Football player aims to play in NCAA Division 1
Jared Wayne, son of ex-CFL player and Peterborough firefighter Patrick Wayne, said he knew he wanted to follow in his dad’s footsteps and play football since around the age of 10.
“Jared was always good at sports growing up and the sky was always the limit for him,” recalled Patrick, who was a linebacker for eight seasons in the CFL with the former Ottawa Rough Riders.
”Jared played plenty of sports with the neighbourhood kids growing up including soccer, basketball and of course the sport that most Canadians play growing up, road hockey, but his main sport would always be football.”
Jared, who got his start with the Peterborough Wolverines at the bantam age, was named tournament MVP at a recent National Football Association 7v7 tournament where the Kingdom Force Football academy from Ajax became the first ever Canadian team to win the tourney, which drew 45 teams from six states and two provinces.
The win qualifies Kingdom Force to attend the National 7v7 Championships in Florida at
IMG Academy in June.
Kingdom Force is now ranked No. 4 in all of North America out of more than 200 programs.
Kingdom Force football coach Dan Gazarek says Jared is a “relentless competitor on the field,” not only that but he is highly determined both on the field and in the classroom.
Jared Wayne says he has always been a determined individual and that determination in the classroom is just as important as determination on the field because “playing sports is a privilege and being a student-athlete your studies are just as, if not more important, than playing your sport.”
He switched from quarterback to wide receiver in his final year of high school. Wayne says he felt that it was the best position for him moving forward in his quest to play American collegiate football. Gazarek says he’s well suited to the wide receiver position.
Wayne boasts a 38-inch vertical leap, a large “wing-span” and excellent ball handling skills that Gazareck says turns 50-50 jump ball chances into more like 90-10 jump ball chances.
Gazarek says he 100 per cent thinks that Wayne will make it to a Division 1 National Collegiate Athletic Association school Wayne’s dad Patrick does too.
He and Wayne have visited a number of schools including, Harvard, Princeton, Michigan State, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Buffalo.
Wayne says he’s excited about the process and the interest from the big schools, although no schools have made any offers yet.