Hunter Eagles is going to play his university football close to home.
Penta Completions Estevan Minor Football (EMF) announced Dec. 7 that Eagles has committed to play for the University of Regina (U of R) Rams for the 2021 season as a defensive back.
“It honestly felt like a great fit,” Eagles told the Mercury. “I’ve had coaches from there, like their positional coach (Ventson Donelson) coached me before, and I think he’s a great coach, who can hopefully take me pretty far in my career. So I trust in him a lot, and I felt pretty comfortable with that decision.”
Donaldson, the defensive backs coach with the Rams, played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1991-2000.
Eagles said he also wanted to stay relatively close to home for his university football. He was looking to play in Canada West, and was thrilled to commit to the Rams.
He expects to study kinesiology in university.
Eagles started playing in the EMF as a member of the peewee Chargers program a few years ago, and played all of his developmental football in Estevan, ending with the Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs. In his Grade 11 year in 2019, he was selected by the coaches in the Moose Jaw Minor Football League as the league’s top defensive player.
He has played and adapted to many positions on the football field during his time in Estevan, including running back, linebacker, receiver, punt returner and kickoff returner.
“Without football in Estevan, I never would have had any of these opportunities, so I really appreciate everyone that’s been there supporting me throughout all of it,” said Eagles, who is particularly grateful to his coaches.
Eagles has demonstrated his gratitude by assisting the coaches in the EMF for the past three years.
In the offseason, Eagles has been part of the Sask. Selects football program, and has competed at the Pigskin Classic in San Antonio, Texas, winning numerous awards. It was with the Sask. Selects that he encountered Donelson.
“I owe a lot to those coaches who are already university coaches and junior coaches,” said Eagles. “It just helps a lot. It gets you a step ahead of everybody else who didn’t do that, because you already know lots of stuff that they do teach at university.”
Eagles said he had been speaking with a number of other schools but COVID limited his opportunities to showcase his abilities.
“I’m so grateful, and the U of R is such a great school, and I’m happy I can go there, but there were some other schools I was talking to as well, so it would have been nice to see if anything possibly came to fruition there, or have somewhere else,” said Eagles. “But I’m still really happy with my choice at U of R, and I know those guys will do a great job.”
He was concerned that COVID would cost him a chance to get a scholarship for next season, but if he didn’t get a scholarship, he would have played junior football for a year to reach out to college coaches.
Eagles said he loves the physical element of the sport, something lacking in most other games.
“I love the team element of it,” said Eagles. “The guys are always so close at the end of the year. It’s always a super sad time to see everybody leave, all the seniors leave, but during that season you’re all super close with each other.”
He expects he’ll need to work on his speed to trim his 40-yard dash time, and he has some technical things to work on between now and the start of next season.
