BONNYVILLE – After achieving many personal bests during the 2022 Voyageurs’ football season, Bonnyville athlete Cooper Prybysh decided he was not ready to hang up his #67 football jersey quite yet.
Instead, the recent Bonnyville Centralized High School graduate will be heading east to play football with the Western Mustangs at the University of Western Ontario, a U Sport level school.
If asked three years ago if Prybysh would have pursued football at a post-secondary level, the answer would have likely been no, he says, despite having come up the ranks of peewee and bantam football – but something changed following his Grade 11 season.
The multi-faceted player started training more and trying out for football camps, all leading to new opportunities and a growing passion for the sport.
“It all took place in about a year, from the time I started getting opportunities to me starting to take it seriously,” Prybysh told Lakeland This Week.
The process of seeking out university football programs began after his last season of high school football. Using film from the field, Prybysh began reaching out to football programs across the country.
“After I got filmed for my latest season, that's when I started to get a lot of attention from quite a few different schools,” he said. “It was pretty easy getting recruited anywhere in Canada afterwards.”
It wasn’t long before Prybysh started receiving interest back from those programs – including some he never reached out to.
During the first half of his Grade 12 year, Prybrysh was being flown out by universities across the country with hopes that the young athlete would pick their respective school’s football program.
“They flew me out to Western, flew me up to Ottawa. Calgary offered to fly us down too, but [my parents and I] drove anyway,” he listed.
He also made trips to schools in Saskatoon and Edmonton, while making the decision to turn down visits to other universities that he felt were not the right fit.
“To actually get the opportunities to go to these places on their behalf was pretty cool because I never really expected that much attention coming out of my last season,” admitted Prybysh.
However, the recent high school graduate has collected his own list of accolades in his football career. Filling the role of defensive end, quarterback, offensive tackle, and middle linebacker, there is no question Prybysh was a vital player for the Bonnyville Voyageurs.
In 2021, Prybysh received the Voyageurs’ MVP award for both offense and defense. The following year, he again received the MVP award for defense.
The Bonnyville athlete was also selected to represent Alberta in 2023 Football Canada Cup but was unable to participate due to illness.
RELATED STORY: Bonnyville Voyageurs mark accomplishments of 2022 season
Moving forward, Prybysh will have one position to focus on, which also happens to be his favourite position – defensive end.
While he won't begin training with the Western Mustangs until Aug. 11, Prybysh made the decision to commit to the university’s program on Jan. 17.
“At the time, I was stuck between a school in Ottawa, Calgary and Saskatoon. I was having trouble deciding between the three, but Western was my last visit after the New Year. I went there for a few days, and it was the next step above all those other places I found. I thought it was definitely the best choice,” explained Prybysh.
The Western Mustangs also have a reputation for winning, he added. With close to a century of history, the Western Mustangs are one of the most decorated football teams in Canadian university history. The team has had the most national championship appearances, having made it to the Vanier Cup title game 15 times with eight wins, most recently winning the Vanier Cup in 2021.
Off the field, the defensive end will be taking a Bachelor of Engineering degree with plans to specialize in mechanical engineering down the road.
Continuing a family legacy
Perhaps one could argue that Bonnyville athlete has an unfair advantage with football in his blood.
Prybysh’s grandfather, Bob Poley, played in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for 16 seasons as an offensive lineman, after spending five years in the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL), according to Pro Football Archives.
In Poley’s CFL career he spent a total of 12 years with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and four years with the Calgary Stampeders. Known by fans as the “Pole Cat," Poley was named the Outstanding Offensive Lineman in the West and was the runner-up for the CFL Award in 1986.
“It would be pretty cool to have a career like that,” said Prybysh. “So that's the end goal right now.”
