By Howard Tsumura (VarsityLetters.ca)
VANCOUVER — It’s no stretch to say that over the past 12 months, a lot of Edgerrin Williams-Hernandez’s evenings would end wondering if he was ever going to catch another touchdown pass in Thunderbirds’ blue and gold.
In fact until he put all of those doubts to rest with two scoring catches in the first half of UBC’s thrilling 21-9 season-opening win over the Manitoba Bisons last Thursday before an overflow crowd at Thunderbird Stadium, the fifth-year senior wide receiver admitted he had begun to question his identity.
That’s what happens when you’re forced to spend an entire season — as Williams-Hernandez did following a pesky MCL sprain he suffered early in the team’s 2024 training camp — watching and wondering as all around you the show goes on.
The doubt, the fear, the introspective moments dripping with resignation, all became a part of his world… so much so, in fact, that his most elemental questions had all become existential.
“Honestly, it became more mental than physical for me,” Williams-Hernandez said post game last Thursday. “It turned into one of ‘Am I who I am? Am I who I say I am?’ And ‘Will I be able to come back stronger than ever?’”
The eventual cure: Two heaping teaspoons of touchdowns, each helping expertly delivered by new starting quarterback Drew Viotto. And they even came with some sugar on top: Those back-to-back second-quarter majors put UBC up 14-0 at the half against the No. 8 Bisons, and ultimately proved pivotal in the team’s 12-point victory.
And now, some 642 days after catching his last pass, a six-yarder from quarterback Garrett Rooker in UBC’s 2023 Vanier Cup national championship game loss to Montreal Carabins, it’s hard to argue that the highly-touted 5-foot-11, 190-pound product of Hamilton’s St. Thomas More Catholic hasn’t come back stronger than ever.
LEARNING ALONG THE WAY
Speaking of sugar, UBC head coach Blake Nill is not adverse to the stuff.
Yet at the same time, the veteran gridiron boss prefers to speak from a more balanced palate, recognizing the more balanced profile which emerges when the sweet meets the sour.
“This is obviously his last year and a big year for him,” began Nill on Monday morning, ahead of his No. 8 nationally-ranked team’s practice for Friday’s road opener (6 p.m., Canada West TV) in Saskatoon against the No. 7 Saskatchewan Huskies. “It’ll be time to move on from university and it’s his last kick at the can. And to be honest, significant growth has occurred with Edgerrin over his tenure here.”
That’s a reference to the maturity Williams-Hernandez has accrued through six prior seasons of not only battling through injuries, but in learning to embrace a level of equilibrium necessary to succeed in an environment were game-day snaps and targets do not come with guarantees.
After his injury redshirt season a year ago, Williams-Hernandez is now the last remaining member of the school’s Class of 2019, one which included a number of standouts, including the North Vancouver pair of current Chicago Bears left tackle Theo Benedet (Handsworth), and defensive end Mitch Townsend of (Windsor).
While UBC’s 2025 script is just now beginning to write itself, that story arc can take a dramatic leap forward if it can depart Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon late Friday without having once again met its Waterloo. The Thunderbirds have not beaten the Huskies on the road since exacting a 29-25 victory way back on Oct. 17 of 2017, And all that took was a performance from quarterback Michael O’Connor, the school’s all-time passing leader, in which he went 37-of-51 for 466 yards and three touchdowns.
Thankfully, from a UBC perspective, Williams-Hernandez’s return to form against Manitoba served as a performance that the sociology major can build his season around.
Yet the veteran part of him knows the reality, that the depth and versatility of the Thunderbirds’ wide receiver room won’t allow him to rest on his laurels.
In fact it’s the competition created through what might be UBC’s most talented positional group that ultimately makes them so dangerous.
“Every week our coaches are faced with very difficult decisions and to the same extent, our athletes have to realize that when you’re on the the field, you need to protect that opportunity as much as you can,” said Nill, who has seen an early core group of Williams-Hernandez, Shemar McBean, Trey Montour, Jaden Phillips and Mark Webb garner the majority of targets from pivots Viotto and Derek Engel.
“We weren’t very good in 2019 (2-6) when Edgerrin came in, then we had (the cancelled) Covid (season),” Nill said. “We started picking it up again with (quarterback Garrett) Rooker and others, but certainly Edgerrin’s maturity has made him a much more productive athlete for us.”
You can hear that maturity first hand in the way Williams-Hernandez talks about his fellow pass catchers.
“I believe, across the board, from Shemar, to Trey Montour who is up-and-coming, there are so many guys… I could name every single guy, and every guy brings something so good to the team. It’s really motivating for me being the oldest one, too. It’s like I don’t get comfortable. I am trying to motivate them, and you know, they motivate me more than they even know.”
TIME FOR BUSINESS
UBC’s 2024 season was as much a roller-coaster as any Nill had experienced over his first decade on Point Grey.
There was an 0-2 start, followed by a 5-0 win streak which stoked the flames of national title aspirations, but then quite suddenly, a home field loss to Saskatchewan in the opening round of the Canada West playoffs.
In a lot of ways, Williams-Hernandez experienced the same highs and lows.
After hurting his knee on the second day of training camp, he thought he was healthy enough to make his return.
“But it was one of those ones where I tried to come back too early and I re-hurt it,” he said. “So I wanted that full season to get back with the guys, and so this is the season where I try to leave everything out there.”
Thursday’s win over Manitoba couldn’t have been a better start, and if it’s in the cards for the rest of his season to keep pace, he’ll have left his university career behind on his own terms.
Over his first four seasons at UBC, Williams-Hernandez made 99 catches for 1,103 yards and six touchdowns, numbers Nill knows are not the kind of benchmarks his senior was hoping for when he first came to Vancouver.
“I think he’d be the first to say that maybe he hasn’t lived up to all the hype he started with,” Nill said Monday with encouragement. “And I think he is looking at this as a last chance to maybe live up to the expectations he came out here with and maybe even gain some professional interest.”
Says Williams-Hernandez of his final year at university: “The goal is to win the Vanier and get a graduation diploma.”
His first touchdown against Manitoba, the one where he split a pair of defenders at the back of the end zone and hauled in a perfect Viotto pass?
The best part about it other than the obvious was getting the chance to listen to him describe it.
“It was funny because that whole week me and Drew were practicing that exact throw, whether it was in practice or even after practice. Then we executed it perfectly and that is honestly the best feeling.”
Sounds like a guy who doesn’t have to wonder any more if he’s still got it.
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