The Saint Mary’s Huskies have surged out of the gate in 2025. Last year’s AUS finalists are 2-0 for the first time in six years, outscoring their opponents 81-14.
The team’s most recent win, 46-7 against Mount Allison, featured a 385-yard, two touchdown performance from starting quarterback Justin Shibley, who was named Player of the Game.
In two games, Shibley leads the AUS with 622 passing yards and three scores, already creeping closer to the 1,441 that multiple SMU quarterbacks threw for a year ago.
And while Shibley is listed as a first-year, and is in his debut season with the Huskies, he’s no stranger to U SPORTS.
The Ottawa native began his career at Carleton, plying his trade as a redshirt over the last few seasons.
Now in a new city and conference, he’s not taking anything for granted, thankful for the opportunity and grateful for the lessons he’s learned along the way.
“I’m happy that I was able to keep my roots grounded and get this opportunity. It’s surreal,” he said.
“I’m talking to you, and I’m on the 20th floor of the residence right now overlooking the ocean in downtown Halifax. It’s beautiful. I’m very thankful for it every day.”
An entrepreneur and man of faith, Shibley’s journey, both on and off the field is a testament to his perseverance. Delving deeper, you’ll find a man who’s well-rounded, dedicated and grounded.
His story is a reminder to “just be yourself,” as his dad reminds him.
“Do all the little things right, and remember that you’re not entitled to anything. That’s the approach that I’ve had.”
The beginning: A man of many talents
Shibley has played quarterback ever since he was seven years old. As a kid, he loved the challenge of the position, and the accountability. It’s helped mould him into the man he is today.
“I believe being a quarterback has helped me through my entire life. When I’ve had ups and downs in my life, I’ve always been able to handle the pressure and move on,” he added.
“Empowerment is a big word for me. I’ve always leaned on others, and others have leaned on me to get better. I just think that I’m in an excellent position to perform that. It’s always been a massive piece in my life.”
A perfect example of Shibley’s composure came in Grade 11.
He was playing for the Nepean Broncos at the time. A talented team, Nepean’s roster featured countless stars who eventually progressed to U SPORTS.
Against their city rivals from North Gloucester, Shibley and the Broncos faced a 26-6 deficit with just 17 minutes to play.
Cue the comeback.
“We ended up coming back and scoring at the end of the third and in the fourth quarter we recovered two onside kicks back to back. We were flying. They took our run game away that game.
We had Charles Asselin as our running back, who’s a great running back at [the University of Ottawa] right now. They completely shut the run game out, because they were sending a lot of heat. We had to rely on throwing the ball,” recalled Shibley.
“On the last drive of the game, it was 26-20. There was 1:20 left on the clock and we had the ball down on our own 15. We came out, Charles ran a dig and I threw it to him sitting in the pocket with pressure and he took it about 40 yards down the field. If I’m being completely honest I didn’t know the time on the clock. I just knew we didn’t have much time left. I actually snapped the ball with one second left and threw a slant over a linebacker, just missed his hand, hit my guy and the free safety Alex Boily, who I played with at Carleton right after, dove and missed his knee and he ended up in the end zone and we won the game. That moment for me was like alright, I can do this. I felt very confident in my abilities.”
Shibley joins the Huskies without having used up any of his U SPORTS eligibility while with Carleton. Photo: @pxvcreative/Huskies
An accurate passer who can make any throw on the field, Shibley had aspirations of playing university football after high school. But the COVID pandemic halted his momentum. In Grade 10 at the time, he was forced to look inward.
He knew he had the talent and drive to succeed on the gridiron, but he also knew that at least for the time being, he needed to focus his time on other passions.
One of those passions was barbering, something he’s been doing now for seven years. So, with time (and clippers) on his hands, he went to work, once again demonstrating his dedication and resilience during times of trial.
“I just started learning how to do it on myself. I got a pair of clippers that had the notch on them where I could do fades and stuff like that. I grew facial hair so that I could do my beard. I started doing it for free for my buddies in my bathroom at home. COVID was great. I got a lot of business since all the shops were closed. All my buddies came to me and I got a lot of practice in,” he said.
“I started charging, and made some money from it. I’ve continued to do it my whole life. It’s been an excellent thing for me.”
In terms of fitness, Shibley stayed active by using a home gym, putting money away to buy new equipment.
His investment, much like his barbering skills, paid off not just personally, but for others as well.
“When COVID happened, I understood that I was having football taken away from me. I was in Grade 10 at the time. Those are very purposeful years to develop and get better at football to go to university. I put all my paycheques from my busser job that I was working towards building a gym at my house. I got a nice setup going on, and it turned into me having my friends over, because the gyms weren’t open,” he beamed.
“I’d have my friends over and I’d structure workouts for them with the equipment that I had.”
The middle: ‘A little mark to leave for myself’
Shibley committed to the Carleton Ravens ahead of the 2022 season, one year after an undefeated campaign with Nepean.
