Ben Hassett doesn’t have to look far for offensive-linemen inspiration. His high school team, the Belmont Bulldogs, produced 2023 CFL top-overall draft pick Dontae Bull for the Ottawa Redblacks. The UBC Thunderbirds, the U Sports team Hassett is headed to next season, produced 2024 fourth-round Detroit Lions’ NFL draft pick Giovanni Manu and also Theo Benedet, who signed as a free agent last month with the Chicago Bears of the NFL.
“That showed me what can happen,” said Hassett.
“Pro football is my ultimate goal, too.”
The six-foot-three, 300-pound Sooke product is still developing his game and his body. Bull clocks in at six-foot-seven, 326 pounds, Manu at six-foot-eight, 350 pounds and Benedet at six-foot-seven, 305 pounds. The O Line, as it is known, is where the big boys operate.
“I feel I am fast and agile and quick off the ball,” said Hassett, who will study psychology at UBC.
Hassett was a provincial all-star this season in Grade 12 and graded out as the second-ranked offensive lineman coming out of B.C. high school football.
“He is a great kid with a tremendous attitude who always gives a great effort,” said Belmont head coach Alexis Sanschagrin.
The second Bulldogs player heading to U Sports with this Grade 12 class is Max Roberts, a six-foot-one, 175-pound safety who will play for York University under new Lions head coach Dexter Jenke, the former Grey Cup-champion with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who coached the Westshore Rebels to the BCFC title and the Canadian Bowl national junior championship game last season.
“I did a bit of training with him [Janke] on the Island and learned a lot from him,” said Roberts.
Janke didn’t forget Roberts when it came time to recruit his first York Lions class. Bulldogs bench-boss Sanschagrin also is a former CFL player, who came out of the University of Western Ontario, to play for the Toronto Argonauts.
“It’s great and comforting knowing your coaches have a lot experience,” said Roberts, who began flag football at 11-years-old before starting youth tackle football with the Westshore Warriors.
“Everything at every level along the way is a building block.”
Roberts will major in business at York: “I want to get my education. Football a great side-effect of it. I am excited and ready to learn.”
Sanschagrin said Roberts is “a physical and agile defensive back with a great work ethic and attitude and was the best tackler in B.C. high schools.”
Hassett and Roberts will bring to nine the number of Belmont alumni in U Sports football next season.
“It’s kind of cool to have that many players from our school playing in U Sports,” said Sanschagrin.
“It’s about work ethic and attitude and a lot of hard work has gone into our Bulldogs program. It also shows that football in Victoria, on the Island and in B.C. is doing well.”
There are a trio of high-profile NFL and CFL draft picks and signings the past two years that prove it.
