felt I took it for granted,” Newell acknowledged. “Especially the last two years, I’ve kind of put everything to the side because I’m in a very special place. I’m doing something that isn’t of the regular, especially with the timeline given, so I’ve been trying to take full advantage of the opportunity.”
Newell cemented himself as a CFL star in the making with a dominant performance at the 2023 East-West Bowl — an annual all-star event for U Sports rising juniors. As he recalls, it was a perceived sleight upon arrival that made him such a problem for opponents.
“I think going into that game, I was kind of under the radar. I did receive my first All-Canadian, but I don’t think I had an established name,” Newell said. “The thing that really pushed me over the edge was when I got there and I got the number 60 for a jersey. That stuck with me. I vowed that anytime I stepped on that field, I’d have to kill everyone in front of me.”
Newell won’t have a scrub number to motivate him for the CFL National Combine in Regina next week, where he is slated to perform in his familiar number 90 jersey. Fortunately, he’s long past the need for those external crutches and is already well on his way to crushing the pre-draft process.
A strong showing at the College Gridiron Showcase in Texas attracted him some NFL attention and that is only expected grow after he posted a 34-inch vertical and 4.95-second forty-yard dash at the University at Buffalo pro day on Thursday — both of which would have put him in the top five at his position at the 2025 NFL Combine. At this stage, it would appear the only thing that can stop Newell from being a first-round CFL Draft pick is a serious contract offer from south of the border.
That certainly doesn’t surprise anyone who has watched him over the past few seasons, though some may have expected the notoriety to come earlier. Newell was eligible for the 2024 CFL Draft before electing to defer his selection and return to school for another year despite his high stock. After years of close calls and key losses against Forde’s beloved Western Mustangs, he wanted one more shot at a Yates Cup with the players he’d grown up alongside.
While that didn’t materialize, he doesn’t regret the decision and hopes he paid back the Queen’s coaching staff for their investment in him.
“They took a risk recruiting me because, realistically, I was a raw athlete. I didn’t have any football experience, but they believed in me,” he said. “I felt I almost owed it to them because they sacrificed and they helped me so much with things off the field as well. I felt one more year couldn’t kill me.”
While it may seem as if Newell was born to play football, he’s actually relatively new to the game. For much of his life, he played just about every other sport and was focused on basketball as his long-term future. That changed entering his final year of high school, when he realized that he was no longer the biggest player on his team but rather the smallest. Suddenly, the idea that he could earn a scholarship while posting up down low seemed like a long shot.
At the urging of future Queen’s teammate Jas Khaira, Newell transferred to St. Roch Catholic Secondary School in Grade 12 in order to join the football team. Success came virtually instanteously as the then-245-pound edge rusher racked up 13 sacks in eight games thanks to an explosive get-off developed by years of plyometric training for the hardcourt. He wasn’t good, he now admits with a chuckle, but his raw tools were enough to bring the Golden Gaels knocking at his door with a clear vision for how he would be utilized.
“(Recruiting coordinator Matt Nesbitt) looked at me and said, ‘By your fifth year, you’re gonna be 285 pounds, and you’re gonna be a DT,’” Newell recalled. “The way I thought of 285 pounds at that time, it was crazy, but I definitely have to credit the strength and conditioning team. I don’t even say Queen’s sold me a dream. They sold me my reality.”
Five years later, the ball of clay that Nesbitt and head coach Steve Snyder targeted has exceeded even their lofty projections. He’s gained more than 50 pounds of muscle and mass since his freshman year and now stands at a robust six-foot-three and 295 pounds without losing an ounce of his basketball player twitch.
Along the way, he’s developed into the country’s premier wrecking ball along the interior, amassing 92 tackles, 27.5 tackles for loss, and 18 sacks in 37 career games. Scouts have every confidence that his level of production can translate to the next level, which bodes well for his dreams of one day gaining enough notoriety to headline a broadcast.
There won’t be many opportunities to take reps calling games while he establishes that first career, but if Queen’s ever needs some help with play-by-play during a bye week, he’s ready and willing.
“It would be a long drive because, hopefully, I’m far away, but I definitely would like to,” he laughed.
The 2025 CFL Draft is scheduled for Tuesday, April 29, at 8:00 p.m. EST.
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