Here’s the Kicker

YouTube Vid Brought Stingers Kicker Keegan Treloar to ConU

Photo Erin Sparks

After graduating from high school in 2011, Keegan Treloar would not have expected that marketing and football could go, well, hand in foot.

But today, the second-year marketing student thanks his relished role as the Concordia football team’s place kicker to a fun night of marketing some two years ago—marketing himself, that is.

Treloar, a native of Brandon, MB, was a standout for four years at Vincent Massey High School, a school that has produced such football stars as defensive lineman Israel Idonije of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League, as well as Chris Bauman, a receiver for the Canadian Football League’s Calgary Stampeders.

On a September evening in 2010, during his last season of high school football, Treloar and his father, Doug, went out for a casual night of kicking.

Along with a couple of coaches, they teamed up to record 20 minutes of footage of Treloar kicking field goals, punting and doing kickoffs at Vincent Massey. It was a “goof-around” night, according to his father, who is a registered physiotherapist.

At the time, none of them considered using the video for recruiting, his father said. It was made to show family in the United States, according to Keegan.

“I just did it as a fun thing, and then one thing led to another,” he said.

Keegan brought the camera home, and within an hour, he had condensed the footage into a two-minute video.

“After that, it was truly history,” said his father.

In January 2011, the video had circulated throughout the Brandon online community. After sending the video to various universities, the phone started ringing, and Treloar found himself in recruiting databases.

The University of Manitoba and York University contacted Keegan before Concordia University came calling in mid-February 2011.

“Everyone here is a high school all-star and you just have to put it into perspective and know your place.”
—Keegan Treloar,
Concordia Stingers Place Kicker

“I still recall when coach [Gerry] McGrath called the house,” said the elder Treloar. “You hear a man’s voice asking for your son and you kind of go, ‘Hmm.’”

After a recruiting trip to Montreal in March alongside teammate and mentor Rene Paredes—who now kicks for the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL—the Treloars were impressed with how they were treated during their stay.

“Concordia was by far the most professional of all the groups and they had a really solid recruiting program,” Doug said.

When Keegan officially signed to play for the Stingers, Paredes had not yet signed in the CFL. He could have played another year of Canadian Interuniversity Sport football, which was one of the main reasons for choosing Concordia, according to Treloar.

“I was going to have a great person as a mentor to play underneath for a year,” said Treloar.

However, Paredes ended up signing with the Stampeders, making Treloar the de facto number-one kicker for the Stingers.

“I come here and it’s another step above,” he said. “Everyone here is a high school all-star and you just have to put it into perspective and know your place.”

Treloar’s first place kick in his first CIS game was a memorable one. It was Concordia’s home opener last season against Université Laval, where he was good on a 46-yard field goal, only to see it immediately called back due to a penalty.

The coach kept the field goal unit on the field for the second attempt, a 52-yarder, which went a little differently than planned.

“The long-snapper snapped the ball directly in my hands, and I had to run with the ball. I realized I wasn’t as fast as I thought I was and got tackled pretty quick,” he said.

Still, Doug Treloar said his son was the leading rusher on the Concordia football team for some time after his two-yard gain on the play.

His best performance came this season on Sept. 15 against St. Francis Xavier University, when the second-year kicker was good on six of six field goals, plus three converts, accounting for 21 out of the team’s 41 points.

At the time, that put him in a four-way tie for the third-best single-game performance of all time in Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec university football. He was also named the Concordia player of the game and the RSEQ special teams player of the week.

“Like any proud father, it’s just exciting,” said Doug.

While the Stingers wrapped up their season two weeks ago with a loss to Université Laval, Treloar says he will continue to chase his dream until his university career is done.

“I’m also getting a pretty good degree at the [John Molson School of Business],” he said.

Update: The Link originally reported that Keegan Treloar went to high school in Montreal. Treolar attended Vincent Massey High School in Brandon, Manitoba. The Link regrets the error.