Pegg commits to St. Clair
St. Clair College is the perfect spot for Mikhael Pegg to continue his football career.
“To start with, I really liked their facility. It is new and nice. And it’s the schooling. I want to go into HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning),” the 12B student at Blessed Trinity said. “They have a great HVAC program and I want to play football so it’s a win-win situation for me.”
He send video to St. Clair and the college reached out to him and said it was interested.
“I went out there and talked to the coaches and it went from there,” the 18-year-old Smithville native said.
St. Clair is the only Ontario college competing in the Canadian Junior Football League. The team plays an eight-game regular season plus playoffs.The season starts the second week of August and finishes Remembrance Day weekend. St. Clair’s home is $12-million Acumen Stadium and its roster includes three Europeans, three Americans and players from across Canada. Recently, A.N. Myer’s D’Angelo Holness signed with the school and its roster also includes local products Keynan Aird, Jarrel Pappin, Dayshawn Johnson and Hayden Burt.
“It’s nice that a few kids that I have played with our already there,” Pegg said.
He is excited to get started.
“I am looking forward to playing a high level of football, for sure, and living on my own and seeing how that goes,” the 5-foot-11, 155-pound cornerback said. “I am also looking forward to the HVAC course, learning and getting my career started.”
Pegg started playing Niagara Regional Minor Football in Smithville when he was nine and suited up there for four or five years before joining the Hamilton Junior Ti-Cats travel program. He played on that association’s varsity squad last year but is spending this summer training for his college team.
“Through the Ti-Cats, I got a lot of connections because some of their coaches were university coaches. That was how I started getting some eyes on me.”
He believes he has taken in his game to the next level in the last few years.
“I have really tried to increase my speed by going on runs a lot. My speed has been slowly increasing over the years and I have always been trying to increase it because speed kills. I am also working on my strength because I am not the biggest guy.”
To continue to get better and get to the next level as a player, he needs to continue to get faster and stronger and pay more attention to his diet.
“It’s hard sometimes to eat a lot and I am not the biggest eater, especially breakfast. I really have to try and switch up my habits and be better at that.”
He is hoping all that will help him achieve his goals this fall with St. Clair.
“I want to do well my first year, try and get on the field and prove myself and that I am a player worth the time for them,” Pegg said. “I will do anything: offence, defence, special teams just to get out there.”
To prepare for the season, he has been going on runs and working out in the weight room.
“I am working out with one of my buddies who want to go into the military and it works out well because he has the same mindset.”
One thing he doesn’t need to work on is his passion for football.
“When the ball is up in the air, everything goes quiet and you don’t hear anything. It’s just being in that moment,” Pegg said. “It is amazing and hard to put into words.”
Blessed Trinity head coach Sean Jones will miss Pegg.
“Mikhael is a consummate team player and is always willing to do whatever is needed to help the team. He works very hard in practice and pays attention to small details, which translates very well to game situations,” he said. “He is definitely soft spoken, but his effort and intensity speak volumes about his character.”