He’d grown up through the Junior Ravens program, and Carleton’s offensive coordinator at the time (now with the Ottawa Redblacks), Josh Sacobie, had been his quarterbacks coach from the age of 15 onwards.
He’d “always looked up to Carleton football players,” and thought it would be “amazing” to go somewhere that he knew.
The next few seasons featured incredible competition at the quarterback position.
Notably, Tristan Lefebvre threw for 258.1 passing yards per game and 17 touchdowns in a 4-4 regular season in 2023, while Elijah Barnes stepped in following an injury in the 2024 opener to Lefebvre, throwing for 275.1 yards per game and 14 touchdowns.
“There was a standard that we had ourselves at. You knew the playbook like the back of your hand. You’d see Elijah throw a deep ball, and you’re like, 'I need to work on my deep ball.' At Carleton we were all different styles of quarterbacks, but we all could’ve played at the same time. We all brought something different to the table. We were all very competitive people. It was a great mixture for sharpening iron and all getting better,” recalled Shibley.
“The competition in the room was excellent. Every quarterback at Carleton, I have so much respect for. The depth chart was moving around all the time and it was always a continuous battle, and it kept all of us razor sharp. I thought that was an excellent thing for my development. There wasn’t any point where I felt disconnected from the team. I understood that there was only eight days of the year where I didn’t get to be on the field. That was my mindset.”
When he wasn’t at practice, Shibley stayed sharp by mentoring other quarterbacks, which in turn, helped his game.
He “dove deep” into personal training, got certified, and continues to use the gym that he began building during COVID.
“I put a lot of my money towards building a gym while I was at Carleton. I just finished building it five months ago, and I started working on it before university. It took a long time to save up and build, but now it’s a full gym,” he added.
“I’ve been able to personal train quarterbacks specifically and really help them out with their throwing form, strengthening their rotator cuff, their core, their hip activation, from the top down really for what a quarterback needs. In return, it’s held me extremely accountable. I can’t demonstrate an exercise if I can’t do it well.”
Regardless of his position on the depth chart, Shibley maintained a strong connection with his teammates and coaches. Continuing with his passion for service and entrepreneurship, he designed a barber shop within the Ravens locker room. It helped him get to know his teammates better, and was a hobby that kept his mind at ease, much like it did during COVID.
No longer a member of the roster, his legacy lives on with the barbershop still existing in the locker room.
“I’m talking a full recliner chair, a big mirror, I had the light, a price chart. I got a hot towel warmer and I did shaves and stuff,” he said.
“I left it there. It’s still there, kind of as a little mark to leave for myself. Guys still enjoy using it and are learning to cut hair there. I’ve always been in the service industry, and it’s been an excellent thing to build relationships with guys that I wouldn’t necessarily have otherwise, with different positions on the team.”
The End: ‘Doing the little things’
Ahead of the 2025 season, Shibley made the decision to leave Carleton. Originally, he’d intended on playing in the CJFL for the Ottawa Sooners, with the hope of building game tape to send to U SPORTS schools.
But fate had other plans, thanks to a chance encounter that led to his commitment to Saint Mary’s.
“I was actually practicing with [Ottawa] for a few weeks, until a man named Ryan Kublek, who is the step-son of Steve Sumarah, saw me at a dome, because he coaches the Myers Riders, the same program I grew up playing for. We were on the field at the same time, and he was asking what I was doing at the Sooners,” recalled Shibley.
“I told him it was for an opportunity to play at a different U SPORTS school. That was the main goal, play one year of CJFL, get film and go to a different school. I didn’t know if there was going to be another university that was going to want to recruit me, just based off of me not having film for three years and not playing. I didn’t know what that was going to look like. Kublek got me in contact with Steve, and a week later Steve flew into Ottawa and took me out for breakfast with Ryan, and the rest is really history.”
Sumarah, the last head coach to lead SMU to the Vanier Cup (in 2007) got Shibley out to Halifax to throw with the receivers, and he was hooked.
“I loved it here, and understood that they had a quarterback situation that was a bit rocky the season before. I felt like it was a perfect situation to come in and compete for a spot.”
Shibley was proactive in his preparation for the 2025 campaign. He got to Halifax a week early to throw around with the local receivers, and that chemistry has paid off.
In Week 2 for example, Shibley connected with Halifax native Cherokee Robinson for 184 yards on five grabs, as well as a major.
“Our offensive line was getting a massive push on the ground, and the receivers, let me tell you, they’re excellent,” said Shibley.
“All of them work hard and they’re all very talented. It’s a massive reason why I came here. Spreading the ball around, I think it was pretty unpredictable for the defence where the ball was going to go.”
Three years after embarking on his U SPORTS journey, Shibley has found his home. Through trials and tribulations, he stayed committed to the task at hand, found ways to keep active, and is now being rewarded alongside an experienced SMU side that’s built to win now.
“I go to church every Sunday. I’m a Christian, and I pray for things like this. I also thank God when things like this come around. There was a lot of faith involved,” he said.
“Taking it a day at a time and doing the little things amounted to this. I’m very thankful that it’s happened.”