Aaron Waldie Sighting in Saskatchewan Roughrider Camp

Hillsdale College 2009 grad Aaron Waldie is on the plains of Saskatchewan trying to earn a spot on the Roughriders' roster this week. It sounds like he has some pretty stiff competition.

Riders’ rookie receivers hope to measure up

By Ian Hamilton, Canwest News Service June 3, 2010

REGINA — The Saskatchewan Roughriders improved the depth of their import receiving corps during the CFL off-season.

Judging by Thursday’s rookie-camp workout at Mosaic Stadium, they didn’t improve the height. The receivers on the field were Aaron Love (five-foot-eight), Aaron Waldie (five-foot-nine), Dwayne Eley Jr. (five-foot-10), Jeremy Gilchrist (five-foot-10) and Cary Koch (six-feet).

Head coach Ken Miller said one thing the Roughriders wanted to do in the off-season was increase the size of their import receivers — and six-foot-five veteran Prechae Rodriguez (acquired from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats) and six-foot-six rookie Aaron Fairooz (who watched Thursday due to a hamstring injury) fit the bill.

The other rookies will have to do a lot to make sure they measure up. But even then . . .

“Really, they’re at a disadvantage because of the number of quality receivers we have as veterans, not so much their size,” Miller said.

The Roughriders are loaded with non-import receivers like Rob Bagg, Jason Clermont, Andy Fantuz, Chris Getzlaf and David McKoy. But due to roster moves made through the off-season, Saskatchewan has just one import receiver — slotback Weston Dressler — who played a game with the team in 2009.

That prompted the off-season search for import pass-catchers. Now that the recruits are re in town, they all know they’re up against it.

“I look at it as an excellent opportunity,” Waldie said when asked if he felt like a longshot. “This is probably the top receiving corps in the CFL and coming in here and learning from coach (Bob) Dyce first and then when those veterans get in here, it’s going to be just an excellent learning experience for all of us.

“It may be a little tougher to make this team than some of the other teams with maybe not as good a receiving corps, but I’m up to the challenge. It’s only going to bring out the best in me.”

Full article

Goodbye Don Mossey

It would be hard to argue that anyone wore the blue and white of Hillsdale College with more pride than Don Mossey. At the age of 84, Don passed away on May 22nd and took with him an enduring zeal for Hillsdale College and its mission in our world.

As a Hillsdale College football alum, I have always taken special pride in the number of former Chargers and Dales like Aaron Petersen, John Cervini and Jeff Lantis who have gone on to administrative roles within the College's leadership. I did not know until an email from former Charger Andrew Nickle '71 that Don Mossey was also a former football player. How could I have missed that connection for all of these years?

Mossey arrived on Hillsdale's campus from Elkhart, Indiana in 1946 as a running guard on the Dales' football squad. During his tenure as a student he would become president of the Delt Sig house and an active member of the Omicron Delta Kappa honorary. Upon graduation, Mossey would lead a tremendously successful business career back in Elkhart that saw him rise to Executive VP of Skyline Corporation and a member of several other corporate boards including Phillips Industries.

In 1966, two major events in the life of the Mossey family would change the direction of Hillsdale College. As a memorial to the tragic loss of the Mossey's son Alex, Don and his wife Jane gave Hillsdale its current library. That same year, Mossey would join the Hillsdale board of trustees. In 1975 he became chairman and served in that capacity until his recent passing. His 28 years of leadership is the longest chairmanship in college history.

As chairman, Mossey stood at the tip of the spear as Hillsdale fought against federal government intrusion and established its current financial security completely independent from any direct or indirect state or federal funding.

Despite all of the time and focus Mossey gave the running of the College, there were few bigger Hillsdale College Football fans.

Nickle recently shared this story with me. "Don regularly attended the football games. I remember two incidents in particular. Once I was with him on a fall Friday and he would not miss joining the staff meeting in Jack McAvoy's office where he paid close attention as Jack went through the name of evey player as he updated the depth chart on his office wall. The second is when he asked me to join him in chartering a plane to go to the National Championship game in Conway, Arkansas. Don told me we could not miss that game."

Hillsdale College has definitely lost one of people who have placed it where it is today and today we say goodbye to Donald Mossey. Let his passing inspire all who love the College to step up and fill the huge void left by his leadership.

Thoughts, prayers, and gratitude go to Jane Mossey and the family for sharing Don with all of us.

Hoping for the return of Charger Cheerleaders in the Fall

Since last homecoming I have been hearing stories and rumors about the return of cheerleaders to the sidelines of Hillsdale College's Muddy Waters Stadium. Former athletic director Mike Kovalchik disbanded the program after problems with finding suitable coaches emerged in 2005.

