Callum Wither, the new starting quarterback of the Laurier Golden Hawks, was born and bred in the game of football. A hometown kid in a sense, Wither is a native of Waterloo, which makes his status as the Golden Hawks' starter sort of a full circle moment.
Wither was ranked as the number one Canadian quarterback in the class of 2022 as per CanadaFootballChat. He attended Football North at Clarkson Secondary School in Mississauga, Ont., for his final high school season after spending time at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute in Tonawanda, N.Y.
Wither received multiple NCAA D1 offers, including those from Central Michigan and Bowling Green, but chose to attend Ohio University instead.
In his three years with the Bobcats, the 6'4", 211-pound ace was a backup and had the opportunity to learn the game at the highest collegiate level.
On July 11, it was reported by 3DownNation that Wither would be coming back to the Waterloo region to compete for the starting quarterback job of the Laurier Golden Hawks.
This announcement, of course, came on the heels of 2024 Hec Crighton winner Taylor Elgersma embarking on a professional journey with the NFL's Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent quarterback.
Throughout fall camp, Wither was engaged in an intense battle for the starting role and eventually won the job in advance of Laurier's week one road game against the Guelph Gryphons which was played this past Saturday, Aug 23.
The Golden Hawks came out victorious 33-28 in a tightly fought battle at the end, with Wither completing 63 per cent of his passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns in a smooth fashion that surely resonated comfortably with the Golden Hawks' faithful.
The captain, now in charge of the helm of one of Canada's most talented and dynamic teams, recently sat down with OB.SESSED to give a little bit of background on his career and his thoughts on the Guelph game, whilst looking forward to the rest of the 2025 season as Laurier sits 1-0.
When speaking to Wither, a few immediate terms come to mind that describe his character. He is intelligent, down-to-earth, and, most of all, arguably, he is grateful for life and for what football has taught him through the lens of life.
"Football has taught me a lot. A good saying that I heard is 'adversity is the university of life, '" says the Golden Hawks' new signal-caller. "I just think that football resembles that saying because there is constant adversity, you know, with games, offseasons, injuries."
A football season, and all that goes into it, is a grind. You are in a constant battle with yourself, mentally, to physically stay able-bodied and ready to go out and play a sport where violence is ingrained into it.
Adversity will never cease to be a focal point of a sport's DNA, which instructs its players to go to battle. Some handle it well, and some do not. However, for some who take it on, it can become a valuable lesson in the game of life on how to navigate it.
"I think having just gone through a lot of adversity in football has taught me ways to get through rough times and continue pushing on."
Everyone has their own methods for handling adversity. For Wither, staying present and open-minded in the moment, regardless of the circumstances, is what works for him.
"I think just taking it all one day at a time, seeing where my feet are at, and taking every moment for what it is are important for me. Not making too much out of a situation but not making too little of it either are things I keep in mind. I just try to tackle everything head-on in a clear-minded state."
Just as adverse moments are prevalent in football, perhaps more so than in any other sport, preparation is of the utmost importance to a team's success.
It is why football players attend numerous meetings, both team-wide and positional, and why they watch extensive film footage of their upcoming opponents. It is all about knowing what your opponent will do before they do it.
For quarterbacks, especially, preparation is vital to their in-game performance, as they are the ones in charge of deciphering what the defence is going to do while ensuring that everyone on the offence is executing the game plan to the fullest of their abilities.
"For me, preparation means confidence. How that confidence is built throughout the week is predicated on the work and preparation that you put in over the five or six days leading up to the game. That is how you get to a Saturday ready to play."
During his high school football career, Wither was a two-time captain at Clarkson's Football North, an ultra-elite football program at Clarkson's Secondary School in Mississauga, Ont.
This time in his career was a busy one, as he enrolled at Football North as a ninth grader, before attending St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute in his third year, and then returning to Clarkson's to finish off his high school career, according to an interview conducted with Mark Bryson of the Waterloo Region Record.
The program is known for providing top Canadian football talents the opportunity to play an all-American schedule while adhering to the rules of the American game.
Many players have received scholarships to continue playing the game at the D1 level after they leave the program, where year-round football-focused training is conducted.
It is a thrilling experience to be a part of, as a player, learning the game at an extremely high level while travelling through the States to play elite competition, all while making lifelong network connections with fellow players and coaches.
"It was awesome to be there, I really enjoyed Football North and made some of my best friends there," notes Wither. "There are a lot of guys I played with there that I still talk to this day."
This experience did not come with its struggles, however, as Wither, a native of Waterloo, would have to embark on the daily grind of leaving his family's home at 5 a.m., where his mother would take him to his first of a few bus rides that he had to take to make it to Mississauga by eight in the morning for school.
