2 - of College Football Games
2 - of College Football Games 2 - of College Football Games
Entering his fifth and final season, quarterback Michael Faulds has one more mission to accomplish as a Mustang: winning the Vanier Cup. Through over 90 years of intercollegiate football at Western, five players have won Hec Crighton awards as the national player of the year. Tim Tindale went on to a professional career with the Buffalo Bills, Greg Marshall is now the head coach of the Mustangs, brother Blake owns a successful business in the city, Jamie Bone was immediately s u c c e s s f u l in his career path and Andy Fantuz is starring with the S a s k a t c h e w a n Roughriders in the CFL. Could Michael Faulds add his name to the list? The fifth-year quarterback is a by Andy Watson preseason favourite for the award but will have to let his action on the field do the talking. He’s says he’s ready for the challenge but cares only about team success for the time being and will ignore the personal accolades for the time being. “It’s my final year. After the (2008) Vanier Cup I didn’t take any time off. I was watching film on the Monday right after the game.” He’s hungry to win. He took the loss personally. “I want to win it all,” he said. “We took a great step two years ago (winning the Yates Cup in Guelph)... Then last year we progressed and won the Mitchell Bowl. now we want to win it all. Anything less will be a disappointment.” “This year, we want to go into the Vanier Cup a little smarter,” Faulds said. “We made some strides to come back in the (2008) vanier Cup but we dug ourselves too deep a hole. We needed to be better limiting our mistakes.” Losing receiver Zach Bull on the opening series, Faulds’ wide receivers were the seldom used Jason Milliquet, a two-sport 16 16
athlete who also played basketball with the Mustangs last season, and nick Trevail who was often doubleteammed. “It was mentally tough losing Zach,” Faulds said. Closing in on the 10,000 yard passing mark in regular season games - Faulds needs just 2,222 yards to reach it - and a number of Mustangs all-time highs, Faulds said the personal accolades do not measure up against team accomplishments. “Really it’s not important to me,” he said. “I want to win. The milestones don’t really matter now. Ten years from now milestones will allow me to look back at what I accomplished but I want a ring around my finger.” He said his off-season training has been going really well with blend of passing sessions and strength and conditioning training. “I had a good off-season program with throwing and weight training with (full-time strength and conditioning coach) Jeff Watson. I feel great.” Many Mustangs players - more than previous years, Faulds said - stayed in London over the summer working out, hanging out and building greater camaraderie. “It’s a great culture here... nick Pasic didn’t miss a summer session in 2008 and you saw the results,” Faulds said of the rookie receiver who emerged as a surprisingly effective player and starter in 2008. “It’s so important to have the chemistry together of being around the team every day. We’ve been around each other all summer. We’re a really tight group.” Faulds leads by example with his off-season regiment - and he is happy to be in that role. “I really instil leadership amongst other players and then they lead us,” Faulds said, noting linebackers John Surla and Adrian Kaiser have stepped into fill the leadership role left by graduating captain and safety Matt Carapella. “All summer, they did a good job at getting the guys going and keeping 17 17 them on task.” Faulds knows he is looked up to by other players. “All our leaders have a good work ethic and lead by example,” Faulds said. “You have to be the hardest worker and who by example.” With more experience entering the 2009 training camp - especially with many of the offensive rookies with a year under the belt including 2008 starters nathan Riva, John Leckie, nick Pasic, nick Trevail, Matthew norman and Ahmad Jaradat - Faulds is excited about what the offence can accomplish. For them to start in the Vanier Cup, Faulds said “that’s quite and accomplishment in your first year.” He’s anxious about the number of weapons he’ll have to choose from including Waterloo-transfer Josh Svec with whom he’ll study in a Masters in Kinesiology (Coaching) under the same advisor, former football coach Bob LaRose. Jesse Bellamy, his favourite target in 2008, Pasic, Trevail, Jeremy Trader and Ryan Tremblay will be likely starters at receiver along with Svec. Faulds believes he’ll have better protection in 2009 with a strong offensive line anchored by fifth-years guard Zach Pollari and centre/guard Andy Rady, who helped solidify the line for the Mustangs when he enrolled in Law School. The two seniors are joined by sophomore guard Matthew norman and sophomore tackle/centre Ahmad Jaradat and likely rookie Shane Bergman who stands at 6’7 and weights 365 lbs. “Matt and Ahmad had amazing rookie seasons,” Faulds said. “Ahmad is, and I know some of the other lineman won’t like me saying this, but probably he’s our best allround lineman. He has strength, speed and tenacity on gameday that is unmatched. And Matt norman is probably our best run blocker and he probably had the most pancakes on the team last year.” “Our offence is complicated,” Faulds admitted. “For them to be able to stick