Spartan star Black joins Huskies

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This article was published 26/03/2018 (2762 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dayton Black broke six Winnipeg High School Football League passing records in his senior season with the Neelin Spartans but all along he knew that if he wanted to play at the next level it was going to have to be at a different position.

With his parents Allana and Shane, plus his younger siblings Kyra, Dani, Kypling and Beckett, as well as grandfather Denis and grandmother Geri Pringle, the six-foot-six, 275-pound Black made his decision known publicly on Saturday when he signed his letter of intent to play as a defensive lineman with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

“You probably can’t tell right now but I’m shaking in my boots,” Black said shortly after putting pen to paper. “I’m excited, I’m happy there’s spring camp coming up so I can start to get a feel for it. I can’t wait, it’s going to be good.”

The 18-year-old set single-season marks for pass attempts (219), completions (119) and yards (1,981), as well as single-game marks for pass attempts (43), completions (26) and yards (493) in his final campaign quarterbacking the Spartans, while being named a nominee for The Brandon Sun’s H.L. (Krug) Crawford Memorial Award as Westman’s top athlete of 2017.

He was also named the Kas Vidruk (AA) Division’s top offensive player and was a finalist for the WHSFL’s Bomber Alumni Most Outstanding Player Award, while adding 23 tackles, two forced fumbles blocked a kick in leading Neelin to a 4-3 record and a spot in the Tier 2 quarter-finals.

“I’m very proud of him, it’s long overdue,” Neelin head coach Rob Cullen said. “I’ve watched him grow up since he was playing WYFA when he was six years old and he’s done some great things on the offensive side of the ball, the defensive side of the ball and this year breaking six passing records.”

“He was an integral part of our team from when he came into our program in Grade 9 right until he graduated in Grade 12,” he continued. “As a Grade 10 quarterback winning the WHSFL Bowl for the first time ever was pretty impressive and now you take a look at him and where he’s going, his character, his overall attitude and his demeanour is going to take him a long way and with the coaching staff that he’s going to be coached by now is probably going to push him to the next level.”

The Huskies went 2-6 last year and missed the Canada West playoffs for the first time since 2000.

Part of their struggles were tied to a thin defensive line, which contributed to allowing the most yards (544.9), most rushing yards (213.5) and second-most points (35.8) per game to opposing offences in conference play.

Saskatchewan defensive line coach Tony Michalchuk and several other of its coaches joined Black at his announcement on their way to Winnipeg. Michalchuk is stoked to add a player of Black’s calibre.

“When I watch the film on him you light up when you see a guy like this and how he moves and how he plays,” Michalchuk said. “He’s a quarterback so he’s a very skilled athlete and a very big, strong athlete. Adding that to our defensive line is only going to make us a lot better.”

“Adding depth like this is really going to increase our strength as a D-line, so we are going to see where he fits in,” he added. “We’ll see where he’s penciled in after spring camp and see how well he does.

“There’s definite potential for a lot of guys to come in this year and have an impact and that’s what we are hoping for Dayton.”

Saskatchewan’s spring camp is May 2-5 and Black is looking forward to putting on pads in Saskatoon.

He also realizes this is the start of what he hopes is the push towards being invited to the Canadian Football League combine in the future, even though it means saying goodbye to being a quarterback.

“After football season I decided to give myself the best shot at hopefully one day making the CFL combine,” Black said. “It’s not going to be as a quarterback but as a defensive lineman.”

“They expect me to be able to play next year if I want and get significant reps at the defensive end position but we’re going to have a one-on-one after spring camp with head coach Scott Flory and decide if maybe redshirting is the best idea for my academics and everything,” he continued. “It’s another decision that has to be made in the future and either one is going to be good for me.”

Regardless of his role next season, Black is looking forward to starting a workout program designed to help him add strength and weight to help him be the best defensive end he can be.

“I’m ecstatic,” he said. “It’s been to hard to workout consistently with the four other sports I play. It’s long overdue and it’s going to be worth it.”

Michalchuk loves Black’s muti-sport talents.

In addition to leading Neelin to the WHSFL Tier 4 title with a 13-12 win over the St. Norbert Celtics in November 2015, he was part of several junior varsity and varsity boys’ volleyball and basketball provincial championships with the Spartans.

At last year’s provincial track and field championships in Winnipeg, Black also earned a pair of silver medals in varsity boys’ discus and javelin. He tossed the discus 37.41 metres and threw the javelin 46.89m.

“When we look at a guy like Dayton his ceiling is so high,” Michalchuk said. “We are big on multi-sport athletes and the fact that he plays all those other sports and maybe hasn’t been in the weight room full time is totally fine. He’s only going to get bigger, faster, stronger and it’s going to show within a year and two years and three years and he’s going to keep getting better and better each year.

“It’s awesome that he does all those other sports because in our opinion it makes him a better athlete, and now that he gets to focus on football and get in the weight room it’s going to be awesome.”

Academically, Black would like to take physical education with the goal of one day becoming a gym teacher like Don Thomson, his high school volleyball and basketball coach.

Between Thomson and Cullen, Black is extremely grateful for the role they have had in developing him into the athlete and person he has become.

“To be honest we probably wouldn’t be talking because those two put in countless hours, like 72 hours a week with me,” Black said. “It was like day in and day out, it was just everything I needed, school, physical work, just anything for me. They were there for me and a huge part of who I am today is because of them and my parents, of course.”

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