St. Benedict football player Erick Lessard will be playing in the GTA all-star football game on Sat April 17th at McMaster University. Lessard, who attended an evaluation camp during the Bears bye week, made the Greater Toronto Area top 100 list. Although he had an early injury in another mini-camp, he was selected as one of the top 45 players.
Locally, Erick was an unanimous selection for SDSSAA all-star, at Offensive Tackle and was one of 4 Bear offensive linemen selected as an all star. Emilio Frometa, Spencer Dailey, and Lineman of the Year, Carter Long, were also selected. Erick helped the Bears return to the playoffs with a 5-3 record, ousting defending champs Notre-Dame, before losing to the eventual city champions, Lasalle.
Known as “Lizard” to his teammates, Erick is blessed with pro size (6’7″, 300 lbs) and has a great work ethic. He impressed coaches at the McMaster “Up Front” Offensive Linemen Camp, and scouts at the All-Pro football camp. Head coach Frank Rocca praises his big lineman, “A physical specimen, and an honour roll student, you don’t find that combo too often. The transformation since his Gr. 9 year has been truly remarkable, just scratching the surface of what he can really do.”
Rocca explains that Lessard has benefited from seeing other Bears going off to play university football both in the CIS, and NCAA. “The path has been set by others over the years, so he knows what he has to do to get there. He has written SAT’s, has a personal trainer and travels to compete againstt the best. For us at St. Benedict, he really stepped up as a leader this year.”
Erick agrees, “It’s nice to be recognized for all the hard work that I am putting in. I owe it to my coaches. I’m pretty lucky to have a head coach who has gone off to play DIV 1 in the NCAA, and also play pro in the CFL. Coaches are surprised to find out that I know zone blocking techniques, and all the calls to go with it. It makes me that more marketable.”
Erick has taken the year off from basketball to focus his off season training at T2 Training Systems at The Gym. “Training all summer gave him such a huge advantage with power and strength, coming into this season. This year he lined up on the ball with great confidence. Combine that with solid fundamentals and great technique, and that makes for a very overwhelming figure for the opposition” said Rocca.
Erick will look to add a few more camps over the summer to further increase his stock. Some coaches have commented that Erick could be one of the top recruits coming out of highschool, period. When asked about the amount of schools contacting the well natured Lizard, Rocca replied with a grin, “This is just the beginning for this kid.”
