Running with the Cheetahs

Head coach Peter Chryssomalis said the unit, which will return 2006 league all-star tailback John Jean-Baptiste and a host of talented second-year players and rookies, will turn some heads.

“They're a talented group and if they can put it all together at a high level, they're going to be very tough to stop,” he said.

Ottawa native Jean-Baptiste was named to the seven-team CEGEP AAA league all-star team after a season in which he rushed for 557 yards on 125 carries and nine touchdowns last season as a rookie.

“He's a very strong, durable back and he works between the tackles very well. He's got some things to work on, but he's a pretty good player,” Chryssomalis said. Leading the Cheetahs' zone-running attack out of the fullback position will be second-year player Eric Vallee Steinfurth, whose consistency and durability have impressed coaches thus far.

“Eric's a tough kid, and he plays really smart. The great thing about him is you know he'll go out there and not make mistakes, and that's what we ask above all from our players -- execution,” said Cheetahs' offensive co-ordinator Yanick Clement.

St. Laurent Spartans program graduate Kevin Kwateng has stepped his game up several notches since the beginning of training camp, and Remi Biakabutuka, who spent most of the first week of training camp on the sidelines nursing an injured hamstring, is also expected to be a big contributor in the Cheetahs' 2007 offensive backfield.

Second-year fullback Aloyisius Williams has also impressed coaches thus far.

“Al is a strong kid, very athletic, but he's got to maintain a certain level of intensity every time he goes out there and once he does that, I think you'll see him become a force to reckon with,” Clement added.

Other bodies in the backfield that should see some playing time this season include Brampton, Ontario native Anatole Roberts, whom the Vanier staff see as a special-teams threat as well, College Mont St. Louis graduate Mendy Cardichon and tailback/fullback hybrid back Frank Marvel, who coaches think will be a big-play guy for them.

Fellow rookie Seneque St. Louis – a 250-pound Sun Youth product – is a project at fullback, but Vanier coaches think he shows great potential.

“Seneque's going to be a good situational guy for us, at least initially, but he's a talented guy who's trying to make the transition from defensive lineman to fullback and it's going to have to require him to keep working on his conditioning,” Clement said.

The Cheetahs will open their home season at Vanier College in St. Laurent on September 15 against Quebec City’s F.X. Garneau College.

(Photo: Martin Alarie)