A
ll it took was three plays for Justin Dillon to know Elic Ayomanor would be Canada’s next great wide receiver.
For Dillon’s vision to come true, he knew Ayomanor — a Medicine Hat, Alberta, native — needed to enroll in a prep school in the United States as quickly as possible. Dillon had seen hockey players move to Canada to develop in its system.
He recognized the best football players similarly needed to move to the U.S., prompting him to create 730 Scouting, a high school placement and NCAA Recruiting agency for Canadian football players. Utilizing his connections to Division I and high school prep coaches in the U.S., Dillon gives Canadian players their best chance of reaching the National Football League.
Ayomanor was just a freshman in high school, but to chase his dream, he and his family trusted Dillon. Three years later, he committed to Stanford.
Through 730 Scouting, Ayomanor enrolled at The Peddie School (New Jersey) as a sophomore before transferring to Deerfield Academy (Massachusetts). While at Deerfield, Ayomanor’s junior campaign was canceled due to COVID-19 and he suffered a knee injury forcing him to miss most of his senior year.
Still, Ayomanor received significant interest from D-I programs, including Tennessee, Notre Dame and Cal, before choosing Stanford. While the wide receiver was healthy upon arriving on campus in 2022, another knee injury forced him to miss his freshman year. Ayomanor then burst onto the scene in 2023, notching 62 receptions, 1,013 receiving yards and six touchdowns. Friday, Ayomanor leads Stanford into its first-ever Atlantic Coast Conference matchup with Syracuse.
“This young man comes from Medicine Hat, Alberta, is on one of the biggest stages and he’s really doing it,” Dillon said of Ayomanor. “And not only is he doing it, he’s creating a path for more Canadians.”
In the 2023 NFL season, 88 foreign-born players recorded a snap. Twenty-two were Canadian, while only four caught a pass — wide receivers Josh Palmer and Chase Claypool and running backs Chuba Hubbard and Chase Brown.
Ayomanor, who is eligible for the 2025 NFL Draft, could join the group next year. He wouldn’t be in that position without Kwame Osei. Before Ayomanor moved to America, he played for Team Alberta — a club football team for amateurs — where Osei was an assistant coach.
After Ayomanor had a multi-touchdown game as a freshman in high school, Osei remembers asking him what his goals were with his football career. According to Osei, most kids in Canada don’t have a vision beyond developing in their province.
Ayomanor said he wanted to play in the NFL. Osei responded that he needed to move to the U.S. as soon as possible and he needed to speak with his mother, Pamela Weiterman, when he got home. If he was interested, Osei, who helps recruit players for 730 Scouting, was going to connect Ayomanor with Dillon.
The next day, Osei said he had a long conversation over the phone with Weiterman. While it took some time, she agreed to let her son move to the U.S. Osei instantly told Dillon about Ayomanor.
While Dillon trusts Osei, he needed to see Ayomanor play before facilitating anything. From there, Ayomanor ensured he had someone filming his games with Team Alberta and his high school. At the end of the season, Osei put together a highlight reel and sent them to Dillon.
Dillon was impressed and utilized his connections with The Peddie School and Deerfield Academy to get Ayomanor offers in America. The wide receiver chose the Peddie School.
Cole Ross | Digital Design Director
“Right now, he’s the example,” Osei said of Ayomanor’s move to America. “As he rises, he’s lifting a whole generation of young Canadian athletes that are going to be inspired by what he does and ball out and maximize their gifts too.”
Despite choosing Peddie over Deerfield, Ayomanor transferred to Deerfield after his sophomore season due to a coaching change. Deerfield head coach Brian Barbato was instantly drawn to Ayomanor when Dillon compared him to Zay Flowers, John Metchie III and Claypool. The three NFL wide receivers have vastly different play styles. Flowers is shifty, Metchie III is a vertical threat and Claypool is a big-bodied physical weapon.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Ayomanor couples his imposing frame with elite speed. Barbato says Ayomanor wanted to run routes like he was 5-foot-6, adding a shifty element to his game.
“When you have a guy who’s 6-foot-(2) whose goal is to run routes like (Julian) Edelman, I think that speaks to his craft and hunger,” Barbato said of Ayomanor.
Yet, because of COVID-19, Deerfield didn’t have a regular season. Had Ayomanor stayed in Canada, he likely wouldn’t have made a name for himself in a pivotal recruiting year.
Instead, he regularly lined up against numerous future D-I players at Deerfield in practice and intersquad games. Similar to how he garnered Dillon’s attention, Ayomanor made a recruiting video to show collegiate programs. Just ahead of his senior season, he chose Stanford.
Cole Ross | Digital Design Director
But as Ayomanor looked to build momentum before joining the Cardinal, his season quickly ended. Ayomanor suffered a season-ending PCL tear in Deerfield’s second game.
While his high school career was derailed, Ayomanor was fully healthy for Stanford’s 2022 summer training camp. On one of the final days of preseason camp, however, Ayomanor suffered another knee injury. Another year of football was stripped from him.
In 2023, Ayomanor played his first full season since he was at The Peddie School in 2019. Initially, he got off to a slow start. Everything changed in a mid-October game on the road versus Colorado. Mainly facing standout cornerback Travis Hunter, Ayomanor hauled in 13 catches, 294 receiving yards and three touchdowns en route to Stanford’s 46-43 double-overtime win.
“I was beyond proud, I literally had tears in my eyes,” Osei said of Ayomanor’s performance versus Colorado.
That performance propelled Ayomanor to a dominant end of the season, where he received Pro Football Focus First Team Freshman All-America and All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention honors. Now, with a full year of D-I experience under his belt and another year removed from his knee injuries, Ayomanor is one of the best wide receiver prospects in college football.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Canadians fell in love with Vince Carter when he played for the Toronto Raptors. While it’s primarily a hockey country, Carter’s stardom propelled a generation of basketball stars, including Jamal Murray, Andrew Wiggins and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Osei believes Ayomanor can have a similar impact paving the way for Canada’s next generation on the gridiron.
“Elic could be that one where the next generation is inspired by Elic Ayomanor,” Osei said.
Photo courtesy of Stanford Athletics/ISI Photos
Published on September 19, 2024 at 12:22 am