CFL.ca Staff
MONTREAL — RSEQ announced today, the winners of its 2011 individual awards during a press conference at McGill University’s Tomlinson Hall.
Simon Charbonneau-Campeau, Jeremi Doyon-Roch and coach Andre Bolduc of the Sherbrooke Vert & Or, Arnaud Gascon-Nadon of the Laval Rouge & Or, Max Caron of the Concordia Stingers and Austin Anderson of the McGill Redmen were honoured.
Sherbrooke Vert & Or’s receiver Simon Charbonneau-Campeau (St.-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) won the Jeff Russel Trophy awarded to the RSEQ University Football League’s Most Valuable Player. This automatically nominates Charbonneau-Campeau as a finalist for the Hec Crighton Trophy, presented to the Most Valuable Player of Canadian Interuniversity Sports.
In his fourth season the Biotechnology student caught 53 passes this fall for gains of 854 yards. The receiver has also broken his team’s record with eight touchdowns in the same season. These eight touchdowns were a best total in both RSEQ and CIS this season.
His best performance happened on September 23 when he scored three touchdowns. The former St.-Jean-sur-Richelieu CEGEP Géants player also topped RSEQ for the average of yards gained per pass per game (94.9). This student athlete was picked on the Quebec All Star Team for a third consecutive year.
Another Vert & Or player, Jeremi Doyon-Roch (Montreal, QC) was awarded the Rookie of the Year Award. The former Vanier College Cheetah dominated during his first university season with 177 passes on 313 attempts. Furthermore, this Business student placed second in RSEQ with 15 touchdown passes.
In nine games this season, he gained 2,383 yards to set a new school record and placing second in the league. The 19-year-old also placed second for the passing yards average (264.8 ypg).
The Defensive Player of the Year Award went to Max Caron (Kingston, ON) of the Concordia Stingers. The sophomore linebacker disputed an exceptional season. The former Okanagan Sun player completed the 2011 campaign with 67 solo tackles and 23 assisted tackles for a total of 78.5 tackles, setting a new RSEQ record.
He also completed three sacks, and nine loss-inflicting tackles as well as five interceptions, including three he returned for touchdowns, another RSEQ mark. The Political Science student also forced a pair of fumbles; he recovered three fumbles and blocked a punt.
Arnaud Gascon-Nadon (Montreal, QC) receives RSEQ’s Best Lineman Award. It’s the second year this player shines in RSEQ’s University Football League. During his rookie season with the Rouge et Or, Gascon-Nadon was selected Best Lineman in Canada. The Montreal native continued on this path this season with 13.5 tackles in nine games including nine for losses of 59 yards.
The defensive lineman also tackled the opposite quarterback seven times behind the line of scrimmage and he completed an interception he returned on 19 yards in the end zone for his first career touchdown with the Rouge et Or.
McGill Redmen kicker Austin Anderson (Canmore, AB) received the Leadership and Social Involvement Award and he’s finalist for the Russ Jackson Award handed to the best Canadian athlete with an outstanding school record and a significative community involvement.
Son of NFL legend Gary Anderson, the recipient is a leader both on the field with the Redmen as well as in his community. With an average of 3.53 out of 4, he is a Dean’s Honour List member and is a member of the Principal’s student-athlete honour roll in addition to being a CIS Academic All-Canadian.
The leading scorer for McGill during three of his four years with the Redmen, he is currently ranked 12th in the CFL Canadian Draft prospects list.
The Vice-President of student-initiatives with the McGill Varsity Sports Council, he helped to organize the Sun Youth Food drive last Christmas, organized a McGill Varsity Fair to promote intercollegiate sports on campus, joined his teammates in a visit for the sick children at the Montreal Shriner’s Hospital, mentored inner-city kids at Vacation Bible School in Indianapolis last summer and initiated Bible Study sessions for the McGill football team.
Finally, Sherbrooke Vert & Or’s coach Andre Bolduc is the Coach of the Year for the first time. In position in Sherbrooke since 2007, Andre Bolduc is an automatic finalist for the Frank Tindall Award given to Coach of the Year in Canada.
In his fifth season at the helm of a RSEQ University Football League team, he led his great to a 7-2 record, the best season ever for this program in second position in the Quebec conference. Furthermore, six of his players were picked on one of the conference’s all star teams, another school record.
Andre Bolduc also gave a first local playoff game to the Vert & Or fans for the RSEQ semifinal a few days ago against the Montreal Carabins.
