Local football players set to make an appearance at 112th Grey Cup

CTV’s Colton Wiens tells us who to keep an eye on during the Grey Cup.

The Canadian Football League’s biggest game of the year is coming up this weekend, and some people with ties to Guelph and Waterloo Region are hoping to make a difference.

The 112^th Grey Cup kicks off in Winnipeg on Sunday between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Montreal Alouettes.

Guelph native Tommy Nield made the winning catch during Saskatchewan’s semi-final win over the B.C. Lions, earning the team a spot at the Grey Cup final.

“You can’t really put it into words,” Nield told reporters after the semi-final game. “It’s just a super exciting moment. [I’m] thankful to be put in that position, and that’s a play you dream about making. [I’m] just grateful to make a play for my team.”

Nield was a star receiver in high school while he attended Centennial Collegiate Vocational Institute in Guelph, Ont. He went on to play at McMaster University.

“I am really excited and happy for Tommy,” Zachary Pollari, head football coach at Centennial Collegiate Vocational Institute, said. “He was an outstanding player, but more importantly, an outstanding person. He deserves all of the success that comes his way.”

Even back then, it was clear to Pollari that Nield was destined for great things.

“Tommy was intelligent, driven and humble,” he said. “Always looking to improve and to do what was best for the team. When you get to the pros, everyone is talented. Not everyone has the intangibles required to stick around and be successful, and we saw these qualities in Tommy at a young age.”

His high school team wasn’t the only ones who noticed.

“Tommy was kind of a local hero when he went to high school here at Centennial,” Mark Surya, head coach of the Guelph Gryphons football team, said. “Obviously, Guelph really wanted him. He ended up going to [McMaster], but he’s still active in the community.”

The pressure of the Grey Cup is nothing new to Nield, who won the Grey Cup with the Toronto Argonauts in 2022 and 2024.

“That’s the reason why you play – to play in the big games and get the opportunity to play in a championship. So, [I’m] just happy to be going to another one,” Nield said.

But he’s not the only local who will be hitting the gridiron on Sunday. Former University of Guelph linebacker A.J. Allen is expected to suit up for the Riders.

“It means everything. I got an opportunity to ball out with my friends and it’s really cool if you ask me,” Allen told reporters during a Grey Cup conference.

The 6’1” linebacker from Burlington recalled the first time he watched the Grey Cup with a friend back home.

“To be able to sit here and play one and have my friend watch me from his TV is really full circle,” he said. “You just gotta sit there and take a moment – what an opportunity. This is absolutely incredible. I’m humbled to be here.”

It has been a long road for Allen, who was drafted in the fourth round in 2020.

“A.J. was the unheralded one,” Surya said. “Not highly recruited. Comes from a small school in Burlington.”

Allen was sent back to Guelph for a fifth year after he was drafted and resigned with Saskatchewan in 2021. He has spent most of his CFL career on special teams, but has thrived on defense since getting an opportunity earlier this season.

“All I’m trying to do on a daily basis is prove myself right,” Allen said. “Whatever standard that is, make sure you attain it, reach it. If you’re a fourth-round pick, you’re a fifth-round pick, make sure you’re the best fifth-round pick in that class.”

Surya said he’s not surprised to see how Allen has thrived.

“[Allen] gets drafted fourth-round and it’s kind of [an in between] fit. You didn’t know where he was going to play, let alone be a starting middle linebacker for a team in the Grey Cup,” Surya said. “He’s got a gregarious personality. He’s always the life of whatever room he’s in and he has this unbridled confidence that you can see when you meet him. That’s what makes him special.”

Other local ties

There are four other former players from local universities on the Grey Cup rosters.

Saskatchewan has former Gryphon receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker. Surya said Allen, Nield and Schaffer-Baker all come back to Guelph to train in the offseason.

“I know Kian [was] drafted later than he wanted to be. He’s been really successful, whereas A.J. was a little more unheralded, like I mentioned,” Surya said. “Tommy’s really struggled to find a place that embraces him like Sask does. It’s been cool to see all three.”

Wilfrid Laurier University alumni Braydon Noll is also on Saskatchewan’s roster but is currently hurt. Former Golden Hawk Scott Hutter and University of Waterloo alumni Jesse Gibbon both play for Montreal but are also injured.

Experts said Canadian universities have invested in their coaches and programs, and now they’re producing more Canadian-born talent.

“Creating more full-time opportunities for coaches to spend more time with these U Sports players and give them opportunities - I think that’s one of the biggest things I’ve seen changed in my 20 years being around the league. That bodes obviously well for players making that transition to coming up to pro football,” Paul LaPolice, an analyst with TSN, said.

“It’s gone from certain positions, to being lucky to have a few Canadians, to now the expectation is that U Sports players can go and be super productive and be the reason teams win,” Surya said.

The 112th Grey Cup kicks off on Sunday night at 6 p.m. Clear skies are expected with a high of 3 degrees in Winnipeg. LaPolice said the experience U Sports players have in colder weather can be a benefit.

“I think there is a minority of guys that sometimes can’t handle the cold. It is certainly good that the U Sports guys have had experience playing in some of the colder weather. There are some of the United States guys that come up have certainly done the same thing. But there are some guys that come from Florida and Miami. I can remember a couple of games when I was their head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 2011, we had a -20 below here in Winnipeg East final. And I’ll tell you what, there was a lot of guys on the team we were facing were from the south and they did not want to play in the cold. It’s great to have guys who have that mental toughness and understanding of, ‘Hey, we’ll find a way to get it done,’” LaPolice said.

The 112^th Grey Cup can be watched on TSN and CTV on Sunday.