A former Bonnyville Voyageur football player will get the chance to suit up in the 2015 Senior Bowl after being named to the Northern Alberta all-star team roster.
A former Bonnyville Voyageur football player will get the chance to suit up in the 2015 Senior Bowl after being named to the Northern Alberta all-star team roster.
Isaac Fagnan was among the eight receivers selected to the northern squad consisting of 42 of the top high school football players in the province.
"I didn't expect to make it, coming from a small town like Bonnyville," said Fagnan. "Especially hearing before hand that most of the roster was already picked."
The Senior Bowl, which will take place on May 18 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, is an all-star game, which showcases the best Grade 12 football players in the province. The CFL's Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos support the game, with the north team wearing the Eskimos green and gold and the south team sporting the Stampeders red and black.
Fagnan was the only player from Bonnyville to make the trek down to Foote Field in Edmonton on April 10-12 to try out for the northern team.
He competed with a large group of other top high school football players from the northern part of the province over the course of a three-day training camp and came out on top.
"It is a pretty rare feat for someone from Bonnyville to make it," said Voyageurs coach Patrick Coyle. "I think it is fantastic. It is very well deserved."
The first day of tryouts saw the players arrive at the stadium and register for the camp. Workouts and skill testing started at 8 a.m. the next morning with players from the Junior and University teams in Edmonton running a variety of drills. Over 40 coaches packed the stands to focus on selecting players. The final day of camp saw the players face-off against one another in a scrimmage game.
"As the camp went on my confidence grew. I felt I did well on the first two days," said Fagnan. "It was a tough atmosphere. The scrimmage was hard because you are playing with players you have never played with before."
Fagnan becomes only the third Voyageur to make a Senior Bowl roster joining Dan Jubinville who made the team in 1989 and Blake Adams who played in the game in 2011.
"It is a great opportunity. I am grateful," said Fagnan. "I'd like to thank my coaching staff who helped and worked out with me all winter. They really pushed me to take the next step."
One of those coaches who helped push Fagnan over the course of the offseason was Coyle, who created a weight and training program to make sure he didn't lose an edge over the winter.
"We set up an offseason weight and training program for him just so that his cardio doesn't slip," said Coyle, who coached football for 20 years in Cochrane before recently coming to Bonnyville. "We wanted to make sure that he was at a level where he could show his best when tryouts came around."
Fagnan was able to build off a successful 2014 season with the Voyaguers, which saw him pick up 25 receptions for 476 yards and two touchdowns. The numbers were similar to the stats he amassed in the previous two seasons combined. Overall he finished his Voyageur football career with 57 receptions for 828 yards and six touchdowns.
"He is very versatile. You can pretty well put him into any positions and he can excel at it. He has got great hands, very good foot speed and agility," said Coyle. "This past season at the high school level he excelled at the receiver position and also played free safety for us. He understands the game very well."
Playing in the Senior Bowl affords Fagnan a great opportunity to be scouted by some of the top junior football programs in the area. He hopes to catch the attention of the Edmonton Wildcats, a junior squad in the Prairie Football Conference.
Going from the Senior Bowl to a Junior team isn't out of the question for Fagnan. Former Voyageur Blake Adams parlayed a successful Senior Bowl appearance into a spot in the Saskatoon Hilltops roster, a team in the same conference as the Wildcats.
"This is a really big game. There will be so many eyes on you. If you want to pursue football this is a great place to play because of all the publicity," said Fagnan.
He added, "It is going to be exciting. I am really looking forward to it."
