If all goes according to plan Vanier Collegiate’s Hudson Tallon will be leaving university in four years time with a civil engineering degree that is virtually free.
This after the Vanier Vikings running back committed to playing football with the University of Jamestown in North Dakota commencing in the 2024 season.
“I’m very happy to go there. I really like the coaches. I think it will be very good and fun,” the 17 year old grade 12 student Tallon said.
As part of the deal he is hoping to get a degree in civil engineering.
“I’m going into civil engineering so they gave me a little bit extra for that. I also went to a scholarship competition down there. I placed 12th out of 55 and I get an extra $1,000 a year,” he said.
As part of his commitment to play for Jamestown, Tallon will receive about half of the total cost of his education with the annual $1,000 going toward that.
The school doesn’t “red shirt” any players and he will be playing but he said, “It all depends on how I do at practice.”
Red shirt means an athlete sits out for a year or a season.
For his first year, he would be playing NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) and in his second year he would be playing D2.
NCAA Division-II (D2) sports are at the intermediate level of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Originally from Lafleche, Tallon played for Assiniboia which is part of the Kinsmen Moose Jaw Minor Football League.
Not originally from Moose Jaw, he attended high school in Assiniboia up until grade nine as his mom was a teacher at the school.
Initially he had the opportunity to play six man football with the Assiniboia Rockets but that opportunity was cancelled due to the anti-COVID 19 protocols. The protocols shut down football throughout the province.
He came to Moose Jaw to attend Vanier Collegiate where he played for the Vikings.
“I’m very thankful [for all the help the coaches have given].” Tallon said. “Any time I screwed up they didn’t take it out on me. They weren’t too harsh on me.”
He said one of the most important thing in his development is he has been living with his best friend’s family for a number of years.
“I was friends with Pedro since grade one. I went to his mom’s daycare actually back in Lafleche. So I moved up here and lived with them,” he said.
Tallon said Trevor Peterson was his first coach in Assiniboia’s high school that got him started.
“I had no interest in playing football before he [Trevor Peterson] texted my mom and said you should bring him out here.”
Vanier Vikings football head coach Ryan Gottselig said the school has had players in the past make it into universities but Tallon’s getting into Jamestown was a testament to his hard work and determination.
“Hudson is a great kid and well deserving of this. The size of the program doesn’t really dictate opportunities to play after high school. He is a great example of it,” Gottselig said.
Program size is not a determining factor when it comes to Vikings players getting opportunities to play football at the university level.
He added, “It’s exciting for us and in the next number of years you’re going to see a number of kids coming out of Vanier playing post secondary ball.”
Regarding the opportunity to play football to help reduce educational costs, Tallon said it was a great opportunity.
“Any opportunity you can get to cut down the (financial) burden of university I think is phenomenal. For him to have the chance to play football is great,” Gottselig said.
About the calibre of the league Tallon will be playing, Gottselig said the D2 league is “good football”.
“Don’t discount out the quality of how that play is going to be. It’s going to be very, very challenging for him to get up to speed down there.”
In order to have the opportunity for university teams to take a look at Tallon to potentially play for them, a recruiting agency was hired.
The agency did such things as not just look for potential universities but also edited and put together a tape of Tallon playing in games.
“I took the game film that Coach Gottselig gave me and I sent video team an email with film in it. And then they edited and posted it on a website. I would send emails to a bunch of different coaches mainly still close to home,” he said.
Landing a spot with the University of Jamestown was key for Tallon because he wanted to be close enough to allow his parents the opportunity to watch him play.
“I want my parents to come watch if I am playing.”
Tallon said when it came down to it “it really wasn’t that hard in the grand scheme of things.”
He said he sent a few emails, let coaches view his game tape video and drove to Jamestown a few times to demonstrate his potential.
There may be a bit of a learning curve between the Canadian versus the American game but participating in the Saskatchewan Selects program for one season taught him a lot about the differences.
The Saskatchewan Selects program uses American football rules with Tallon going with the program for one season to play in Texas.
Despite playing football, Tallon said he is planning to work hard at his academics as his future plans are to become an engineer.
He doesn’t see himself as playing professionally but rather wants to take advantage of the opportunities Jamestown offers. His plans for him to graduate with a professional degree will help to guarantee his future post football.
“Civil engineering is something I find interesting. I watch a fair bit of YouTube and there’s this guy I’ve been watching for a few years that talks about what it’s like working as a civil engineer,” he said. “I think it is to help and have fun while I’m going to post secondary.
“No I don’t have any aspirations of playing professionally,” he concluded.
