Muldrow

The past few days for Richard Muldrow have been a little crazy.

On Sunday afternoon, the former York High football standout found himself at Hersheypark standing alongside his mother, sister and her Girl Scout troop. The 6-foot, 7-inch, 318-pound Muldrow was there to help his sister handle the large group of girls.

Waiting in line to board the Fahrenheit roller coaster, Muldrow received a call on his cell phone. On the other end was his agent, Michael Brennan, who had good news for him. The Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League were interested in Muldrow's services.

And so began a rather long, but quick journey for the offensive lineman. He already had his United States passport readily available from the last time he used it in 2008 as a member of the Rutgers University football team, when the Scarlet Knights played Ball State in the International Bowl in Toronto. And he brought it with him when he awoke early Monday morning at his parents' York City home and made the drive to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, where he boarded an 8:55 a.m. flight that landed in Calgary nearly seven hours later.

In his three days thus far living in a high-rise in Calgary with teammate Joe West, a wide receiver four years removed from playing college ball at Texas El-Paso, Muldrow is still getting used to life in Canada.

"They do have an Applebee's up here and of course your favorite fast-food spots," Muldrow said in a Facebook conversation Wednesday night. "I've been eating Subway for dinner since Monday."

And in his three days at practice, Muldrow is adjusting to the different style of play in the CFL.

"In the states you're used to having the defensive linemen line up on the line of scrimmage, but these guys are a yard back off the line," Muldrow said. "Pass protection is easier because the D-linemen are back, which makes his speed rush easier to control. But don't get me wrong, these guys are still big, strong and fast."

Muldrow signed with the Stampeders, who began their 18-game schedule in July, with the understanding that he'll start on the practice roster before working his way onto the full-time roster. Calgary's final regular season game is Nov. 2. Brennan said the average salary for CFL players on the active roster is $50,000 to $65,000 a season.

NFL tryouts: Muldrow completed his final collegiate season with Richmond, part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, last year. He transferred to the Spiders in 2010 from NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision school Rutgers, where he redshirted in his true freshman season in 2007 but didn't see action in 2008 or 2009. Muldrow started all 22 games along the offensive line in his two years with Richmond.

Though he wound up not getting selected in the National Football League draft in April, Muldrow showed enough in Richmond's pro day earlier in the year to land an invite to the Oakland Raiders' three-day rookie mini-camp. But nothing came of it. So, he returned home to York and trained at a Power Train Sports facility in Lancaster until Brennan scored him a one-day tryout for the New England Patriots two weeks ago.

Though unsuccessful in the tryouts with the Raiders and Patriots, Muldrow has used it as motivation in Canada.

"It motivated me to work harder and master what I needed to work on," he said. "But as I said before, the CFL is different from the NFL in the technique and terminology."

-- Reach John Walk at jwalk@yorkdispatch.com.