The McGill Redmen kick-off the CIS university football season on Thursday by travelling across Mt. Royal to take on the Montreal Carabins in a 7 p.m. start.
The Carabins are coming off a 6-3 second-place finish while McGill has nowhere to go but up in their 131st season of football. After losing starting quarterback Jonathan Collin in the opening game last season, the offence was unable to get untracked and the team went 0-9, losing three contests in the last minute of play. This year, the Redmen lineup features a whopping 49 returnees — including 18 seniors, 13 juniors and 18 sophomores — to go along with 27 freshmen.
“We’re a bit young but have only lost a handful of starters and expect to be very competitive,” says Sonny Wolfe, in his fifth season as head coach of the Redmen. “On offence, our one real question mark is who will start at quarterback? That said, our offence should be more balanced and improved over last year. We expect to run the ball a lot more than we have over the past few years, when we were almost exclusively a passing-based offence. Defensively, we are bigger, faster, stronger and much more experienced.”
Wolfe also has a revamped coaching staff with six new faces, including Danny Laramee, the new offensive coordinator and recently-retired Montreal Alouettes star Paul Lambert, who will handle the offensive line.
The battle for the starting quarterback is wide open since Collin is still recovering from knee surgery and his status for this year is uncertain, although he did play one quarter in McGill’s surprising 37-14 preseason win over the Ottawa Gee-Gees, which finished atop the OUA standings last year.
Returnee Ryne Bondy was suddenly thrust into the starter’s role in Week 1 last year and completed 49.7 per cent of his 190 pass attempts, for an average of 186.1 yards per game, two touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He will be challenged by a pair of promising freshmen for the starting role as both Dallon Kuprowski (QJFL) and Jeff Tichelman (BC – AAA high school) led their last teams to championships in 2010.
The running game will be led by Taylor Kuprowski (100 carries, 4.4 avg., 1 TD), a shifty, 5-foot-9, 210-pound feature back who could be in the unique situation of taking handoffs from his younger brother. Charles-Antoine Sinotte, the CIS all-time reception leader, has graduated but returns in a coaching capacity and will oversee a solid corps of receivers, including returnees Tristan Baldini, Michael Chitayat (21 rec., 13.0 avg., 1 TD) and Mathieu Guerette (7 rec., 10.4 avg.), plus freshman Jean-Philippe Paquette, a College AA all-star with College Trois-Rivieres. The offensive line will be anchored by guard Robert Ravensbergen (6-5, 310), plus tackles Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (6-5, 275) and Cam Stockman (6-6, 280).
Coach Clint Uttley is back at defensive coordinator and promises a Redmen defence that will no longer be a pushover.
The defensive line is sparked by All-Canadian tackle Ben Thompson (6-1, 275), who led the team with 46 tackles, including 11 for loss and one QB sack. Poised to have a breakout season is Alex Hutchinson (6-3, 255; 34.5 tackles, 9 TFL, 3 QB sacks). Charles-Evens Peltrop (5-10, 233; 36 tackles, 5 TFL) is expected to see action at both inside linebacker and rush end. The linebacking corps will be keyed by Alexandre Bernard (6-1, 218; 45.5 tackles, 4 QB sacks, 8 TFL), while the defensive backs will feature Joffrey Gorin (30.5 tackles, 2 INT) and Matt Quigley (18 tackles, 2 INT, 5 knockdowns).
Among the top recruits to watch are Louis Marandola (DB) out of College Montmorency, nosetackle Elliott Leeflang (6-4, 295), who was one of the top linemen that stayed north of the border and Olivier Cain-Tremblay, a 6-foot-4, 305-pound defensive end from College Edouard-Montpetit who was second in sacks in the Quebec CEGEP AAA league.
2011 McGILL FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Fri., Aug. 26: WON 37-14 vs. OTTAWA (preseason), 7 p.m.
Thurs., Sept. 1 at Montreal (131st annual Season Opener), 7 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 9 vs. SHERBROOKE (QUFL Home Opener), 7 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 17 at Acadia, 2 p.m.
Sun., Sept. 25 at Laval, 1 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 30 vs. BISHOP’S (Fill the Stadium Game), 7 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 8 at Concordia (25th annual Shrine Bowl), 1 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 15 vs. MONTREAL (Homecoming Game), 1 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 22 at Bishop’s, 1 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 29 vs. CONCORDIA (43rd annual Shaughnessy Cup), 1 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 5 vs. TBA (QUFL semifinal), 1 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 12 vs. TBA (QUFL Dunsmore Cup), TBA
Sat., Nov. 19 vs. TBA (CIS Mitchell Bowl at Canada West), TBA
Fri., Nov. 25 vs. TBA (CIS Vanier Cup at Vancouver), TBA
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