Queen’s gets its man
Opportunity is knocking for Jayden Gurzi-MacDonald.
A signing ceremony was held Monday at Blessed Trinity to celebrate the Grade 12 student signing to play football at Queen’s and there’s an opening for the 17-year-old Grimsby resident to make an immediate impact for the Ontario University Athletics program.
Queen’s had two great running backs last season and one is graduating and the other signed with a CFL team. At its spring camp, there were only three running backs on the roster and one athlete took the vast majority of the reps.
“There is a real opportunity for Jayden to come in and compete for an opportunity to play very early in our program and that is a bit of a rarity,” Queen’s offensive coordinator Tom Flaxman said. “We are a team that has been fairly successful the last couple of years and we have worked very hard to be a team that is constantly competing for a Yates Cup. These are opportunities that don’t always come up. Knowing how much the game of football means to him, how much he loves it and what a hard worker he is I have no doubt he will be able to come in compete for us and hopefully have the opportunity to carry the football for us in the fall.”
Gurzi-MacDonald has been on Queen’s radar forever.
“He was a guy who played for Team Ontario last year and has had a great high school career. He is a guy we have know about for a really long time and he was a top priority,” Flaxman said. “We felt he was one of the top running backs not just in the province but in the country. He went to the Canada Cup and really excelled at that level and we knew right then he would be a guy who would be able to come in and be a big part of our roster.”
The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder had interest from several schools, including Laurier, Western and McMaster, and had to choose between offers from Queen’s and McMaster.
“I decided on Queen’s because I would be coming into a really good position with running back depth and once I went up there on my visit I met all the coaches and they gave me great hospitality,” he said. “It felt like home away from home.”
Queen’s is glad to have him.
“We recognized from a very early time in the recruiting process that he was a hard worker and a big time grinder who loved the process of football,” Flaxman said.
That attribute is one of the big things Queen’s seeks out in recruits.
“We want guys who are in love with the process of football. Everyone loves the game but we are looking for guys who love the weight room, the practice field and the meeting room and Jayden is absolutely one of those guys,” he said. “Those are the types of guys who excel within our program and we have no doubt Jayden is going to do a tremendous job for us.”
To prepare for his freshman season, Gurzi-MacDonald is moving to Kingston July 29 to get familiar with the playbook.
“I want to be able to make an impact in any way that I can and get on the field whether it is on specials, carrying the rock, returning kicks, whatever it is and however I can help the team.”
He started playing football when he nine or 10 in West Niagara in the Niagara Regional minor league before graduating to the Niagara Generals and Niagara Spears travel programs.
He played for Team Ontario in 2022 and 2023 and was recently selected for Team Canada. A training camp will be held in Calgary for that team followed by a tournament in Alberta against other countries.
In the past year, he feels the biggest strides he has taken in his game is his football IQ.
“When I first started playing with Team Ontario, my knowledge was very broad and I didn’t understand a lot of the concepts I was being taught. Having those two years under my belt with all those great coaches who helped me along the way with the playbook and developing my football IQ overall has been tremendous. I think that will definitely translate at university.”
The next step in his progression is to just get better overall.
“I have to get to work every single day before I get to training camp.”
The future economics major is excited about what lies ahead.
“I am looking forward to playing football and getting a great education. That was another thing that leaned me towards Queen’s. They have great academics and it will set me up for success later on in life after football.”
