Former Raiders quarterback, 19-year-old Tommy Yanchuk, will be playing with the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds.
Yanchuk signed a letter of intent to play for the UBC Thunderbirds on December 1 and will be ready for the 2019 U Sports season in September.
After playing with the Edmonton Huskies in the Canadian Junior Football League, Yanchuk says it’s prepared him for reaching his goals, including becoming a lead quarterback.
“I got eight months here to put in a lot of work. The team’s lost by a field goal in the last two years in the playoffs, so they’re ready to get back into the Vanier winning column. I think that any time someone goes CIS their goal is to win games and win a Vanier. So that’s kind of the goal: get a Vanier, hoist it up at the end of November.” says Yanchuk.
Recently he separated his shoulder after taking a hit during the Prairie Football Conference (PFC) semifinal, something he’s working on healing from.
“I’ve been taking it pretty easy, I’m not really trying to push it because I don’t have another season to play for another eight months. Just trying to do it right.”
The injury prevented him from playing half of the team’s semifinal and the full PFC final. Yanchuk says that it was tough to remove himself but it won’t be holding him back.
“I could have avoided this, and I could have still been practicing right now and playing. I learnt a lesson. You just have to learn from it.”
Despite becoming injured, Yanchuk holds that he’s prepared for the challenges ahead and looks forward to his time at UBC.
“As long as you know what you’re doing, then you shouldn’t be worried at all, right? That’s just how I carried myself last season. When the big games came, obviously I was going to have my jitters, but as far as being scared or nervous on the field, I don’t think I had any of that and don’t think I will have any of that in the future.”
At the end of it all, Yanchuk hopes that hopes to leave a positive mark on the field and be remembered as a talented quarterback with much to show for it.
“I want to be a guy that people obviously remember for good things; throwing touchdowns, being a pretty energetic player, a pretty amped up guy. Just leave it all on the field and in five years look back and say, I never regretted anything, I did all I could. Hopefully, I got five Vanier rings to prove that.”