By Howard Tsumura(VarsityLetters.com)VANCOUVER — Giovanni Manu came to the Detroit Lions draped in a blank canvas. Now, two NFL training camps later, the 6-foot-7, 350-pound former UBC Thunderbirds standout from Pitt Meadows has put himself in the big picture.“Short story is, if they told me I had to play left tackle against the Green Bay Packers […]
Tag: Canada west football
Postcards from The Edge: UBC’s Edgerrin Williams-Hernandez shows he can still deliver the mail! ‘Birds speedy receiver looks to put his own stamp on a special senior season!
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 […]
Tsumura on UBC Football: My two big takeaways from impressive win over No. 8-ranked Manitoba! Why ‘Birds have an enviable QB situation, and why anyone would covet the blue-&-gold’s front 7!
By Howard Tsumura (VarsityLetters.ca)VANCOUVER — It’s not that Blake Nill misunderstood the question.More than that, it’s all part-and-parcel of the DNA of post-game coach speak to remain in the moment. You know, the micro… not the macro.Yet, in the aftermath of a Canada West season-opening 21-9 victory over the No. 8 Manitoba Bisons here Thursday […]
In a case of ‘carpe diem’ defined, UBC’s Theo Benedet puts adversity behind him and seizes the day with Chicago Bears! Handsworth grad still in the battle for starting left tackle spot!
By Howard Tsumura (VarsityLetters.ca)VANCOUVER — Theo Benedet showed up at Chicago Bears training camp and made such an impression that it was senseless to whisper.And on Tuesday afternoon, after the North Vancouver native and UBC Thunderbirds’ alumnus was announced as part of the NFL team’s final 53-man roster, what wound up speaking loudest of all […]
From Ghana to Point Grey: UBC’s Ben Sangmuah may have started late, but fourth-year linebacker a quick study! Birds’ recent NFL successes bring Steelers, Colts, Bears for a Thunderbird Stadium peek!
By Howard Tsumura (VarsityLetters.ca)VANCOUVER — If you could invent a device to measure the collective quickness with which a developing football player grasps the concepts of the game and then proceeds to carry them to the next level, it would be the rare few who would calibrate in the same neighbourhood as Ben Sangmuah.Just four […]
Late rally by Saskatchewan stuns UBC 38-33 in opening playoff round! Thunderbirds head coach Nill: “I don’t know what to say. I have never been a part of anything that drastic before”
VANCOUVER — When it comes to a post-mortem discussion of the 2024 UBC Thunderbirds football season, one which ended with a stunning 38-33 Hardy Cup semifinal home field loss to the Saskatchewan Huskies, you must first determine the focal length at which the conversation must begin.So do you want to take the macro view of […]
On a night the heavens open up, UBC’s back-to-basics excellence tops Calgary as part of a ‘perfect storm’ at Thunderbird Stadium!
VANCOUVER — If you were to make yet another argument for football as sport’s ultimate game of survival, then UBC’s Friday night victory against the visiting Calgary Dinos was — both literally and figuratively— its perfect storm.Against the backdrop of a night sky, the lights at Thunderbird Stadium provided the perfect level of illumination from […]
Despite gruelling stretch of road games, UBC football pushes win streak to four straight as Birds’ QB Rooker finds receivers McBean, Webb, Kapler and Hladik on highlight-reel gainers!
You might say that there is a penance to be served when a football team receives the first two games of its eight-game season-long schedule at home, then proceeds to lose them both, and by an average of almost 20 points per game.That’s what the UBC Thunderbirds did, way back in the early days of […]
UBC rushing attack brings balance to a three-game win streak, ‘Birds top Dinos 32-30 in Calgary as RB Isaiah Knight dashes for 235 yards and sixth place on blue-and-gold’s all-time rushing list!
VANCOUVER — If they ever decide to take names for a Mt. Rushmore of UBC Thunderbirds running backs, Isaiah Knight seems a lock to have his face chiseled in rock.The fourth-year Ottawa native put on the performance of his career Saturday at McMahon Stadium, rushing for a career-high 235 yards in helping the ‘Birds (3-2) […]
UBC linebacker William Hunter caps 11th-hour starting nod with a fourth-quarter defensive clinic to earn Canada West Defensive POW honours!
VANCOUVER — The pre-game buzz last Friday in the hour or so leading up to kick-off at Thunderbird Stadium?How about the fact that UBC’s game-changing fifth-year senior outside linebacker Jaxon Ciraolo-Brown wound up as an 11th-hour scratch due to injury and had thus been shelved for the team’s Homecoming Game against the Saskatchewan Huskies, one […]