The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

ANOTHER Bahamian collegiate student athlete will have the opportunity to further his athletic and academic career through the sport of football in Canada.

After two years with the Holland College Hurricanes, Eugene McMinns will transfer from Holland College to join the football programme at Acadia University.

McMinns is among a group of 10 players that were the first recruits for the 2015 Axemen recruiting class.

The 6’1”, 190-pound wide receiver took to social media to make the announcement.

“I am happy to finally announce that I am signing with Acadia University to further my education at one of Canada’s greatest universities,” he said in a post on Facebook. “I will also be continuing my collegiate football career as a wide receiver for the legendary Acadia Axeman football team.”

In two years with the Hurricanes, McMinns developed into one of the team’s top playmakers as they claimed back-to-back Atlantic Football League titles in 2013 and 2014.

McMinns was named the Holland College male Rookie of the Year as he finished with 21 receptions for 441 years and two touchdowns. He was also an impact player on special teams with 11 returns for 189 yards.

The Hurricanes reclaimed the AFL title that year after a disappointing regular season where they finished at 1-4-1, but ended the year with a tie before their consecutive wins in the playoffs. They went on to take the 2013 title with a 20-12 win over the Seawolves.

Following football season, McMinns’ success continues on the track as a sprinter. He was named the Hurricanes’ male athlete of the week after he won both the 60m (7.32s) and the 200m (24.01s) at the Atlantic Indoor Track and Field Championships.

He also won the 60 metre and 200 metre events at the Atlantic Indoor Track and Field Championships in Moncton, Canada.

In his second season, McMinns caught three touchdowns, but saw his season cut short when he was sidelined due to a head injury in the AFL semi-finals. The team went on to capture the 2014 Moosehead Cup with a 31-15 win over the the University of New Brunswick Seawolves.

The coaching staff at Acadia is eager to work the versatile and athletic receiver into their offensive scheme.

“Eugene comes to us by way of Holland College in PEI where he excelled as a freshman receiver last year and worked through some injuries in 2014, all the while maintaining game breaking abilities, receiving and returning the football,” the coaching staff said in a press release issued on the school’s athletic website.

“Eugene instantly becomes one of the fastest players in the conference and his athletic ability will allow him to be a weapon sooner rather than later here at Acadia. Eugene is a former national level decathlete from the Bahamas where he grew up and it shows every time you watch him play a game or practice.”

McMinns is the second Bahamian player to make the move from Holland College to a larger institution on the gridiron in Canada, following Demetrius Ferguson.

Ferguson led the Hurricanes to an AFL Championship in 2011 and went on to enjoy a successful career with the St Francis Xavier University X-Men, which just concluded last season as he was named an All-CIS All-Star.

Acadia, like St FX, is a member of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) and Atlantic University Sport (AUS).

Acadia holds more conference and national championships than any other university in Atlantic Canada and has the highest number of Academic All-Canadians for primarily undergraduate universities in the country.

In their history, the Axemen have appeared in four Vanier Cup national championships, winning two of those in 1979 and in 1981.

Recently, the Axemen had their most success in the 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2012 seasons, when the teams finished first in the AUS and reached the Uteck Bowl all four years. In 2014, they finished 3-5 and lost in the semi-finals to St FX, 18-17.