On the ride to the next level, you can hit speed bumps along the way. For Cochrane's Kellen Forrest, it was more of a train wreck.
On the ride to the next level, you can hit speed bumps along the way.
For Cochrane's Kellen Forrest, it was more of a train wreck.
After two years of red-shirting (auditing, not playing) with the University of Calgary Dinos football team, the 2012 Cochrane High School Cobras grad was on track to play on special teams and at defensive back for Dinos this year. He'd done everything Dinos coaches had demanded, and done them well.
His patience, commitment and determination paid off, as he was on the plane for the team's first road game Aug. 30 at University of Laval. He took to the field, got caught in a pileup and had a large player fall awkwardly on his leg, tearing the anterior-cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee. His first season as a player had ended on Week 1.
Such are the breaks at the next level.
“It was just bad luck with injuries. But I've dealt with them before, ” Forrest says. “I just have to go through the adversity and get stronger and be better from it. That's all I can do now. ”
At fall training camp, Dinos head coach Blake Nill said Forrest was where he needed to be in his progression up the depth chart. It was Nill's way of saying Forrest was ready to play in 2014, adding Forrest to the team's travelling roster in his third season with the team.
“It was definitely an improvement from my first two years, ” Forrest recalls of his selection to travel with the team. “I was looking to get on the field this year. ”
He got there, and the injury train derailed his season.
“Left knee, tore my ACL. Had reconstructive surgery on Oct. 14, ” Forrest states. “It'll be a process but I'm working hard and I'll get there eventually.
“I'll just have to come back stronger next year. ”
Where the Dinos, and the next level, will be waiting.
“Everybody is faster, stronger than in high school, ” Forrest relates of Canadian Interuniversity Sport, Canada West University Athletic Association football.
“Everybody works as hard as you do in the weight room and stuff. It's definitely a step up, but it's enjoyable. ”
Kellen Forrest, 20
University of Calgary Dinos football
(3rd season with team, 1st year playing)
6-foot, 175-pound defensive back
Cochrane High School Cobras Class of 2012
