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Selnes at the Grey Cup: Players and coaches with Saskatchewan connections

It was Media Day Thursday in the lead up to the Grey Cup. The RedBlacks and Stampeders gathered in the morning and afternoon respectively for interviews.
Bill Selnes

It was Media Day Thursday in the lead up to the Grey Cup. The RedBlacks and Stampeders gathered in the morning and afternoon respectively for interviews. I looked at each roster for the chance to interview players and coaches connected with Saskatchewan.

 

Evan Johnson

Evan Johnson is the starting left guard for the RedBlacks. He played high school football for the Campbell Collegiate Titans and in university for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

He has just completed his degree in Civil Engineering. It took him six years as playing football kept him from full class loads.

He said that a big part of becoming a CFL player involved the player interviews at the CFL combine. A player gets 15 to 30 minutes to impress a team’s coaches. Evan said he benefited from advice offered by Scott Flory, the Huskie Head Coach and a former Montreal Alouette who had been a part of the Montreal group in such interviews. He said Scott emphasized to him that coaches want to know players love to play football.

Evan goes through life with a smile on his face. He said he has had a lot of fun in the CFL over the past 2 years. I said I do not often hear players and coaches talking about professional football being fun. He said he conveys seriousness in the meeting room and preparation for games.

Saskatchewan is a possibility for his CFL future but he added Ottawa has been very good to him and he is happy there. He spends the offseason in Saskatoon and spoke highly of Ignite Conditioning helping him. His fiancée is from Canwood.

 

Julan Lynch

Julan Lynch is a Stampeder receiver. He was born in Jamaica and came to Regina when he was about 12. His grandmother has been in Regina for about 40 years gradually bringing family members from the island to Regina.

He was a basketball player until in Grade 11 a coach said he thought Julan could play football. He went out for the team as a receiver.

For university he wanted to experience a little more of Canada so he headed to Saskatoon to play for the Huskies.

Former Huskie head coach Brian Towriss expressed confidence that he had the ability to play professional football before the combine.

On individual plays as a receiver he spoke of needing to be aware of what was going on around him and then, in the split second of receiving a pass, controlling his focus to be on the ball.

 

Marc Mueller

Marc Mueller is the running backs coach with the Stampeders. His father, Larry, has long been involved with football in Regina and TSN. His maternal grandfather was Ron Lancaster.

He is a reflection of his father in having a lot of visible energy.

Marc spoke of growing up in a very competitive sports loving family. He said whether it was Monopoly or cribbage or picking players for fantasy sports everyone wanted to be best in the family.

He spoke of bad years in football as testing your love of the game. His grandfather was certainly tested in the two years he was Rider Head Coach when he went 2-14 each season and then had some poor seasons in Hamilton. Marc said bad years also show who you can trust in the game and be willing to work with you.

A quarterback in university he said he wanted to transition to coaching when he was done playing the game. After finishing his university career with the University of Regina Rams and going through training camp with the Eskimos he moved into coaching with the Rams.

Subsequently, the Stampeders reached out to Marc. Rich Stubler, the defensive coach and a family friend, helped give him the opportunity to move to the pros.

When he came to Calgary he was coaching linebackers. From there he moved to coaching running backs. He said he loves coaching running backs as it involves him in all aspects of the offence – rushing, passing and protection. He spoke of it as holistic.

He said he wants to work in Calgary as long as he can stay there.