After starting out the 2019 college season as a virtual unknown, NFL wide receiver prospect Chase Claypool from Abbotsford, B.C., has now elevated his stock to the point where he seems likely to be an early-round pick in this month’s draft, with perhaps even a chance of breaking into the first round.

Claypool, who had never totalled more than 50 receptions, 639 yards and four touchdowns in any of his first three seasons at the storied University of Notre Dame, exploded for 1,037 yards and 13 touchdowns on 66 catches as a senior this past season. The six-foot-four, 238-pounder hauled in 23 more catches, 522 more yards and seven more touchdowns than any other Notre Dame receiver in 2019. As the exclamation mark on his breakout season, Claypool put up 146 yards and a touchdown with seven catches in the Camping World Bowl en route to being named MVP of the game.

With significant buzz already surrounding the Abbotsford native following his senior campaign, he took his stock to an even higher level after the eye-popping performance he had at the NFL Scouting Combine in February. After being told by some NFL teams at the combine that perhaps he should switch to the tight end position at the next level because of his size, Claypool silenced his critics by running a blazing-fast 40-yard dash time of 4.42 seconds, which ultimately was the seventh fastest among all 55 wide receiver participants.

Claypool’s time of 4.42 seconds put him in elite company, as the only other wide receiver in combine history who stood at least six-foot-four and weighed at least 235 pounds and ran the 40 in less than 4.45 seconds was former Detroit Lions star Calvin Johnson, who ran an unbelievable 4.35 40 at 235 pounds in 2007.

If Claypool does ultimately get drafted in the first round of this month’s draft which begin on Thursday, April 23, he’ll join Toronto-born N'Keal Harry (32nd overall in 2019) as the only other Canadian wide receivers to ever be selected that high, per Canadian football site 3downnation.com, which also states that just eight receivers born north of the border have ever been drafted.

Claypool recently spoke to TSN’s Farhan Lalji about his performance at the scouting combine and how it’s changed how teams view him, along with how the ongoing coronavirus epidemic has impacted his preparation for the draft. Here is a transcription of the interview:

Lalji: I’m joined by Abbotsford’s Chase Claypool, who’s in Southern California right now getting ready for the NFL draft. Chase, I want to ask you, with you being in L.A. and the coronavirus affecting your ability to travel, how much of an impact has it had on you?

Claypool: It’s definitely impacted my process a lot. I had a lot of private workouts with teams, dinners with teams, visits to facilities, that’s all been cancelled. I really only got one workout in before everything started getting cancelled. It’s really kind of put a halt to this process for me.

Lalji: One of the things that really raised the process for you was your performance at the combine. How did that change the level of interest teams have in you?

Claypool: Before the combine not a lot of people were talking about me being a highly touted draft prospect. After the combine, I think people really saw what I could bring to the table with my size and speed and athleticism. I think it definitely helped me a lot.

Lalji: I saw this week that you’ve been mentioned as a potential first-rounder in one of the mock drafts of ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., who’s been doing this for a long time and he had you potentially going No. 30 to the Green Bay Packers. I know you posted about it on social media as well. What did it mean to you to see that as a possibility?

Claypool: Yeah, that was very cool. Just to see that recognition from someone who’s so reputable. I think it’s pretty exciting, but you’ve always got to keep your head on tight and just not let that get to you because projections are so hard to really tell where you’re going. But to see that from him is pretty motivating, for sure.

Lalji: Can you fill us in on which teams you’ve spoken to and what you expect between now and the draft in terms of other teams you expect to speak to in Skype interviews as they try and get to know you this way?

Claypool: The only team I worked out with was the Buffalo Bills at my facility in South Bend at Notre Dame. I just had my first FaceTime interview, just about a week ago, with the New York Giants wide receiver coach. It’s definitely different and a little weird because it’s the first time it’s kind of happening, but obviously, the teams that had me scheduled are going to want to FaceTime interview me. They have to install their offence over FaceTime and then I have to take notes and kind of recite it back to them. It’s a little harder, obviously, but over FaceTime than in person, but I’m trying to make it work.

Lalji: The last thing I’ll ask you is just what happens between now and the draft from a training and preparation perspective and maybe how you’ll share the moment with your family, because it will be a different kind of draft of everybody?

Claypool: I actually just finished a TRX workout that I have set up on my door. It was a Zoom video chat with some of the athletes that are training here at the draft. It was about an hour and half workout, and that’s probably what I’m going to be doing for the next month or so until the draft. Hopefully I can get home for the draft party, but we’ll see. If not, I’ll probably hold something at Notre Dame and have some friends attend there.