April 7 - Bison Football would like to announce that former St.Vital Mustang and Rutgers Scarlet Knight Wes Lysack will be donning the Black and Gold next season.

Lysack, who was originally slated to suit up for Manitoba in 1999 before tearing his hamstring in camp is a former Manitoba major football standout. In his final year with the St. Vital Mustangs in 1998, the 6'1"-200 lbs Safety was the league MVP, defensive MVP and a league All-Star as well as his team's MVP and defensive MVP.

His stellar season in '98 had the NCAA scouts out in full force, but he was not able to secure a scholarship to a NCAA Division 1 football school due to some logistical problems. Lysack looked to have a spot sewn up with the Bisons in 1999 before he was felled by the hamstring injury, but as fate would have it many of the same scouts that had pursued him a year earlier kept track of his progress and realized that he was not playing due to the injury.

Rutgers, along with a number of other schools began to actively recruit him once again and Lysack ended up enrolling at the birthplace of football in January of 2000.

In his first season in NCAA D1 competition in the fall of 2000, he appeared in 11 games and was credited with 10 tackles (4 unassisted, 6 assisted); 2 interceptions (30 yards return); one forced fumble; one fumble recovery on a bad punt snap (scoring a TD vs.Pittsburgh) and one blocked kick. Against the Syracuse Orangemen, he was named the game's defensive MVP and against both Notre Dame and Navy he was the special teams player of the game.

Unfortunately for Lysack, but fortunately for the Bisons, the Head Coach that recruited him was fired before the start of the 2001 season putting Lysack on the outside looking in as a Scarlet Knight. After not playing at all in 2001, Lysack and his wife of one year Lise, decided to return to Winnipeg to pursue some different options. The CIS and NCAA cleared up some red tape and Lysack was given the green light to play in Canada West this season without having to sit out any games.

The multi-talented athlete is excited about returning to the Herd, saying he feels that his experiences at Rutgers were invaluable referring specifically to his defensive back coach Charlie West. West played 13 years in the NFL and is known for having one of the best defensive minds in college football, something he shared with his players on a consistent basis. Lysack hopes to bring some of those experiences and lessons with him this season to help the Herd return to the Vanier Cup in 2002.

Bison Head Coach Brian Dobie says that Lysack will be a tremendous asset to the Bison program pointing out that Lysack is arguably one of the best football players to come out of Manitoba in the last decade. Dobie loves his competitive spirit and also notes that the combination of the NCAA experience and the pure talent that Lysack possesses should make the Bison defence strong once again this season.