Local football recruit Cody Wistaff-Welsh said he will be joining the Carleton Ravens next season, but already feels like part of the team.
Wistaff-Welsh said he first started playing football in Grade 8, where he started off at tight end before making the transition to offensive lineman shortly after.
He said recruiters from the Carleton football team first approached him when he was in Grade 10.
“They started talking to me about coming there,” he said. “We had a visit last year. They came to my house, showed me a PowerPoint selling the school … I visited the school, talked to all the coaches.”
Ravens head coach Steve Sumarah said the coaches watched Wistaff-Welsh play at previous games, and what impressed them most about him was how quickly he moved for his size.
“He’s a big kid … but also very athletic – that’s what we liked in an offensive lineman,” Sumarah said. “You can find big guys but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re athletic. He could move really well and we liked that.”
Wistaff-Welsh said he decided to join the Ravens in October 2013, but what really convinced him was a day at the university’s football summer camp.
“I just knew I wanted to be there because it felt like a family,” he said.
He said he initially didn’t want to stay in Ottawa for university.
“At first, it was hard … but then throughout the process, Carleton grew on me,” he said. “As soon as I walked in and met the players, I felt like I was a part of the team.”
He said this feeling of camaraderie extends to his training sessions with the team.
“I train with Carleton three times a week, and every time I’m there, we’re like a big group, a big family,” he said. “We just have lots of fun … I enjoy it a lot – something I look forward to everyday, going to Carleton and training and hanging out with the team.”
Sumarah said he thinks Wistaff-Welsh will be a great fit on the team.
“The big thing is he’s coming into the 2014 year for us, so I think he’s going to be someone that we’re going to count on,” he said. “I think he’s got the tools to be a great player down the road.”
Offensive co-ordinator Jean-Philippe Asselin said Wistaff-Welsh will have to improve to meet the requirements of university football.
“Like any high school player going into university football, he has to train and get stronger,” he said. “I think the [offensive line] position specifically is very technical, so that’s something that he’ll need work on.”
Wistaff-Welsh said he hopes to play in the Canadian Football League (CFL) after university.
“That’s why I chose Carleton,” he said. “I can get better with the coaching staff and players around me. After my CFL career, I would like to go into policing.”
Wistaff-Welsh said he plans to pursue criminology with a psychology concentration while at Carleton.
He said he plans to bring intensity and good sportsmanship to the team, and hopes Carleton will one day become the top team in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).
