By Keiran Gorsky
Third-year forward Jevontae Layne scored a brace against the Queen’s Gaels in a 3-2 win in Kingston, Ont. on Oct. 5, 2024. He also, however, managed to score an elbow square in the face. Blood was seeping out and the requisite bandage applied was to some, comically huge.
Maybe his teammates were thankful for the three points. It was hard to tell.
“I had to go out with the team to a dinner [after], and they’re making fun of me,” Layne recounted with a laugh.
Layne didn’t have a long stay at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), as he was drafted first overall in the Canadian Premier League’s (CPL) 2025 U Sports Draft by Valour FC on Dec. 5, 2024. Should he sign with the Winnipeg outfit after a frigid pre-season, he’ll be the third athlete to suit up in the CPL from TMU and the second draftee after Bold alumnus Jacob Carlos to dawn Valour’s black, red and gold.
Similarly to former Bold striker Ameer Kinani, who was drafted second overall in 2023, there was little indication from Valour that he would be selected first overall.
“After a few calls…I honestly felt like I was gonna go in the top three,” Layne said.
“I’ve played in between two wooden trees…Anywhere I can make a net, I’ll play”
He wasn’t on campus much—his recent winter course load consisting of only two Chang School philosophy classes—but he was just about impossible to miss on the field. In 11 matches—starting 10 of them—Layne found the net 10 times, forming a lethal duo up front with the previous season’s leading Ontario University Athletics scorer in graduate midfielder Chris Campoli.
Layne didn’t apply to TMU immediately after graduating high school. Instead, he spent two years at Sheridan College, playing at the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) level—a quite unlikely path for anyone with professional ambitions. Still, he doesn’t necessarily see himself as that archetypal late bloomer. The aim for Layne has always been the same.
“When I finished high school, I didn’t know what pathway I was going to end up going,” said Layne. “But my end goal was always to be a professional.”
That road hasn’t always been straightforward for TMU’s handful of CPL graduates. Kinani, who signed with expansion side Vancouver FC after posting impressive goal totals at U Sports and the semi-professional League1 Ontario level, only found the net once in 19 appearances.
For Carlos, who occupied a primary roster spot as opposed to the developmental roster Layne will likely join, the struggle for professional playing time was even more unforgiving. Hopes of staying in the league and a follow-up contract were always on his mind.
“Football—it’s a tough business,” Carlos said. “That’s why you can never be too high and never be too low.”
That second contract never came about for Carlos, who’s currently back plying his trade in League1 Ontario. Nevertheless, he has great respect for Valour head coach Phillip Dos Santos, who still manages the team three years later.
How might Layne go about pressing him?
“Don’t stop running,” Carlos advises. “The key to [Dos Santos’] heart is to work hard on the field.”
The goal totals are consistently eye-popping for Layne but it’s his all-around game that gets coaches gushing. His knack for being in the right place at the right time, TMU Bold men’s soccer head coach Filip Prostran said, is equally impressive off-the-ball.
“The key to [Dos Santos’] heart is to work hard on the field”
From an early age, even as a forward, he realized he could separate himself by getting stuck in at every opportunity. Growing up in Brampton, Ont., Layne found he could construct playing surfaces from nearly anything.
“I’ve played against garages,” he remembered. “I’ve played in between two wooden trees…Anywhere I can make a net, I’ll play.”
Should Valour extend him the opportunity, Layne will likely sign a U-Sports developmental contract. If their club teams elect not to retain them, this allows drafted players to return to university soccer, which a fully professional contract would preclude for 365 days.
It wouldn’t be Layne’s first taste of professional opposition. In April of last year, he started up front for Simcoe County Rovers FC against Toronto FC in the preliminary round of the Canadian Championship—a tournament that pits Canada’s top semi-professional teams against their Major League Soccer and CPL counterparts.
It was a 5-0 drubbing at BMO Field for the Barrie, Ont.-based side, but still, Layne cherishes the game as one of the best experiences of his life. Professional clubs have an ability to be so crafty and technical that from the other side of the pitch, it seems to Layne as if they don’t make any mistakes.
If he’s intimidated, it’s not clear to his teammates or coaches. Prostran describes Layne as a quiet, sturdy presence in the locker room.
“He never seems to tire from the first minute to the last, breaking, pressing, working,” said Prostran.
“I honestly felt like I was gonna go in the top three”
Layne emphasized that he often remains in the shadows and lets his game speak for itself. Carlos, who has gone head-to-head with Layne in League1, gathered as much.
“[Layne] just puts his head down and just works,” he said. “He seemed very positive all year…[even] when things weren’t going for his team. You can see he just works hard and that’s what [Dos Santos] wants.”
For U Sports draftees, even developmental contracts are far from guaranteed. Professional opportunities beyond rookie seasons have thus far eluded Bold graduates.
Layne hopes to change that. He is intent on remaining grounded through all the ups and downs that come with pursuing professional sport.
“If things don’t seem to work out perfect at first, I gotta keep my head down and keep working hard and [not] let that bring me down.”
Layne will travel to Winnipeg on Feb. 14 for the beginning of Valour’s pre-season.
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