Yorkton Regional High School student (YRHS) Logan Wilk was among a group of freshman recruits who were part of what was called the 'Dawgs Breakfast' as a welcome celebration to their new school and be formally introduced as the newest additions to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football program recently.It was a cold, wet morning but that didn't stop 2,038 people from attending the 10th annual Dogs' Breakfast. Thanks to their support, the Huskies Football Foundation was able to raise $115,000 in scholarship funding for Saskatchewan Huskie Football.
Wilk said the experience was a little nerve-wracking at first because out of 100s of people who were there in attendance for nearly four full days, there were only two people there that he knew as his parents made the trip up there with him .
The Huskies' newest member of the offensive line had to be there bright and early for a 6 a.m., welcoming.
"I was so nervous," he said trying to hold back some laughter. "It was huge. It was agonizing waiting (for everything to get going." He told the paper he had no idea there would be that many people waiting but once the field portion of the visit started, he said it slowly began to feel like home again.
Matched up against some of the biggest football players he said he's ever seen in his life he could have gotten nervous.
"I went from being the biggest guy on the field to average," he recalled, adding that "even the guys who are bigger than me are fast."
Wilk said the average weight for some of the university-level players is between 290-320 lbs.
As if trying to impress his future coaches go, they were not the only ones in attendances, at least at the breakfast portion of the visit.
There was no shortage of dignitaries and CFL luminaries in the crowd. The Government of Saskatchewan was well represented with premier Brad Wall and three of his cabinet ministers - Ken Cheveldayoff, Don Morgan, and Rob Norris. The Saskatchewan Roughriders were also well represented, with president and CEO Jim Hopson, head coach Ken Miller in attendance, as well as Huskie alumni Kelly Bates, Gene Makowsky, and Jordan Rempel. Dylan Barker from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats was in attendance, as were Ivan Brown and Paul Woldu of the Grey Cup Champion Montreal Alouettes.
The keynote speaker, five-time Grey Cup champion and Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Moon delivered an inspiring speech aimed at the student athletes in attendance. His story of overcoming obstacles, from being one of seven children growing up with a single mother in Los Angeles to being an African-American quarterback at a time when there were few African-American quarterbacks in professional football, was well received by the Huskie faithful. Moon's messages of hard work, perseverance and taking full advantage of being a student athlete were especially important to the many newly introduced Huskies and aspiring Huskies in the crowd.
Wilk said that as far as his on-field performance went, it was a test to adjust to a new set of plays and signals, but added that some good coaching is going to help him get used to everything.
"They had a whole new different scheme," he said. "I had no clue where to go (on the line of scrimmage)."
The weekend concluded with a scrimmage on Sunday and recruits were put through a pair of practices on Saturday.
"It's constant learning," observed Wilk. "It's new technical stuff."
