Lions select colourful DL Brauns in CFL global draft

TORONTO — He's back to his natural blond hair colour but Karlis Brauns expects to make a grand entrance when the B.C. Lions open training camp.

B.C. took the free-spirited Latvian defensive lineman third overall in the CFL global draft Tuesday. In March, the six-foot-four, 270-pound Brauns turned heads by sporting pink hair at the CFL combine.

The pink hair was absent Tuesday when Brauns spoke to reporters during a CFL zoom call. But he certainly could be donning another different colour by the time he reports to the Lions.

"It (pink colour) takes some maintenance and there's no public appearances so it went away but it will be coming back," he said. "There was talk about going orange (one of the Lions colours) and I thought, 'That's not a terrible idea,' so we'll see."

In March, Brauns explained why he dyed his hair.

"When you talk about defensive linemen, they have to be a little crazy and be bullies," Brauns said. "That's kind of the main thing I wanted to say.

"I'm not going to be low-key, I'm not going to take breaks. I'm going to be crazy every time."

But Brauns turned heads at the combine for more than just his hair. He arrived in impeccable condition — with between 12 and 13 per cent body fat — then put up 29 reps in the 225-pound bench press and covered the 40-yard dash in 4.97 seconds.

"Having played in Europe for a while, this is where it actually starts for me because this is what I'd say is finally a chance to play serious football," Brauns said. "Getting drafted is all good and well and I'm very excited, but this is where the real work begins."

The Montreal Alouettes selected Nigerian-born defensive lineman Kingsley Jonathan first overall. The 24-year-old had 101 tackles (60 solo, 21.5 for loss), 15 sacks,