Vanier quarterback continues to learn and improve

By Mitch Gallo, September 26th, 2012

Vanier quarterback Cullen Tennant was recently rewarded a $750 bursary from the Montreal Alouettes for secondary five excellence in sports after a great season with the LaSalle Warriors while studying at Lakeside Academy.
“I was very honored to be recognized as a good athlete in Quebec,” said Tennant.
“I already put the money in the bank and it's going to help me pay for school books and also for football stuff.”
With the Lachine native behind centre, the Warriors finished in first place with a record of 8-2, while on a personal level he amassed 2921 yards, 24 touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns, had a completion rating of 62 percent and was named the league's most valuable player.
“The fact that we finished first place as a team I think is the best accomplishment, even though we didn't win a championship,” said Tennant. “I was proud of the guys and being awarded MVP, I was pretty honored.”
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound quarterback has been playing the position since his first year in football when he was in Atom. It took awhile for Tennant to actually appreciate and come to like the position.
He only warmed up paying quarterback when he was in Midget under coach Andy Peterkin, who helped him get by some of the hardship that can go along with playing quarterback.
“That year, I really obviously liked the position, I was taught many technical things about playing quarterback,” said Tennant.
“At that point I was finally able to handle everything that goes along with it, the pressure and things like that.”
Tennant is in his first semester in CEGEP studying International Business and playing with Vanier's football team. He's playing behind Hugo Richard and has played at least one series in every game this year.
“It's a good learning experience, I've learnt more plays then in all my other football,” said Tennant. “It's more detailed but I'm trying to catch up.”
Vanier was just handed their first loss of the season last week losing to Champlain/Lennoxville when both teams entered the game with records of 5-0. Tennant meanwhile has thrown two touchdown passes, including one in the losing effort.
“The most important thing right now is to learn the whole offence, to know every situation so when the opposition defence throws a different look I know what to expect,” said Tennant. “It comes down to reading coverages, blitzes and obviously getting physically stronger and getting more velocity on my ball.”