Over the course of this past academic year, student-led efforts from Ashlee LeCompte, Chole Chapel, and Kelsie White have tackled the necessary bureaucratic hurdles and hope to have a squad on the field for the fall. They have Hillsdale Admissions staff assistant Margaret Bramen on board as a coach but are working on getting a stunt supervisor that requires certification. Chapel told the Hillsdale Collegian
this spring, "I'm going to get certified over the summer," said Chapel. "It will be nice for one of us to be certified so our practice schedules aren't dependent on a coach."

Seeing cheerleaders back on the sidelines would be a great addition to the gameday atmosphere. I would love to see some new traditions emerge from this initiative. Now, if we could only get a 100 member marching band...oh well, the pep band did a heck of a job last season and I expect will do so again in the Fall. The biggest thing though that has to continue, cheerleaders or not, is the spirit and turnout of the Charger fan base. Last year, the student section was the best it had been in 25 years.

Related articles
Hillsdale Collegian: Give me an s-q-u-a-d
Hillsdale Collegian: Cheer squad sets sights on fall sports

Image courtesy of SBNation.com

The Evolution of a Leader: Hillsdale College's Troy Weatherhead

Three years ago, Charger fans were lamenting the departure of quarterback Mark Nicolet after a breakout football season by #15 and the Hillsdale College program. If only he could have completed the redshirt year Hillsdale tried twice to give him before forcing him into service, then maybe that run could continue for one more year. The looking back turned to worry as fans looked forward. "How in the world would....or even could...the heir apparent Troy Weatherhead pick up Nicolet's reign?" they asked themselves.

Then a funny thing happened that fall, maybe not so funny, but that was the only lame cliché that came to mind. All of the worries went away as Weatherhead had a sophomore debut season that was statistically the second best ever for any Hillsdale quarterback in history. He followed that up with a 2009 that will be remembered as one of the best Charger seasons ever. Last year Weatherhead would throw for more yards (3348) than Nicolet did in 2007 (3335) and lead Hillsdale to a signature win over Grand Valley State in the regular season, a 10-3 record, the school's first ever NCAA Division II playoff berth, and the school's first ever Division II playoff victory. Entering 2010, Weatherhead is 732 yards shy of passing Hillsdale's all-time passing leader Bill Skelton. With the GLIAC's most experienced and prolific passing game unit returning to Hillsdale, that mark should fall early in the coming season.

Troy Weatherhead has evolved not only as a statistical leader but also a team leader. His teammates recently elected him co-captain and most anyone who has been around the program since his arrival as a hot shot from Comstock Park High School has seen a huge maturation process take place. In no way do I mean to imply that Weatherhead was a bad kid or an extra-immature kid, but the young man I spoke to last Thursday night wearing full business attire at a Hillsdale function in Grand Rapids bore little resemblance to the kid I met while he watched the 2006 Charger Spring Game.

Weatherhead will tell you that he learned a lot from Nicolet the two-years he served as understudy and that transitioning to starter wasn't that difficult thanks to the mentoring his predecessor provided. That predecessor is now leading the L'Hospitalet Pioners (Spain) into the European Federation of American Football Cup after winning the 2010 Spanish National League title, but returns in the fall to become Hillsdale and Weatherhead's quarterback coach.

The current Hillsdale quarterback isn't waiting on the former one though and is demonstrating that leadership right now on campus, though most Hillsdale students left weeks ago. He told me Thursday, "It is great. A lot of our receivers stayed to take a summer term so we have had 3 weeks together, working out and throwing."

Hillsdale returns arguably two of the best GLIAC wideouts in seniors Andre Holmes and Mike Blanchard but will have to break in a new tight end. Cam White will be in the mix after the broken hand he suffered during Spring Ball heals. Prized quarterback recruit Anthony Mifsud will finally get a chance to see the field as he spends time at wideout. Initial reports are that he has a great set of hands. Another player expected to emerge at WR is RS-Freshman Lou Cangelosi.

The 2009 Hillsdale Chargers graduated a lot of great players, as evidenced by 4 players getting mini camp invites this Spring, but the leadership Troy Weatherhead has developed should go a long way toward making the rebuilding process a smooth one.

Jared Veldheer Press Conference at Raiders Camp

OT Jared Veldheer and DE Lamar Houston talk about their mini camp experience. Veldheer was Oakland's 3rd round pick and graduates from Hillsdale College on Saturday.

Video from Raiders.com

Thanks for Hillsdale professor Mike Sweeney for passing on the link.

Drew Berube in Packers Camp

Here is a shot of Drew Berube (64) of Hillsdale College from Friday's afternoon practice in Green Bay.

In the upper picture he tangles with Green Bay's 1st pick, OT Brian Bulaga from Iowa.


Green Bay Packers Photo Gallery

Mark Petro in Jets Camp

Here's a picture of Hillsdale kicker Mark Petro during his try-out with the New York Jets this weekend. Petro is one of 4 Chargers in National Football League camps this weekend.

More photos of Jets camp