The Lancers’ Creative Genius: Evan Johnson’s Promoting the Lancers Like Never Before
- Powerplay Sports
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
By Damon Proctor
Lights, camera, action! UWindsor Lancers’ star volleyball player Aliah Admans walks into the Toldo Lancer Centre rocking a fit black dress, stylish shades and a duffle bag in hand. A gymnasium surrounded by darkness, except for one spot, centre court.
A spotlight illuminates the giant blue shield with the infamous Windsor “W” in the middle. As she arrives at the logo, the
camera shows a top-down view of her opening the bag. Suddenly, you’re then wisped into a crazy montage!
Lancer athletes dancing, posing, roaring with pride and energy, performing the actions of their
sport, anything to represent their school colors. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it. The camera pans
back to Admans, slowly circling around her as she removes her shades, before revealing a cluster of athletes covered in shadows. Before you know it, you’re back in another lightning-fast montage!
It closes with a wide shot of athletes from every team group together, before the camera zooms in to Admans’ face. All you can do is behold the poise and focus in her eyes, as the music falls silent, and the video title flashes on the screen, “In Our Bag.” For those unfamiliar, the term “in our bag” typically refers to a group being focused, confident, and performing at their best. That is the message the Windsor Lancers wanted to share with their competition ahead of the 2025-26 season.
It’s not just a hype video; it’s a masterpiece. The audio, the lighting, the editing, color grading,
camera angles – 91 seconds of audiovisual perfection.
It’s worth noting that this video currently has more than 110,000 Instagram views. For a
medium-sized Canadian university, whose main Instagram account has roughly 13, 000
followers, that’s not nothing. The mastermind behind the artistry is 22-year-old from Sault Ste
Marie with big ideas, big goals, and a pretty big camera lens. He’s Evan Johnson, but people call him EJ. He’s a student in the department of communication, media and film.
Over the past few years, U Sports schools like UWindsor have drastically improved their media content production, and a video like “In Our Bag” is a perfect example of this trend. It requires people like EJ to tell stories in innovative ways, pushing the boundaries of what we’re used to and blazing a creative pathway forward.
EJ has been a part of the Lancers’ media team for a bit longer than three years. He debuted as the social media manager for the men’s volleyball team in November 2022, before becoming student video media specialist. But how did he get here? To answer this, I sat down with him over a zoom call to more closely study his journey.
EJ first started making content 10 years ago; a 12-year-old kid that loved sports and making
funny videos.
He tells me he was a simple kid, not unlike his peers in some ways – infatuated with the internet, more specifically YouTube. Channels like PewDiePie and RackaRacka helped EJ discover his love for content creation, resulting in him creating his own channel called “Funny Vids with Me.”
“I literally would just make videos about everything under the sun and post it, and I was just
always interested in that stuff,” EJ giggled as he explained his creations. His face beamed as we shared retro stories of YouTube days gone by. Vintage stuff that really only a keen YouTuber would remember.
Fast forward to high school. EJ continued to embrace his love for sports and develop a deeper admiration for film making. He felt some sort of media or film career was what he wanted to pursue. But would his parents approve?
As it happens, they did – although their careers are in very different fields. His father, Peter, is a fire chief in the Soo. His mother, Michelle, is a cop. Still, he was encouraged to follow his heart.
“We’ve always known that no matter what he touched, he was going to be successful,” Peter
explained over the phone. “He just has this something about him that makes him achieve
greatness.”
EJ used his senior year of high school to reflect on his future ambitions. He jokingly mentioned his dreams of becoming an elite athlete for some big American college, but film and media were always at the forefront.
Various friends and family told him they never really found what they were passionate about. EJ says he didn’t want to be saying the same thing down the road. He locked in his decision of film and media, additionally with concurrent education. The University of Windsor was the closest campus to the Soo that could offer these things. So that was that.
After completing his first-year of film school, EJ returned home to for the summer to see if he
could land videography work. One day, he was contacted by a football team in the area, the U18 Sault Sabercats, asking if he could create a hype video for their social media. The end result was a hit, so much so that his talents were noticed by a Lancer athlete. Sam McKeague, captain of the men’s volleyball team, was so impressed with the video that he pursued EJ with an offer.
“Someone showed it to him, or he saw it on Instagram. [Sam] DM'd me, and he was like ‘Yo, are you at the U[Windsor]? Do you want to come do this for men's volleyball?’” Johnson said.
“Well yeah, that’d be sick. I love sports. I love making videos. Let’s try it out.”