in and work with it so quickly was a great success.” The fifth-year pivot, who transfered to Western from Toledo (nCAA), also has the respect of his coaches. “Michael Faulds is - and this is not just my opinion - the top quarterback in the country,” said Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall. “He’s mature, he’s a positive influence on the guys around him, and he’s a strong leader.” In his first three seasons at Western, Faulds started off red-hot. If not for a midseason injury that knocked him out for three games in his first CIS season, Faulds would have easily eclipsed the 2,000-yard passing mark for the season - a milestone surpassed by only two other Mustangs, Chris Hessel (2002-04) and Michael O’Brien (2000) (Faulds surpassed the mark in 2007 and 2008). nonetheless, Faulds finished with an impressive total of 1,293 yards in his first season after completing 83/124 passes. After a stellar sophomore season, throwing for 1,596 yards (14th in CIS), Faulds continued to show his improved play. But once again, Faulds was hampered by injuries that forced him to miss the post-season. Faulds has a calmer, cooler mentality entering the 2009 campaign. “It is different this year. Overall, the confidence of where this team is and where it is going is much higher,” he admits. “now we’re looking outside the OUA with our goals. We still respect the fact that we have to go through this tough OUA schedule to get to our goal of winning the Vanier Cup, but we definitely have a different mindset.” “It’s a confident swagger. We’re not a team that’s going to chirp or talk down to other teams. We have the confidence that in any game we can beat any opponent.” And that includes Laval. Faulds is wary that Queen’s and Wilfrid Laurier both return a number of players - the Gaels lose only seven dress players. “We play two of the top echelon teams in our first two weeks with Ottawa and Laurier,” Faulds said. “And with the middle-tier teams, you have to respect them because you never know what they can do. Guelph has the Dunk-FitzGibbon combination and McMaster had a strong recruiting year.” Despite the tough opening to the , Faulds is calm and collected. “I think I’m less nervous than I was in previous years,” Faulds said. “Game days in the past we were confident but we didn’t automatically think we were going to win. We thought ‘we can maybe lose that game on the schedule’...We still prepare just as hard for all the teams, overall in the past our confidence wasn’t there like it is now.” Faulds hopes the experience for many of the sophomores, juniors and seniors in the 10 do-or-die games they’ve played in the past two seasons will make them a mature threat to other teams once playoffs begin. “We were lucky to have those playoff games. Even in our home opener last year we were down 18 points and the experience from going to the Mitchell Bowl in Manitoba and winning the Yates Cup after starting 0-4 the previous year helped us to know we can win and to believe in ‘anything is possible’.”
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Entering his fifth and<br />
final season, quarterback<br />
Michael Faulds has<br />
one more mission to<br />
accomplish as a Mustang:<br />
winning the Vanier Cup.<br />
Through over 90 years<br />
<strong>of</strong> intercollegiate football<br />
at Western, five players<br />
have won Hec Crighton<br />
awards as the national<br />
player <strong>of</strong> the year.<br />
Tim Tindale went on to a<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional career with<br />
the Buffalo Bills, Greg<br />
Marshall is now<br />
the head coach<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Mustangs,<br />
brother Blake owns<br />
a successful<br />
business in<br />
the city, Jamie<br />
Bone was<br />
immediately<br />
s u c c e s s f u l<br />
in his career<br />
path and<br />
Andy Fantuz<br />
is starring<br />
with the<br />
S a s k a t c h e w a n<br />
Roughriders in the<br />
CFL.<br />
Could Michael<br />
Faulds add his name<br />
to the list?<br />
The fifth-year<br />
quarterback is a<br />
by Andy Watson<br />
preseason favourite for the award<br />
but will have to let his action on<br />
the field do the talking.<br />
He’s says he’s ready for the<br />
challenge but cares only about<br />
team success for the time being<br />
and will ignore the personal<br />
accolades for the time being.<br />
“It’s my final year. After the<br />
(2008) Vanier Cup I didn’t take any<br />
time <strong>of</strong>f. I was watching film on the<br />
Monday right after the game.”<br />
He’s hungry to win. He took the<br />
loss personally.<br />
“I want to win it all,” he said. “We<br />
took a great step two years ago<br />
(winning the Yates Cup in Guelph)...<br />
Then last year we progressed and<br />
won the Mitchell Bowl. now we<br />
want to win it all. Anything less will<br />
be a disappointment.”<br />
“This year, we want to go into<br />
the Vanier Cup a little smarter,”<br />
Faulds said. “We made some<br />
strides to come back in the (2008)<br />
vanier Cup but we dug ourselves<br />
too deep a hole. We needed to be<br />
better limiting our mistakes.”<br />
Losing receiver Zach Bull on<br />
the opening series, Faulds’ wide<br />
receivers were the seldom used<br />
Jason Milliquet, a two-sport<br />
16<br />
16
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