Ashley Messier builds hockey legacy with sights on PWHL, Olympics
9h ago
Mark Messier is her distant cousin, but this Sask. hockey product is carving her own path.
The University of Saskatchewan Huskies enjoyed one of their most successful football seasons in recent history in 2021 — and Noah Zerr was a big reason why.
The 6-foot-7, 330-pound offensive lineman had a stellar campaign, earning Canada West all-star honours and being named a first-team U Sports All-Canadian.
The CFL Scouting Bureau seemed to take notice, listing the fourth-year Huskie as the 10th-ranked player in the winter rankings it puts out ahead of the 2022 CFL draft.
“I think growing up, you always kind of dream about opportunities like this,” Zerr said Friday.
At the start of the 2021 season, the Langenburg product cracked the top 20 list right at No. 20. Zerr said jumping up 10 spots in the winter rankings means a lot to him after the season he had.
“To see my hard work kind of get recognized over the season, it’s just a huge honour,” he said. “I’m super-excited to be on the list with such great athletes.”
Zerr didn’t want to take too much credit for the season he had, instead crediting current and former teammates for being true leaders and paving a path for him to go down.
“I’ve had a lot of great leaders throughout my career at the University of Saskatchewan here, guys like Mattland Riley kind of paving the way for me, Connor Berglof, Nick Summach — all those guys,” Zerr said.
“That (2021) season was incredible, but it’s a team game. Those guys make me look good, and I try to make them look good.”
Since the season ended, Zerr has been taking the off-season a little differently with the draft coming up in the spring.
He just returned from the College Gridiron Showcase in Fort Worth, Texas, where some of the best college football prospects gather to show their talents.
“I think 10 athletes from Canada were invited down to compete with some of the best Division 1 talent down there in the States, to kind of do it in front of all 32 NFL teams, all nine CFL teams and a couple XFL teams,” Zerr said.
The only other U Sports offensive lineman who made the trip down to the States was Western’s Zack Fry. Zerr and Fry competed against one another in the Vanier Cup in December, but got the chance to build a friendship and showcase their skills throughout the week in Texas.
“I reached out to Zack a week before we went down to Texas (and) just wanted to build a relationship with him. I think we developed a pretty good friendship down there, and we did a really good job of looking out for one another,” said Zerr.
After making an impression on scouts across North America, Zerr is now focused on the CFL combine ahead of the draft.