The rest of summer 2022 whizzed by. EJ rolled back into Rose City wanting to start his role in
with a bang. He created the video “Earned Not Given.” It was a 36-second montage of the guys preparing for the upcoming season. Shots of them, warming up, doing drills, talking, laughing, and being energetic. Nobody expected such a quality video, let alone for a preseason practice.
Towards the end of the men’s season in their semifinal win against the Toronto Varsity Blues, EJ heard four words that would be his next inspiration. “I got Lancer Fever!”
EJ captured on video vice-president of student advocacy, Michael Rossi, screaming this
expression, Lancer flag behind his back. The finals clinching block, the crowd erupting with joy, the players bursting into celebration, the colour commentary voice over, the hype music.
This video marked another extraordinary piece by Johnson, highlighting not only his camera work and editing skills, but his ability to tell a story. His newest release gained traction on social media. Over the season, his videos were noticed by fans, athletes, community members, and many more. Elisa Mitton, the sports information coordinator and home event manager for the Lancers, among them.
Mitton said her decision to hire EJ was “a no brainer.” She mentioned how impressed everyone was with his work, and they wanted to bring his talents to the next level.
Mitton hired EJ to work alongside Connor Sykes, the senior student marketing coordinator, who had been with the Lancers for four years already. Moving forward, these two would manage the content production for every team, acting as leaders, visionaries, and decision makers.
The plan was simple; make the best content possible and put UWindsor on the map. The veteran Sykes handled the photography and graphics, and EJ took care of the videography. EJ had already produced great work with the volleyball team, but now he to crank it up a notch, covering every team. He said these were the three keys to levelling up:
1. Equipment Optimization. Technology is constantly evolving; you need to know what exists,
and how to use it. EJ invested a lot of his own money into a high-end Sony FX30 camera, to
achieve better cinematography and shot composition. Additionally, he stated how he consistently improved his editing. This stemmed from hours of practice in Adobe Premier, using trial and error methods to understand the various tools.
2. Research and Adaptation. To be a great content producer, keeping up with all the trends,
algorithms, hooks, and video effects is key. He mentioned that if a video really catches his eye, he will download it, then analyze it almost frame-by-frame, as if he was an athlete watching film on an upcoming opponent.
3. Passion. This is something you cannot necessarily teach or learn, but what you have hopefully learned about Evan thus far is that he embodies the word passion. In fact, when I asked Sykes to describe EJ using only one word, “passion.” Anyone can learn videography, editing, and content production, but passion is what enhances it.
Wanting to understand his lifestyle and work process a bit more, I asked EJ how he balances
school and work deadlines, along with everything else in between. He then proceeded to hold up a pink can of Alani (an energy drink) as if he had anticipated the question.
“I think I owe my success to [caffeine] because the truth is it's not balanced,” Johnson offered while scratching the back of his head. “I'd say it's an unhealthy balance. It’s a lot of late nights,
3, 4 in the morning editing, editing between classes, sometimes during classes. I'll be honest; I
don't even care. I've edited videos while sitting in class.”
These are the things people don’t see. They maybe see EJ at the game, camera in hand, catching all the action. Then a few days go by and suddenly a new video appears. Not many understand the in-between, the processes content producers must manage on a daily basis.
But this is why the things he produces are at the next level. Mitton says she feels EJ has been completely “transformative” for the Lancers’ media efforts. At the Ontario University Athletics C.H.A.M.P Awards, which recognize achievements in sport marketing and promotions, UWindsor had never won a media-based award – well, until EJ.
Best Social Media Account 2023-24 (@windsorlancers)
Best Video Feature 2023-24 (Maggie Mitani: Skating Through Adversity)
Outstanding Promotional Video 2024-25 (WE BACK)
Mitton also mentioned that EJ has created strong bonds and a stronger sense of community at UWindsor. He has built a foundation of rapport and camaraderie with the athletes. They
typically get very excited when given the opportunity to work with EJ. “Evan is a pro!” [He’s] a natural behind the lens and every one of his finished products amazes me,” remarked Markus Law-Heese, fifth-year starting setter of the men’s volleyball team.
Soon, EJ will leave behind a story, one of impact. He will also leave big shoes to fill. He hopes
that UWindsor will continue to bring in excellent content producers and media staff to showcase that blue and gold swagger. He’s humble, but others aren’t afraid to toot his horn.
“If there’s anyone in media I could point my finger at and tell you they're going pro, it’s Evan,” Sykes predicts.
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