By: Mike Still (@mikestill94)
Feature photo: Breydon Stubbs with VMC’s Player of the Game title belt after week one against Oak Park. Photo by Vincent Massey.
Vincent Massey running back Breydon Stubbs has come a long way in a very short amount of time on the gridiron.
His first passion was hockey, which he started playing at age five. But in 2012 at age 12, his dad decided he should branch out and try another sport, which led to him suiting up for the St. Vital Mustangs.
“I didn’t really know how to play,” Stubbs says. “I also didn’t know any positions. I was just out there. Then my coach Kevin Kavitch put me out as a wide receiver and also a backup quarterback. I played my first season like that.”
The following year, the team lost a bunch of players who were moving up an age group, so Stubbs was switched to running back. He hasn’t shifted positions ever since.
“That was my prime season that year,” he says of the 2013 campaign. “I really impressed a lot of people.”
Interestingly, up until this year – his senior year – Stubbs had played his entire career with St. Vital. This was due in part to the fact that Collège Jeanne Sauvé didn’t have a football program and his parents wanted him to stay at a French immersion school.
Despite not playing football at a high school program, Stubbs had a breakout 2017 season, making the U18 provincial team as the only member of the Midget Football League of Manitoba (MFLM).
“My first year, since I was the only midget player to make the team, I felt really proud,” he says passionately.
“Since I was a first year, I didn’t get to see the field that much, but I took my opportunities and I got the ball a couple times. Afterwards I got a lot of looks into it and started to think that football was maybe a sport I could play in the future.”
Stubbs’s provincial team experience translated directly onto the field during the 2017 MFLM season, as he was named the Offensive Player of the Year and also won the league championship with his Mustangs teammates.
“I went from an agility back, to more of a powerhouse after my first year of U18,” he says of his running style during the 2017 season. “I never really knew how to put my body weight into hits until U18 came. Hitting became really good to me and I used it to my advantage.”
The following year, Stubbs returned to the provincial team and was an instant playmaker. At the end of the tournament he was named Manitoba’s offensive MVP, earning the praise of his head coach Ryan Karhut.
“Breydon is a complete back,” Karhut says. “He’s a hard-nosed runner, catches the ball extremely well and takes great pride in his pass protection.”
Entering the 2018 fall football season, Stubbs had a decision to make. He had heard rumblings that the MFLM may be folding and needed to find a place to play for his senior year. Vincent Massey Collegiate fit the bill, as it offered a French immersion program. It didn’t hurt that Stubbs also knew a few players on the team already from the Canada Cup.
Things continued to come up millhouse for Stubbs throughout the summer, as he verbally committed to play for his hometown university in the middle of August. He had met with Bison football head coach Brian Dobie a few times before the Canada Cup and developed a strong connection right away. He also bonded with Karhut during the tournament.
“We sort of clicked,” Stubbs says of Dobie.
“We had a really strong conversation that was almost two-and-a-half hours. I just really loved his personality and it was awesome. Karhut too. His personality and just how he coached, it was amazing. The fact that he’s the running backs coach [at Manitoba] made it even better. With both of those personalities put together, I feel I will fit in. We’ve bonded really well and I just felt comfortable.”
With his commitment already decided, Stubbs is taking his senior year with Massey to focus on “gaining more experience and learning more concepts.”
He got off to a hot start along with fellow provincial team member/running back Vaughan Lloyd in the first week of division 1 play against Oak Park last week. Stubbs racked up 143 yards and a touchdown on just 12 carries, while Lloyd scored on both receptions he recorded, totalling 96 yards receiving. Massey ended up winning the contest 42-3 with Stubbs being named the team’s player of the game.
“It’s a great feeling. Me and him, we have a connection,” Stubbs says of his relationship with Lloyd. “We bond really well and we run the ball really well in the backfield. It’s exciting to know that I have a friend back there, as well as a good teammate and player.”