Somewhere, between winning a Tier 3 provincial high school football championship and being the designated driver for his crew on New Year’s Eve, Cochrane High School Cobras defensive lineman Bryce McKinnon became a University of Regina Ram.
McKinnon, who checked out several Canadian universities including Guelph, Carleton in Ottawa and University of Calgary, decided on Regina after flying to the school with his dad in November. He met with Rams head coach Frank McCrystal and defensive coordinator Paul Dawson and was totally impressed.
After mulling it over and examining his options with other schools, he accepted a full-tuition scholarship with the U of R.
“I signed my letter of intent Dec. 17,” McKinnon said in an informal Jan. 4 interview with The Eagle.
“They (coaches) were talking to me more about schooling than football,” McKinnon related, “which is nice. I didn’t want to go in there and just talk about football.”
To that end, he’ll be entering the school’s law-enforcement education stream with an eye on becoming a police officer.
“I’m going to spend five years of my life wherever I go. I wanted to make sure the schooling was more of a main focus, and then football was part of it, too.”
He also felt being close to home, but not as close as Calgary, was beneficial.
“My turning point was I don’t want to leave my family. Regina’s far enough away that I don’t go home every night but close enough that I can come back if I need to.
“U of R just felt like home. When I went there for the visit, it felt good. That was why I decided to go there.”
The Rams are losing all four of their starting d-linemen from 2012, so there’s a chance McKinnon will see some playing time as a true freshman. But he indicated he expects to red-shirt (practice with the team and observe games) in his inaugural season.
The scholarship marks the latest success for the 6-foot, 260-pound high school senior football all-star from Water Valley.
“When I started in Grade 10, that was my goal. I was going to go play college football somewhere. I’m glad we finished off the season with a high note. Finishing off with a provincial championship is huge.”
