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Rams quarterback Marc Mueller goes down for the count early in 2011

Ed Kapp
Sports Writer

Like many children growing up, Marc Mueller often dreamt of leading his football team to a championship; in particular, a Vanier Cup. 

Born to Lana, daughter of the late Ron Lancaster, and Larry, an assistant general manager with the Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1989 to 1991, football has been a part of Mueller’s life since well before he took to the field, himself.

“My earliest memory of the game would be when I would hang around the lockerroom when my grandpa was coaching in Edmonton,” Mueller said. “I remember running around the locker room with guys like Damon Allen, Tracy Ham, and [Henry] ‘Gizmo’ Williams when I was really little.   

I’m not sure how much time I’ve spent in that environment. Too much might be a good answer – depending on who you ask. When my grandpa was the head coach in Hamilton, I would be down there for a month. I would go to the office with him at 7 a.m. and we wouldn’t get home until supper time.”

After being introduced to organized football in Grade 1, it didn’t take long for Mueller to settle in at quarterback – a position his grandfather mastered within the confines of the Canadian Football League just a few decades prior.

“My grandpa never pushed me to play one position – or even the sport at all,” Mueller said. “He would say, ‘Kid, as long as you’re having fun, go ahead and play.’ Whenever I’ve stepped on the field, I’ve always had fun.

“I was always a tight end or a linebacker or on the offensive line, the only reason that I played quarterback was because our quarterback couldn’t take the snap properly in Atom football,” Mueller said. “I was shootin’ my mouth off and they put me in there. I could take the snap and hand off, so I kind of just got the position by default.”

The rest, as they say, is history.    

Following a six-year stint in the ranks of the Regina Minor Football league, Mueller became a student-athlete at Sheldon-Williams Collegiate, where he led the Spartans to city and provincial championships during his senior year.

After graduating from Sheldon-Williams in 2007, Mueller happily agreed to take his talents to the University of Regina.

“There were quite a few teams that courted me,” Mueller said. “But nobody as seriously as the Rams. I had always been around the Rams and I always planned on being a Ram.”

Since signing on with the Regina, Mueller has started nearly 20 games and has seen his statistics steadily improve over the course of the last two campaigns. This season, Mueller was set to anchor the Rams in their quest for the Vanier Cup. Unfortunately for the young quarterback, Mueller’s 2011 campaign was unexpectedly cut short.

During the first offensive series of the Rams’ first game of this season, Mueller injured his throwing shoulder on an eight-yard scramble. After being knocked out of commission, it was announced that Mueller was inactivated from the Rams roster.

Fortunately for both Mueller and the University of Regina Rams, Mueller will more than likely be able to return to the field with the Rams next season – a prospect he is admittedly more than happy about.

“I should get a medical exemption and I should be able to play next season,” Mueller said. “I’m very happy about that. If I would’ve played one more game, then I wouldn’t have been able to come back and play next year. To be able to, hopefully, go out healthy would be great.

“I’d like to be throwing by January. I haven’t thrown a football since then. I hope to be 100 per cent by spring camp. If I’m 100 per cent by April, that would be outstanding.”

Looking to next season, Mueller will once again aspire to lead the Rams to a national championship victory.

“I’m going to try to play until they tell me I can’t anymore,” Mueller said with a laugh. “That’s the way I’m looking at it.”

While Mueller is admittedly unsure of his football future as a player – “there are no guarantees in this game,” he said. Having said that, the Regina product does plan on staying in the game for as long as possible.

“I don’t think there was ever any doubt that I wanted to be involved with football,” Mueller said. “No matter what time of the year it was, I always tried to play the game and be around it since the very beginning. I knew that I was going to be involved with it and I hope to be involved with it in some capacity after my playing days are behind me."

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