GETTING A GRIP: Dan McCullough is hoping to make the grade with the CFL’s British Columbia Lions when they open camp next week. The former FHS star who went on to play five seasons at Bishop’s University figures his best bet is as a long snapper on punts and field goal attempts. He also plays defensive end.

Former CAMFA Player Dan McCullough Hoping to Make it With CFL's B.C. Lions

Dan McCullough would be the first to tell you there's no magic pill to becoming a professional football player.

You need the physical attributes, of course, and being 6'3'' and 245 pounds helps the cause of a guy like McCullough for sure. But there's a reason why he's got those dimensions and is within a solid camp of realizing his dream of playing in the Canadian Football League.

"You gotta have a desire. And you've gotta put in the work,'' says the 25-year-old McCullough. "I fell in love with the sport when I went out for football in Grade 11 (at Fredericton High School) and I realized pretty quick that if you're going to do well at it, you've gotta put in the weight training and the running and stuff like that. When I first went there (FHS), I thought I could just go out there and play. But that's not enough. You find that out pretty fast.''

No magic pills. No magic formulas. Pretty simple, really. But it's got McCullough through five years of university football at Bishop's. And if all works out the way he hopes, he'll be lining up with the British Columbia Lions when the CFL season opens late next month.

He leaves for training camp on Wednesday of next week. Full speed ahead once he's there. He'd like to be a part of the contingent playing Saskatchewan in the first pre-season game on the 12th of June. Who knows what happens after that?

A year ago, McCullough was identified by B.C. scouts as a prospect worth an invite to camp. After the college draft, he got a call from the team's personnel director and even had a chat with coach and general manager Wally Buono.

He showed enough as a long snapper (for punts, field goals) and his work on the defensive line that he stuck around for seven games on the development squad, practicing with the rookies, getting a feel for the game at the CFL level, seeing the game up close and personal. At that point, he told the B.C. people he wanted to finish his tenure at Bishop's. But he was game to return.

He hit the weights and got bigger. And he feels faster. And for somebody looking to play in the CFL, speed in where it's at on the defensive line. It helps that he's a Canadian, too.

"In the NFL, it's pound, pound, pound. But in the CFL with the three downs, it's all about quickness,'' McCullough said. "I'm just keen to go out there and get a chance to play. I'd love to get on as a long snapper because that's something I've been able to do. If it doesn't work out, I'll see about other teams. There's two arena football leagues in the States. There's leagues in Europe where you can make pretty good money.

"I just love the game. I don't have any timetable. Three, five years? Longer if I can. I just want to keeping working at it.''

It's a work ethic that he's had for some time. McCullough says right from the get-go, he's been the type of guy who would look for camps to attend to improve his game.

"I remember Terry (Capital Association Minor Football head honcho) McIntyre driving (sons) Billy and Bobby and me to a camp at the University of Maine. You're always looking to improve. Before it was just in the weight room and running. Now it's about watching film and watching certain guys and seeing what their tendencies are and stuff like that.''

McCullough says taking up the sport early gave him a pretty solid foundation. He played peewee and bantam with the Capital Association and chuckles when McIntyre jokes that he taught him all he knows.

"Well, he was my first coach in peewee,'' McCullough said. "He's really done a lot (with the Capital Association).''

He joined FHS under head coach Larry Wisniewski for the 1999 and 2000 seasons, played two seasons at Champlain College in Quebec where they play four-down football. He banged up a knee in his second year there but stuck with it and graduated to Bishop's for five seasons before getting the call from the Lions last fall to attend their camp.

"All of my friends are from football,'' he says, making specific reference to training buddies Tyler Currie and Greg LeBlanc just to name two. He remembers Jamie Edwards taking him under his wing at Bishop's and helping hone his game.

"You hear about guys like Josh Thomas (Acadia) and Ian Richmond (St. FX) and how they helped raise the bar at FHS. They set the bar and you wanted to be able to keep up,'' he said.

McCullough says he'd love to get in the coaching end of it once he's done his playing. "I love the game and I've got a desire to stay in the game,'' he said.

Simple as that.

David Ritchie can be reached at 458-6484 or ritchie.david@dailygleaner.com.

Below:1996 Fredericton South PeeWee Rough Riders-Dan McCullough #75