London, ON – It was just a few short months ago that the Mustangs Football team made their way to the cold, wintery confines of Quebec City where they captured the ultimate goal in Canadian university football, winning the 56^th Vanier Cup. Just as the clock struck zeros and the fireworks began, it was a taste of true Canadiana as flutters of snow began to fall as the celebration began and players, families and supporters flooded the field to share in the accomplishment of the program's 8^th Vanier Cup win.



If you ask the players and coaches about that day, a smile quickly comes to their faces but then the teachings and mantra of Head Coach Greg Marshall comes right back when talking about the new season that is upon us. "We have to keep getting better every week and focus on today and this weeks opponent."
 
The Mustangs Football program, like every team in the country, looks a little different this season. Some familiar faces are back, while others have graduated and moved on to the next stages of their lives. Departed from the program are names like Deionte Knight, Austin Fordham Miller, Zach Lindley, Brett Ellerman among others. While they were key members of the teams success in 2021, this presents new opportunities for "the next man up" mentality.

Returning to the fold are a number of key contributors for last season, Evan Hillock (Vanier Cup MVP & OUA Rookie of the Year in 2021) at Quarterback, Keon Edwards (#1 in U SPORTS rushing yards and TDs in 2021) at Running Back, Elliot Beamer on the Offensive Line along with Zack Fry and Defensive Back Daniel Valente Jr. who spent time with CFL training camps this summer and are eager to bring that experience to help the younger members of the team and take that next step as a leader.

The excitement is building at Western Alumni Stadium and the players have spent the last 2 weeks getting ready to start another run towards the Yates Cup, Mitchell Bowl and Vanier Cup, which will be hosted for the first time ever on home turf this season on November 26^th.



"We have a tough season ahead of us with plenty of great competition, the OUA is going to be very competitive this season and we will need to be prepared to play hard," said Marshall "I think we have three of the top teams in our conference right off the bat (Guelph, Laurier, Queens) in our conference, so I think it will be a great test for us."

This will be Hillock's first time as the starter in the home opener as he was in the backup role at the start of the 2021 season and took over midway through Week 3 last year.

"It's been really good this year, my first camp as the starter, I spent a lot of time watching film in the off-season and trying to get my body in the best shape I can and work on my technique," said Hillock "Will Finch (former Mustangs QB) really helped me this summer, I've put on 30 pounds since last season and Will cleaned up my mechanics a little bit in hopes of doing everything I can to help the group this year."



The running game will continue to be a key part of the Mustangs offensive threat and last years U SPORTS & OUA rushing yards and TD leader Keon Edwards is set to take over the leading role from his partner last season in Trey Humes who has graduated. Edwards will be joined by a deep core of running backs including Edouard Wanadi who made a statement in the latter half of 2021 with big games in the playoffs and will serve as the 1-2 threat on the ground.

"Eddie and I are probably two of the closest friends on the team right now and he is definitely ready for the moment to step up," said Edwards of Wanadi "We also have a great group of other backs ready to help out in Keanu Yazbeck, Troy Thompson and others who can come in and definitely help us this year."

On the receiving core, the Mustangs return three starters in Savaughn Magnaye-Jones, Griffin Campbell and Justin Nickson. All three had outstanding years in 2021, Magnaye-Jones had over 600 yards receiving last season with 4 TDs, Campbell caught 5 TDs in the regular season and was the hero in the Vanier Cup with 2 TD receptions in the championship game and Nickson added 227 yards of receiving last season averaging 28.4 yards per catch. There has been some stiff competition in training camp this season.

"We know we have some pretty big expectations on us after winning the Vanier last year and it's great to be back with the guys on the team and putting in the work needed," said Magnaye-Jones "I've been working on my strength and my speed this summer while rehabbing my foot (which he injured in playoffs last season) but things are looking and feeling good right now and can't wait to get after it."



On the defensive side of the ball, the last couple weeks have been an opportunity for the coaches to see who wants to take that next step from either the recruit and transfers or returning members of the team who can fill the void left from graduation. Defensive Coordinator Paul Gleason has said there's no secret amongst the team that there are opportunities to be had and he is excited to mould the next generation of Mustangs defenders.

"While we've one player at each level but we definitely have some great depth in our group, especially on the back end, we might have some of the best depth we have had in many years. We are really excited about guys like Lourenz Bowers-Kane who we are looking to step into the role Zach Lindley had left and it really feels like 2017 when we didn't know exactly what our full allotment was going to look like but that group came together and helped in a big way that season and we went on to the Vanier win." said Gleason.

One key returnee to the defensive side of the ball is Daniel Valente Jr. The London native was selected in the CFL draft this summer by the Ottawa RedBlacks and spent time with their practice squad before he and the team made arrangements for him to come back and finish out his eligibility at Western.

"I knew I wanted to come back and graduate, that was really important to me and my family so I definitely wanted to be back here," said Valente "Being able to be around the pro level and learn from some of the veterans at the next level was really great and I really just wanted to be the biggest sponge I could be and learn as much as I could there and to bring it back here now and apply it to our efforts this year."



The OUA returns to an 8-game regular season this year with one division as opposed to the split conference in 2021. Western will host Guelph (Aug 27), Queens (Sept 10), Waterloo (Sept 24) and Windsor (Oct 15). Fans can buy their season tickets or individual game tickets at WesternMustangs.ca/tickets, Western students get into all campus-based regular season games for free when they present their Western OneCard at the entrance. Mustangs fans can catch all the action this season on OUA.tv as well as listen to the games on Newstalk1290 CJBK & Radio Western (94.9FM)

Stay tuned for further details about ticket sales and other exciting announcements surrounding the 2022 Vanier Cup.