This will be the Golden Bears’ year, coach says
It’s likely the first question Chris Morris is asked during every media interview at this time of year. “Is this the season?” “Coach … is the team getting over the hump this year?” “Playoffs?” Morris believes this is the year. The head coach of the University of Alberta Golden Bears football team has spent the past four years building a program that needed a complete overhaul in every area on and off the field.
You can’t build a program that had reached rock bottom and turn it into a championship contender overnight, but Morris can see the Bears taking that next step in the program’s development and making the playoffs.
“It’s steps in the journey for me. When you have built a strong foundation, the success will come, and we’ve put a lot of work into rebuilding the foundation of this program,” said Morris as training camp kicked off this past weekend.
“The reality is, we’ve been in the top 10 in recruiting the last three years, and in the top 5 in two of those years. We have a lot of big pieces here. We’re a team that is poised to get over that hump. There is just too much talent here.
“We have to start mentally believing we’re as good as we really are.”
When Morris took over the program in 2013, he made the decision to recruit young and build for the future.
That future is now, as he has a strong group of more than 20 veteran players that he brought into the program when he arrived.
Over the past few years, if you looked at the Bears roster just on paper, you could see that the pieces were in place to turn the program around. They just needed experience. Well, now they have it.
“It’s a year where we’ve become physically mature. I finally have a core group of kid who have been here four years. We’ve never been in a position where we’ve taken the field with over 20 guys who are 21 or 22 years old and have that experience on their side,” said Morris.
“We’ve been able to develop a lot of really good players who we’ve allowed to grow, develop and they’re ready to take the next step.”
The Bears have been one of the top offensive teams in the conference, and almost every key player is returning.
They are led by veteran running back Ed Ilnicki, and receivers Tylor Henry and Aundrey Webster.
Ben Kopczynski returns for his sophomore season at QB, and the Bears offensive line is loaded with veteran talent led by Canada West all-star Justin Lawrence as well as Mark Korte and Logan Trachuk, who will anchor one of the best offensive lines in the Canada West conference.
The team has struggled the most on defence, but Morris feels the additions of former Saskatoon Hilltop Blake Adams, the top defensive lineman in all of Canadian junior football last year, and fellow Hilltop alum Ty Hering, will give a big boost to the team that recorded just six QB sacks.
“We haven’t been good on defence. Defensively we couldn’t get stops, and the guys we’ve recruited are really going to stop that bleeding for us.”
The improvements on the defensive line, along with the development of players like Jacob Narbonne, Lucky Daniels and Garrett Meek, make the Bears defence much stronger and deeper.
Defensive back Tak Landry is the unquestionable leader in the Bears secondary, but he’ll have much more help this season.
Last year, Morris recruited and redshirted an elite group of defensive backs. Reggie Schoeppe, Shaydon Phillip, Treyvon Walsh, Emmanuel Vela, Mark Palmarin and Antawn Smith are ready to be key contributors this year.
“We have way more depth in our secondary. We have a nice mix. In past years, we had a solid group, but one injury would really hurt us. We have depth now, and I’m really confident our defence will be drastically improved,” said Morris.
“We won’t be stepping onto the field knowing that we’re going to be outweighed and overmatched against some of our opponents. We know the talent we have, and we know we can compete with the best teams in our conference.”