Cobras pivot Xavier Vaillancourt has received his first glimpse at the U of C Dinos playbook to help with the transition to university football.

It follows a week of receiving numerous accolades as one of the top high school football prospects in Canada.

On Dec. 17, Vaillancourt met with Dinos offensive coordinator Pat Sheahan to discuss the playbook. He has been training since the end of the high school season to prepare for post-secondary ball.

"It's a whole new level, definitely a step up, playbook wise," says Vaillancourt. "It's going to be important for me to wrap my mind around it and focus on the mental part of the game, too."

"Hopefully, we'll have some more meetings and talk about the playbook some more. I think that will help me."

Vaillancourt is recognized locally, nationally, and internationally as a quarterback to watch.

On Dec. 15, he was named the most valuable player in the Rocky View league.

"It was great to receive that. There's no better way to end a high school career. I was thankful to receive that, and thank all my teammates that helped me to get there as a player."

Also, the 17-year-old was named a Canada Football Chat's All Canadian for the second consecutive year. NexGen, an American scouting the recruiting company, selected Vaillancourt to be among its four field generals of 2020 alongside quarterbacks from New Mexico, Colorado and North Carolina.

Vaillancourt topped off his third year as a Cobras with 3,184 passing yards for a total of 29 touchdowns. He completed 202 of his 302 attempts, amounting to a 69 per cent completion rate.

"Numbers aside, we got the job done, and won provincials," says Vaillancourt. "I think I had a pretty good year numbers-wise. In the offseason, I was hoping to up my completion percentage, so it felt good to accomplish that."

Other members of the provincial champion Cobras received top honours from the Rocky View League. Derek Reid was named most outstanding offensive player, Chase Hunt was the best running back, and William Hunter was saluted as the best defensive back.

These four were joined by Jude Wilkinson as Cobras MVPs.

Yesterday, Vaillancourt was named Cochrane Now's athlete of the month.