Former Cochrane Cobras star McKinnon is one step closer to realizing his dream after being invited to show off his skills in front of Canadian Football League coaches next month.
“It’s everything I’ve worked for my entire life,” said a thrilled McKinnon. “Ever since I was first starting out with the Cochrane Lions in Atom, I would see the Cobras show up to practice when we were done, and that was the coolest thing I’d ever seen in my life. Next thing you know, I was a Cobra myself, watching these university players – and I knew that’s where I wanted to be.
“That dream is finally starting to come to fruition.”
As a Cochrane High School player, the defensive lineman helped the Cobras win the Tier III provincial championship in 2012. The 6-foot, 285-pound farm boy from Water Valley is now on the D Line for the University of Regina Rams and was recently honoured as the school’s Defensive Lineman of the Year for the second year in a row.
McKinnon said he had gotten wind from his Rams coaches late last year that he might be invited to the CFL’s annual regional combine, but when the actual invite came at the end of January – his relatives ended up finding out before he did.
“My family has a shared email account,” the baller explained. “I was actually kind of bummed out. I was starting to worry, ‘Am I really going to do this?’ Next thing I know, I get a text saying, ‘Check the email…’”
McKinnon added he did get to share the news with Cobras head coach Rob McNab – his longtime football mentor and one of his biggest champions.
“Coach has known my goals and my ambitions since I first met him in Grade 9,” he said. “He saw something in me that was good.”
“I remember him as a ninth grader,” McNab shared this week. “He walked in the door and he introduced himself and said, ‘I’m going to be a Cobra.’
“Once you got him on the field, everything with Bryce was very focused and very full speed. He wasn’t one of those ones that ever took it easy. His goal was always to get to university and he always watned to be a pro football player. Now he’s going to get the opportunity. He’s worked hard for it, that’s for sure.”
To prepare for the pitch session, McKinnon said he’s on a “strict training schedule,” working out for as much as three hours at a time, six days a week. He’s confident he will be ready to give it everything he’s got on the field and hopefully make himself a can’t-say-no prospect.
“This is everything I’m looking at right now – all my focus is going into this,” McKinnon said. “I’m going to take the same approach that I’ve taken whenever I’ve tried out for a new team: I’m just going to go and outwork anybody I possibly can. I’ve got a lot of heart – I really put my heart and soul into the game – and when I get an opportunity to show myself, I take it.”
The CFL’s annual regional combine takes place as part of CFL Week in Regina from March 23 to 26.
