When there’s a Will, there’s a way
Will Schmahl is flanked by his parents, Lori and Darren, after signing to play football at the University of Guelph. Guelph coach Ryan Sheahan looks on.
Two years of playing quarterback for the Saint Paul Patriots senior football team had failed to gain Will Schmahl any attention from Canadian university football scouts.
“I didn’t really have much going for me with football prior to this year,” the 18-year-old Niagara Falls resident said.
The talented travel baseball player had hopes of pursuing a scholarship on the diamond, but all that changed when Schmahl moved to safety from quarterback and helped ignite the Patriots’ run to Niagara and Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championships.
His quarterbacking experience was an immediate boost to his new position.
“You go into the mind of the quarterback and you already know exactly what he wants to do, what routes he wants to see and what he is looking for,” Schmahl said. “You have to follow his eyes and don’t get beat deep.”
But he wasn’t an immediate success.
“It definitely took a few games to get used to it,” he said. “My first game at safety was against St. Mike’s and that was kind of a rough game for me,” he said. “I didn’t too terrible and we still won, but I missed a tackle and they scored a touchdown.”
Three or four games into the switch, the 6-foot-3, 185 pounder started to catch the eye of football scouts after a game-winning catch against Blessed Trinity in the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association semifinals.
“There was a bunch of scouts that came up to me afterwards and it was a pretty amazing feeling,” he said.
The interest continued to grow and peaked after Saint Paul lost 21-3 to Lorne Park in the Golden Horseshoe Bowl in Ottawa.
“It really didn’t stop after that game,” he said. “Every school started coming up to me.”
Suddenly post-secondary football was looking a lot more promising and inviting than university baseball.
“Obviously, if I have all these scouts coming up to me, I have something going for me in football so I should pursue it,” Schmahl said.
Turns out, it really wasn’t that difficult a choice.
“Baseball is just not the same as football and its team aspect,” Schmahl said. “There’s nothing really like football, but I will still be playing baseball in the summer.”
Ten Ontario universities ended up expressing an interest in Schmahl and he recently signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Guelph Gryphons.
“I know a lot of players on that team and I have talked to them a lot,” he said. “It’s not far as well, the facilities are outstanding and topnotch, and the coaches are very friendly and welcoming people.”
Training camp is in August and Schmahl, who has never played travel football in the summer, is already preparing for the experience.
“I am working out a lot,” he said. “I try to go to the gym twice a day and I also play basketball a lot which helps with my agility, speed and jump training.”
“Anything I can do to be physically active, I do it.”
He has set modest goals heading to Guelph.
“Dressing (for games) is my first goal.”
He plans to start out as an undeclared major but plans to lean his studies towards business
Saint Paul defensive coordinator Mark Antonelli felt moving Schmahl from quarterback to safety was one of the key turning points in the season for the Patriots.
“The first game he played against St. Mike’s he looked pretty good and the position came naturally to him,” he said. “Having that experience at quarterback allowed him to flow to the ball. As the season progressed, he got a lot more comfortable and a lot more confident. Instead of flowing to a spot where the ball was, he was attacking those areas and it showed in how quickly he was able to progress.”
Saint Paul’s defensive MVP in a particular game is given the Defensive Chain Award and Schmahl won it in three games in crucial games at the end of the season.
“They were big games,” Antonelli said. “He was either getting interceptions and touchdowns and he really helped us as a team and helped me as a defensive coordinator because I didn’t have to worry.
“I was able to do a little more with the front seven because I knew we would be OK at the back end.”
