Source: Earl Zukerman. McGill Communications Officer
Name: Luis Guimont-Mota
University: McGill
Hometown: Quebec City, QC.
Cegep: Collège FX Garneau 2012
Position: Running Back
Academic program: Business Management 3
Year of eligibility: 3
Height: 5-8
Weight: 190
Key stats 2013: 824 rushing yards (1st in RSEQ conference and 5th in CIS), four rushing TDs (3rd in RSEQ and 20th in CIS), 17 recepts., 95 yds, 5.6 avg., 0 TD; Second on team (fifth in league) in all-purpose yards with 114.9 per game
Awards & honours (since start of CIS career): RSEQ conference rushing champion in 2013… RSEQ conference all-star in 2013… McGill football's most outstanding offensive player (2013 Dan Pronyk Memorial Trophy)
Nowhere is the old adage “Big things come in small packages” more appropriate than it is for McGill running back Luis Guimont-Mota. It is fair to say that as his season goes, so will the fortunes of the McGill Redmen, which has been in a rebuilding mode for a decade since the last time they reached the .500 plateau in 2004.
If anyone can handle the weight of the world on his shoulders, it appears that the shifty, 5-foot-9, 188-pound conference all-star, is the one to do it. Despite his diminutive dimensions, he has a larger-than-life persona on the gridiron.
A product of College F.X. Garneau in Quebec City, where he reached the elusive 1,000-yard plateau and led the league in rushing, he became a starter in his rookie year at McGill, rushing for 381 yards and averaging 4.4 yards per carry. The business management student did not succumb to the sophomore jinx, more than doubling his rushing total to become the first McGill football player since Nick Hoffmann in 2002 to lead the league in that department.
Guimont-Mota more, ended up fourth in the nation with 824 rushing yards on 147 carries. He averaged 103 yards per game and 5.6 yards per carry, to go along with a team-leading four touchdowns in eight games.
Despite McGill’s fifth-place finish behind powerhouse programs like Laval and the Montreal Carabins, he was voted by the conference coaches as an all-star at his position.
Now in his third year, his sights are set on leading the Redmen to a playoff berth and if the ball takes a big McGill bounce, perhaps a berth in the 50th anniversary for the Telus Vanier Cup. The timing couldn’t be better as McGill’s Molson Stadium will be the host site for the CIS national championship game on Nov. 29, 2014.