The Mount Allison Mounties are heading into a new football season with more than half of their training camp roster made up of first-year players.
Sixty of the 105 players in camp this year are first-years, giving head coach Scott Brady a young group to work with as the Mounties look for better results. Mount Allison finished with one win and seven losses last season, the second straight year the team posted a 1-7 record.
Brady said the size of this year’s incoming class brings plenty of potential, but also means a large part of the team is still adjusting to what is expected at the university level.
“We have 60 first-year guys on the team out of a 105-man roster. So that’s [a] super young roster,” said Brady. “There’s going to be a pretty steep learning curve for those guys. I think it’s a really talented group.”
The Mounties have spent the past two weeks in training camp ahead of their regular-season opener on Friday. For returning receiver Gunner White, the time together follows an off-season he says was important after a difficult first year under a new coaching staff.
“Last season was really tough,” said White. “The whole coaching staff came in with not really having any relationships with past players.”
White said that made for a difficult transition, but the months since have given the players and coaches more time to work together.
“We came in and had a little bit more of a rough time, but we had a really good off-season,” he said. “We worked really, really hard and came together as more of a brotherhood.”
Last season was Brady’s first year back as head coach, but his connection to Mount Allison football goes back much further. Brady played for the Mounties himself and later spent eight seasons coaching with the program.
His time on the coaching staff included a run of four straight Loney Bowl appearances from 2013 to 2016. Mount A won conference titles in 2013 and 2014, with the 2014 team also becoming the first in program history to finish the regular season undefeated.
Brady went on to coach at McMaster University for seven years before returning to Sackville in May 2025. The Mounties finished 1-7 in his first season back, but Brady said his focus that year went beyond the team’s record. He wanted to change what players were doing every day and establish the expectations that would carry into the seasons ahead.
“I think our goal coming in here was to establish a championship culture, championship habits and really teach the guys what a championship football program looks like in terms of what we’re doing every single day,” he said. “I think we made really good strides with that, both in season and in the off-season with our guys.”
That off-season is one of the differences returning players point to this year. The Mounties have 47 veterans back, and White said the months leading into training camp included conditioning sessions, workouts and team meetings.
The meetings gave players time to go over concepts before returning to the field, something White said has helped the team come into camp “ready to execute” rather than being “behind the eight ball on day one.”
The experience of those returning players is also important on a roster where first-years are in the majority. White said he’s tried to take on more of a leadership role as the incoming players adjust to university football.
“I’ve really just been trying my hardest as a leader and as a mentor to a lot of these younger guys,” he said. “If they have questions about anything, I’m really trying to help them out and trying to help them succeed as much as I can.”
For Brady, building the program isn’t only about what happens on the field. He remembers what Mountie football was like when the team was regularly competing for conference championships and wants games in Sackville to have that kind of atmosphere again.
“We want to make Mountie football games an event. It is the biggest show in town here,” Brady said. “We want to get back to that when we were here before and had the success you referenced. Friday nights, Saturday afternoons were different here, and we want to build back to that.”
The Mounties get their first regular-season opportunity on Friday night when they host the Acadia Axemen. The game falls during Mount Allison’s fall orientation as students return to campus, and Brady said he hopes supporters will see early signs of what the young roster could become.
“I hope when people come and watch us play, they’re going to see flashes of where this program is going, the talent that we brought into the roster here,” he said. “I think they’re going to see signs of optimism about the future of Mountie football here.”
The Mounties and Acadia kick off at 7 pm Friday at Alumni Field.
Theodore Ramharack holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Western University and a diploma in Broadcast Journalism. He recently completed an internship with CBC News’ The National.
Originally from Ontario, he moved to Sackville to join CHMA as a local journalist and is excited to get to know the Tantramar region and share stories from the community.
