One member of the Humboldt Collegiate Institute (HCI) Mohawks football team is stepping out of the huddle and onto the national stage, earning a coveted spot among Canada’s top football prospects.
Offensive lineman Easton Gosselin has been picked to participate in the Canadian Football Chat (CFC) Prospects Game in Hamilton. The game will give exposure to the best high school football players in the country and to give representatives from Canadian and United States university and Canadian junior football teams an opportunity to see them in an all-star setting.
Gosselin’s journey to the CFC Prospects Game began on February 14 with the tryout in Moose Jaw after being presented with the opportunity from his football head coach.
“My head coach, Mr. (Eric) Anderson, came up to me and handed me a paper and said I hope you're not busy this Valentine's Day.”
Moose Jaw’s tryout was the lone camp in Saskatchewan and was one of eight that happened across Canada.
The camp began with the combine where Gosselin and other players had their height, weight and distance between hands measured.
Following the completion of the testing, the players took part in contact drills.
After the tryout, Gosselin wasn’t sure if he was going to crack the list of 100 players selected for the game. But shortly afterwards he was greeted with a surprise during school by one of the Mohawk Assistant Coaches Logan Seipp and his mother.
“As I'm walking out, I I notice him big smile on his (Seipp) face and I see my I looked to my left and I see my mom standing there and she's got her phone pointed directly at me, recording me, and I could clearly tell and I was like, what's going on here? And I see Mr. Seipp congratulating me that I had made the Canadian Football Chat (Prospects Game).
Gosselin said he was stunned by the news, but almost instantly his mind turned towards hitting the gym in preparation to compete against some of the country’s best high school football players.
“If I made this, I got to I got to put the work in too. I had already been putting the work in since the start of the football season. You always start up in preseason, but I just started going heavy in, in the gym.”
Since Grade 9 Gosselin has been a member of the Mohawks football team and since Grade 10, he’s been playing in the Saskatoon Minor Football (SMF) during the off-season and the offensive lineman credits the extra work in Saskatoon for helping to understand the nuances of the 12-man game.
“I think personally it turned me into who I am right now performance wise and the coaching that came out of it was amazing.”
Along with SMF, Gosselin says after attending other off-season football camps, like the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football camp to help prepare him for the tryouts in Moose Jaw.
With the tutelage that he attains from the football camps, Gosselin tries to bring it back to the Mohawk team so the other players can benefit from the knowledge that he has received.
“I carry over what I bring from all these camps and experiences to the players on my team that don't get to go and do all of this stuff.”
Out of the 100 players selected to take prospects game, Gosselin is one of three players from Saskatchewan who will be participating in the game. Being recognized as one of the top players in the province is surreal for the Grade 11 student.
“Having this opportunity and representing Humboldt," said Gosselin, "there's many great athletes from the Humboldt Mohawks. And I think if I can continue the legacy of Humboldt Mohawks football, I think that it would be great just to carry it on.”
The 2025 edition of the CFC Prospects Game takes place next Saturday in Hamilton at Hamilton Stadium, the home of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Players will be split into two squads in a draft on Monday, May 20. The coaches for the game will be TSN’s broadcasters and former CFL players Milt Stegall and Davis Sanchez. For the first four years, the game took place in Ottawa, this year will mark the first time the CFC Prospects Game will be held in Hamilton.
Preparations for the game begin next week when Gosselin and the other players travel to the Steel City and practice for a couple of days leading up to the game. It may be an insurmountable task for a group of players to develop the required chemistry for a football team in a matter of a couple of days, but Gosselin is eager to meet his short-term teammates.
“I think it takes more than just three days for sure, but personally, for me it's just getting to know your players and having a good laugh with them. Sometimes during it, you act so serious on the field, but in reality, we're all just out there having fun for what we’re passionate about.”
As a member of the offensive line, the Mohawk player says the best way to develop chemistry is through communication.
“You see a linebacker blitzing you, you got to yell back and if you your buddy can't hear you well you got to talk about it next play and you got to run through play by play.”
This fall, Gosselin will enter his Grade 12 season with the Mohawks and is ready to embrace a leadership role as a senior member of the team and says coachability is an important trait for the development of a player on the gridiron.
“I think taking criticism is something that I personally have learned to come, it just helps me. Anytime somebody tells me, this is a better way of coming after this, perfect. I would love to hear your feedback. Like what can I do, to become the best as I can, both as an athlete and player.”
The 2025 CFC Prospects will be broadcasted on TSN on Saturday, May 24 from Hamilton Stadium.
