Prairie Edge aims to elevate local football players

Rural athletes are used to travelling in order to play football at an elite level. With fewer athletes to choose from, elite programs harvest players from a wide catchment area forcing families to drive longer distances for practices and games.

It’s no different in the off-season. To continue to compete at the highest level, many athletes engage in summer development programs like camps or summer leagues.

Luckily, this year, the Prairie Edge Football program — founded by Brandon native Bryce Keilback — started this season to give local football players a way to develop their skills a bit closer to home.

“(I’m just) doing what I can now to give back and create something that athletes are wanting,” said Keilback. “Especially for a lot of those rural athletes.”

When it comes to football in Brandon, there hasn’t truly been a great opportunity for athletes to hone their skills without travelling to Winnipeg. Some even go so far as to drive themselves to Regina in order to attend camps.

“If you don’t have a place you can practice in the summer, you have to travel,” said Jake Cory, who played quarterback for the Crocus Plains JV team last season. “I know some kids can’t do that.”

Keilback grew up in Brandon and developed a love for football. He played in the local youth league and eventually played wide receiver for the Neelin Spartans before taking up the quarterback position in his senior year.

That same year, he committed to play for Dickinson State University in North Dakota. He spent the next four years playing wide receiver for the Blue Hawks before returning to Brandon.

At the end of his playing days, Keilback transitioned into a coaching role with the Neelin Spartans for several years. He now acts as the offensive co-ordinator for the Crocus Plainsmen. He has a wealth of experience both as a player and a coach that he hopes to impart to a new generation of players.

“The whole principle of Prairie Edge was just when I came back originally from the states just realizing a lot of the football opportunities for athletes haven’t changed since my time,” said Keilback. “The youth league has been in a wonderful time … but outside of that in the spring there just seems to be no other opportunities and exposure to those former athletes themselves or professionals.”

His new program is in its infancy. As stated on its website, the program is meant to provide “Structured football development for Brandon and Westman athletes, built on credible coaching, purposeful teaching and real progression.”

In July, Keilback and the other coaches held a three-day camp from July 21 to 23 designed for middle and high school athletes.

Currently, Prairie Edge is running a passing academy for quarterbacks, wide receivers and defensive backs. The group of, on average, 15 players has met twice a week for the last two weeks to work on their skills in preparation for the upcoming football season.

“It’s great to have a program here in the summer,” said Cory who added that he’s really improved his throwing motion and mechanics as a result of the sessions. “I hope it stays. It’s really great.”

Darius Meggison is a wide receiver who travels from Boissevain in order to attend the Prarie Edge Passing Academy. He played for Team Manitoba last season and has high hopes for his football career.

“I’m trying to make it to the NFL,” said Meggison. “It’s a big dream … I’d like to at least make it to college and see where I go from there.”

Along with the rest of the receivers at camp, Meggison is working on footwork, route running and catching.

In general, Keiback hopes that he and the other coaches can be examples for the younger generation and teach them about the next steps in improving their skills.

“(We are) passing on the next level to a lot of these skills and even building on a lot of those basics and fundamentals,” said Keilback. “NFL training camps are starting or you watch CFL guys, and in practice, they do the exact same drills we are doing here where it’s just the basics … the better you work on those and the quicker you do, it’s just going to elevate your game.”

Ethan Swiscoski is a defensive back who played at Crocus Plains last year. He’s working on wide receiver techniques this summer to grow his understand of the game.

“(I’m) just learning both sides of the ball; being useful everywhere on the field not just one side of the ball,” said Swiscoski.

Having a space to experiment and try new positions is very helpful for players like Swiscoski who want to grow their game. The bonus is that he doesn’t have to travel as far as Winnipeg to do it.

“I went to Winnipeg a couple of times (for camps), so it was a lot of driving back and forth,” said Swiscoski. “It’s nice to have something in Brandon to be able to work here instead of putting on the kilometers going to Winnipeg and back.”

The football regular season is just around the corner, meaning that after the final two sessions of the Prairie Edge Passing Academy next week, players will transition back to high school and youth league teams. However, Keilback has plans for the program moving forward.

“We will take some time off there and then kind of come November … we will try and get some winter sessions going and just translate that into spring and next summer,” said Keilback. “The plan is to get more guys out and just keep growing it and see what it can do.”

» rmccarthy@brandonsun.com