Watch above: After two seasons of steady progression, Saskatchewan Huskies receiver Mitch Hillis is primed for a breakout season. Jack Haskins reports.
SASKATOON – It was an exciting day when the Saskatchewan Huskies announced that they had recruited highly-touted prospect Mitch Hillis. The former Holy Cross High School Crusader has been compared to 11-year CFLer and Saskatchewan Roughriders fan favourite Dan Farthing.
After two seasons of steady progression, Hillis is primed for a breakout year and we’ll hopefully see why those comparisons were made.
Huskies head coach Brian Towriss is extremely impressed with Hillis’ off-season effort.
“He had a really good off-season training, he’s bigger, he’s stronger, he’s faster. I think he’s really started to apply some of the things that he learnt in his first two years … but now you’re started to see some experience factors come into play too,” said Towriss.
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Hillis packed on some muscle which will make him more explosive and harder to tackle.
“I mean, we can’t cover him, there’s nobody that we got that can hang with him,” said Towriss.
“Last year, I played in the summer for Team Canada and I got hurt. So, unfortunately I wasn’t able to work out as much last year but this year I’m feeling way stronger, a lot better coming in to camp, so hopefully it pays off,” said Hillis, who scored three touchdowns last season.
This will be Hillis’ third year playing for University of Saskatchewan but his first without his older brother by his side. The departure of Kit Hillis will open the door for his younger brother and other young receivers to step into a bigger role.
“It was definitely a treat, it was actually so awesome to be able to play with him for two years, considering he’s five years older than me … he won’t be bugging me as much but I’ll miss him out there,” said Hillis.
Hillis is excited to be a part of what he views as an explosive and deep receiving core.
“It’s awesome, as a defence I would imagine it would be so tough to stop five receivers that can catch the ball and score touchdowns whenever they get the ball … and that really works well in our favour,” said Hillis.
The Huskies hit the field this Friday at Griffiths Stadium for a non-conference game against the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks. Kick-off for Global Saskatoon game day is 7 p.m.
Jack Haskins contributed to this story
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