Ryker Frank’s never found a goal-line he couldn’t cross, somehow.
The University of Saskatchewan Huskies’ tailback slashed, dodged and improvised his way into the team record book this past season, breaking the long-standing record for career rushing touchdowns.
It’s a simple joy, he says, and one that doesn’t get old.
“My favourite part,” Frank said prior to a practice this week, “is seeing everyone’s smiles and celebrating with the boys.”
He’s got 22 rushing TDs for his career, with one season of eligibility remaining. The old record, 20, had been held by Terry Eisler since 1989.
“You can see it if you watch the highlights,” says Huskies head coach Scott Flory, whose team is preparing for Saturday’s Canada West football semifinal playoff game in Vancouver against the British Columbia Thunderbirds.
“He has the ability to be really, really, really dynamic. You look at the end of the last game (a 16-11 win over Calgary, where Frank scored the winning touchdown with seven seconds on the clock) — we get the big return from Rhett (Vavra), and it was four straight carries by Ryker and we were in the end zone. He made multiple people miss on every one of those plays. It’s just what he can do. He’s got a nose for it; he’s got a knack for it. He finds a way to churn yards, to fall forward and to get first downs.
“It’s even the short yardage stuff, the second-and-ones, the second-and-twos. You know he’s going to find a way.”
Frank led the conference with 152 carries for 952 yards, and added 10 rushing touchdowns. He was diverse in his distances, though much of his work happened up-close and in-tight: His TD yardages were 55, 15, 9, 7, 5, 4, 4, 1, 1 and 1.
“It all starts with (the offensive linemen),” says Frank, who is third on the Huskies’ career rushing list. “Most of my touchdowns have been those couple of yards, pounding it in, and it’s all on the o-line.”
Huskies quarterback Anton Amundrud calls Frank “a big backbone for us in these tight games.” Frank has scored touchdowns in six of Saskatchewan’s eight games, including three in one contest.
And now he faces the Thunderbirds after a 5-3 regular season for both teams. UBC beat Saskatchewan 38-24 in their only meeting of the season on Sept. 20, but the Huskies have since reeled off four straight wins after what could have been a crushing 1-3 start.
Saskatchewan lost 40-17 to Alberta in their playoff opener last year, ending a run that had seen the Huskies play in back-to-back Vanier Cups. That, says Frank, is never far from his mind as he weaves on the football field.
“It’s a thing that’s still brought up,” he said. “A lot of the guys here now are guys that experienced that, and the taste never really leaves your mouth. You’re going to remember those losses, and you use it to drive you week by week.”
The winner of Saturday’s Saskatchewan/UBC clash will play either first-place Manitoba or fourth-place Regina in the conference final the following weekend.
“It’s a little bit quieter group — not the big personalities,” says Flory, whose Huskies’ four-game win streak included margins of three, 18, two and five points. “But we’ve proven in four or five games that when plays need to be made in the fourth quarter, the guys rose up and they made the plays. There’s a calm, cool collectedness about this group. There’s no panic. There’s trust, there’s belief.
“We’ve got to clean up some things in the first 57 minutes of the game, but we know in the last three minutes that we can move the ball, we can shut people down and we can score points.”
Saturday’s game in Vancouver will be played at 2 p.m. Saskatchewan time.
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