Kickers Sean Whyte and Tyler Crapigna, receiver Andy Fantuz and linebacker Bear Woods were all double nominees in the opening-round of voting for the CFL‘s outstanding player awards.
Voting was conducted by the members of the Football Reporters of Canada and the nine Canadian Football League head coaches.
Whyte and Crapigna were named the top Canadian and special-teams player for the Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders, respectively.
Fantuz was nominated as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats‘ top player and Canadian (unanimous selection) while Woods received the nod as the Montreal Alouettes outstanding player and defensive player.
The division nominees will be announced next week, with the CFL honouring its top individual performers Nov. 24 in Toronto during Grey Cup week.
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Other notable nominations include linebacker Solomon Elimimian as B.C.’s top defensive player. Elimimian captured both the league’s outstanding player and defensive player honours in 2014 before suffering a career-threatening Achilles injury last season.
He enters the final week of the 2016 regular season with a CFL-leading 128 tackles and eight sacks.
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CFL passing leader Mike Reilly was a unanimous selection as Edmonton’s outstanding player, while quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, defensive lineman Charleston Hughes, running back Jerome Messam and receiver DaVaris Daniels were all unanimous picks as Calgary’s top player, defensive player, Canadian and rookie, respectively.
Defensive back Maurice Leggett, tied with teammate T.J. Heath for the CFL interceptions lead (seven) and kicker Justin Medlock (league-high 56 field goals, 212 points) were also unanimous picks as Winnipeg’s top defensive player and special-teams performer (unanimous), respectively.
The other unanimous selections were running back/returner Chris Rainey and offensive lineman Antonio Johnson as B.C.’s top special-teams player and rookie, respectively.
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