VANCOUVER — How long had Ercy Avul worked and waited for what was about as glorious a 108-second span a football player can experience?Last Saturday, Saskatchewan receiver and Abbotsford-W.J. Mouat grad Avul, who prior to the current campaign had missed three of his last four seasons, announced himself with two brilliant plays over the final […]
Tag: Saskatchewan Huskies
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 […]
Tracing the route tree of UBC’s dynamic ‘Sudden Sam’ Davenport! Big-play receiver’s healthy gains coincide with ‘Birds rise as locals head to Calgary looking to extend conference win streak!
VANCOUVER — Take a stroll inside UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium in the hours ahead of Friday’s countdown to kick-off and chances are you’ll bump into the Thunderbirds’ star receiver Sam Davenport.Maybe he’s catching up with friends on the concourse level of one of the province’s most tradition-laden football churches.Or, perhaps he’s testing out one of those […]
Switch to slotback imbues UBC’s power-train running back Dane Kapler with a double-dose of on-field danger! McCaffrey-like moments vindicate coaching staff’s gutsy off-season switch!
VANCOUVER — If you spent any amount of time sniffing around UBC’s fall camp in August, it didn’t take any time at all to realize just how deep and talented the 2023 ‘Birds looked on paper.That, of course, is the net effect of ringing the bell from top to bottom for what looks like four […]
A SUNDAY READ: UBC’s Keijaun Johnson reminds us all of the heart-stopping power of playoff football! Road underdog ‘Birds shock Regina for Hardy Cup title game berth!
Playoff football’s most defining moments have a way of coming out of the shadows and taking our breath away.Yet beyond the most obvious ways in which they dole equal parts joy and despair to their most loyal fans, they also seem to deliver, with barometric precision, a universal truth about their victors.That’s what I was […]
UBC and the Hardy Cup playoffs: Despite its role as big road underdogs vs. No. 4 Saskatchewan Huskies, opportunity knocks Saturday for these young, untethered Thunderbirds!
VANCOUVER — With the ink still just five days dry on a what has been for them a revelatory regular season, the UBC Thunderbirds are being talked about in Canada West football circles as a team of tomorrow.Yet for a 3-3 team which was a fourth-quarter away from opening its six-game conference slate at 0-3, […]
After red-zone & special teams struggles add up to home-opening loss to Huskies, UBC coach Nill resolute: “I am not ready to give up on the season, it’s a baptism by fire!”
VANCOUVER — On Friday, the calendar turned to October as the UBC Thunderbirds kicked off one of their latest home-openers on record.Yet in the aftermath of a 43-15 loss to the visiting, No. 9-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies before a sell-out crowd of 2,500 at the stadium, just the team’s second game of a shortened six-game Canada […]
Ahead of Friday’s UBC home opener, Saskatchewan head coach Scott Flory tips his cap to a gutsy debut by ‘Birds rookie QB Garrett Rooker!
VANCOUVER — Last Saturday, there was a moment when UBC rookie Garrett Rooker showed us all both the kind of quarterback he already is and the kind of leader he is surely set to become.Rooker, in what may well be one of the best-ever statistical debuts by a ‘Birds freshman quarterback, went 32-of-45 for 372 […]
UBC football home-opener 2021: Young ‘Birds to get physical test from Sask. Huskies, says coach Nill: “They’re a tough, old-school program that plays the game like it’s the 50s, 60s and 70’s”
VANCOUVER — The more you play the Saskatchewan Huskies, the more things stay the same.That tweak on a classic cliche was so apropos this week, because when Varsity Letters chatted mid-week with UBC Thunderbirds’ veteran head coach Blake Nill, you could almost feel the need to check your figurative chin strap.Looking ahead to the ‘Birds […]
W.J. Mouat’s Nelson Lokombo: Why a position switch “switched” his perspective and elevated Saskatchewan Huskies’ star DB in eyes of CFL scouts!
He’d enjoyed a Canadian Football Hall of Fame career along the offensive line of the Montreal Alouettes, and now, a few years after returning to his alma mater to begin a new one along the sidelines, he was being elevated to the role of head coach of the Saskatchewan Huskies.Yet as Scott Flory is the […]