The summer holidays got a little bit better for the Champlain Lennoxville Cougars’ star receiver Joël Zoungrana, as he was offered a full athletic scholarship to attend Boston College, a Division I school, starting in the fall of 2012.
This news comes shortly after the announcement that he would be the recipient of the Alouettes Athletic Excellence bursary.
“I actually knew about the offer from Boston College before the Alouettes’ bursary, says Zoungrana at the opening of the Cougars’ football training camp. I went to their summer camp for four days. I had a feeling that it was coming because after camp the coaches kept telling me good stuff and I had received offers from smaller schools, and during camp whatever drill I was doing the whole staff was looking at me.” This offer is even more astounding considering that the Eagles were not even scouting the Cougar receiver, who had paid to attend the camp.
Boston College, who had the number one ranked run defense and thirteenth overall defense in the NCAA last year, is going to be trying to bolster their offense, which ranked twelfth in the ACC and 109th in the NCAA in 2010. Zoungrana, a speedy receiver able to stretch the field with his blazing 4.47 second 40-yard dash, caught 31 passes last year for a team leading 505 yards and four touchdowns.
The young receiver, however, is not worried about the offensive issues of his future team.
“They got a new offensive coordinator out of the Minnesota Vikings. There has been a lot of change in this program. Coach Spaziani has only been there for three years. They just need to find some stability and it’s going to be fine. I am not worried about the program at all. And I’ve been working out all winter as a DB, so of course having a chance playing on that great defense will be something. But I’ll play on either side of the ball, as long as I can contribute.”
The decision to accept only took a couple of weeks, says Zoungrana, who talked it over with his family, a few friends, and one special coach/friend from Montreal.
“My parents don’t know much about football, so my mentor, I guess you can call him, really helped me out with that side of it.”
Before moving to Boston College, however, the star receiver still has one more season with the Champlain Cougars, where he will be trying to end the team’s ten-year Bol d’Or drought. When this drought was mentioned, the speedy receiver quickly exclaimed, “We’re going to get it this year!” He said he felt confident this was the team that would finally win it. “I am not thinking about going to Boston College, I am putting that aside and the only thing going on is that it’s Bol d’Or time.”
Champlain Lennoxville is a public institution with a student population of approximately 1,000 students. With excellent classroom, laboratory, residence and athletic facilities, Champlain offers its students a variety of pre-university and technical programs leading to a college diploma (DEC).
From Champlain Regional College