"Every day, by bus, I would travel from home to Clarkson, so there was a bit of a hardship with taking that two-and-a-half-hour journey every day, but it was something that I really wanted to do. If the program had not been so amazing and great for me, I don't know if it would have been as easy to go through something like that."
Even though the commitment to play at Football North was taxing, Wither was able to develop quickly as a quarterback, thanks to a year-round football training program in place.
Additionally, because the quality level of opponents that the North faced regularly was so high, it almost forced them to improve, unlike other institutions in Canada that played in-country opponents with less rigorous training programs.
In essence, Football North is a factory for high-performing Canadian ballplayers to refine their craft under excellent tutelage while playing for a future scholarship. From a football standpoint, what you come out as is vastly different from who you were going into the program.
"Overall, being a part of Football North was a phenomenal experience for me and I enjoyed it immensely," says Wither.
Wither has played a lot of high-level football in his day and has been part of many terrific locker rooms. Whether it was at St. Joseph's, Football North, or Ohio University, he has had the opportunity to learn the quarterback position in several different environments with their own respective 'quarterback gurus,' if you will.
It is evident through speaking with him that he values every place he has been along his football journey and has a worldly perspective on what the quarterback position entails to sustain great play at a high level.
"I think having that next-play mentality and being able to be okay with making mistakes is crucial," says Wither. "Understanding that perfection is not always attainable is important, and identifying when you make a mistake is as well, because no matter what happens, guys will be looking to see how you respond."
To acquire that next-play mentality requires a lot of reps, both in practice and games, but it also requires a great deal of mental fortitude. In football, fortitude is shaped through the challenging moments a player experiences and the environments, or locker rooms, in which they are immersed.
In 2022, Callum officially enrolled as a student-athlete at Ohio University of the MAC (Mid-American Conference). Situated in Athens, Ohio, the Bobcats are 12-time champions of the MAC, most recently in 2024, Wither's last year on the roster.
In his three seasons, from 2022 to 2024, spent there as a backup quarterback, he was able to study and learn the game from some innovative minds while sharing the locker room with some great players, including his fellow countryman, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Kurtis Rourke.
"It was an awesome experience overall to play at Ohio and to also get to learn from guys like Kurtis. Spending time with him and seeing the way that he approached the game definitely helped me to develop in the mental side of the game. There is a certain way to approach the game, so working with him was amazing and truly opened up my eyes to things like that."
Laurier opened up the 2025 season with a tough victory on the road at the University of Guelph on this past Saturday, Aug. 23, as they bested the Gryphons 33-28 in Wither's first U SPORTS start.
The first half saw an unanswered 23-point explosion from the Laurier offence before Guelph, led by talented quarterback Tristan Aboud, fought back inch-by-inch in the third quarter to cut the Golden Hawks' lead to just two points at 23-21 entering the fourth.
Wither and the rest of the team held strong and came out with the victory, which was bookended by his fourth-quarter touchdown pass to receiver Jace Atkinson, and also by the Golden Hawks' defence holding strong even as Aboud and Guelph were showing no signs of slowing down once they cut Laurier's lead to 33-28.
As with any other venture in life, it often takes a few moments, or in football, a few plays, to get comfortable. But what can help to get acclimatized in the moment is a great support staff.
"It took a drive or two to get my feet set in the game, but I got pretty comfortable as it all went on," notes the quarterback.
"I think that when you have coaches who believe in you and a great group of guys around you, getting comfortable is definitely easier. Overall, football is football, and I have been waiting my whole life for this moment, so I was super excited to get out there and play."
In total, Wither completed 18-of-28 passes, throwing for 243 yards and three touchdowns in his inaugural debut with the purple and gold. He went through his reads sharply, made the right decisions on who to throw to and when, and established himself as a premier quarterback by bending victory his way even as the Gryphons came storming back.
Laurier's next game is scheduled for this upcoming Saturday night at home, where they will welcome the Windsor Lancers, the only team in the OUA not to play in the first week of regular season play.
"We've got a lot of respect for Windsor, same as Guelph. We are all super excited with it being the home-opener too, and it is going to be a great environment."
When Callum Wither is asked what game he is looking forward to playing the most this season, his answer requires no second thoughts.
Could it be the home opener coming this Saturday against Windsor? No. How about the Battle of Waterloo between Laurier and the Waterloo Warriors on Sept 13? No.
Maybe it could be the long-awaited Yates Cup rematch between Laurier and ever-dominant Western on Oct. 18? Still no.
So, what can it be then?
"November 22," he says.
What date is that, you ask?
"The Vanier Cup."