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Cobby Stubbins following coach Conn to Raiders

Cobby Stubbins is following his high school football coach Jeremy Conn to the Vancouver Island Raiders this fall.

Cobby Stubbins is following his high school football coach Jeremy Conn to the Vancouver Island Raiders this fall, where Stubbins hopes to crack the starting lineup and prove he belongs.

Stubbins, who will graduate from Ballenas Secondary School this year, suited up for the Whalers as both a wide receiver and a defensive back, showing great hands and a tremendous eye for the ball on both sides of the field.

When asked about Stubbins coming to play for him, VI Raiders head coach Jeremy Conn had nothing but positive things to say about the kid they call Cobby.

“Cobby is going to play defensive back for me,” said former Whalers and new Raiders head coach Jeremy Conn. “He’s already shown us he could be an immediate starter.  He has great physical abilities along with impressive ball sense and intensity. Cobby’s going to do great and I have high hopes for him.”

Though it’s not much of a change, Stubbins will be playing defensive back and more than likely doing some special teams work as well. The transition from high school football to the Canadian Junior Football League will be made easier for Stubbins, thanks in large part to being so familiar with the coach.

“Yeah, it’s going to help a lot,” Stubbins said. “I’m really excited to keep playing football after high school. I didn’t really feel like leaving anywhere to go play football and having Coach Conn there with the Raiders really made it easy for me to want to play there.”

Known as a threat at receiver, Stubbins’ is okay with the move to defensive back.

“It helps that I played both in high school,” Stubbins said. “It doesn’t really matter where I’m at, I’m always going to try and get the ball as much as I can if I’m on offense or defense. I know that I’ll have a lot to prove but I’m ready for any of the challenges that are going to come up along the way.”

Stubbins will join Whaler teammates Nick Cessford and Coltin LaPlante in this year’s crop of seniors that will move on to play football after high school. It’s something that Stubbins is excited about but also knows he’s going to have other plans in the future as well.

“School is on the list for sure,” Stubbins said. “I’m really excited to get out and go travelling too, so we’ll see what happens. I think that being able to play football and not have to worry about jumping right back into school is going to be nice for the first year. Once that’s done, I’d like to do some travelling and then I’ll think about what’s next after all of that’s done.”

For now, Stubbins will finish off his high school year at Ballenas and prepare to be a key player in the defensive scheme of things for the VI Raiders this season.

“I just have to go in there and do my thing,” Stubbins said. “There’s going to be pressure but I’ll be ready for it.”