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The Riders nominees for the player awards were announced yesterday and they all deserve the admiration.
Kory Sheets’ season was on pace to be a record setter until he was derailed by injury.
Tyron Brackenridge has moved around the defence and played at a high level in every position he was placed in. We could go on all day about all six nominees.
But as always, there were players left off the list that deserve somewhat of a plug.
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Let’s start off with Darian Durant.
Even Head Coach Corey Chamblin dropped his name when asked what his thoughts were on Kory Sheets’ Most Outstanding Player nomination. The quarterback has been great at protecting the ball and not putting his defence in bad spots all too often.
Durant was also on pace for a record breaking season and will finish four touchdowns short of a team record for touchdown passes in a season.
He has hit the 30 TD plateau for the first time in his career and in 16 games will have just 12 interceptions.
Outstanding does describe Durant’s season.
Chamblin also gave a shout out to the offensive line after nomination day.
“Anything that (Sheets) has gotten, he’s gotten behind those guys.”
While Brendon LaBatte gets the individual accolade, he, Dominic Picard and Xavier Fulton have been the consistent front in an offensive line that has struggled since Chris Best went down with injury.
The fivesome of Fulton, LaBatte, Picard, Best and sophomore Ben Heenan were the best in the league through the first half of the season, and will be reunited this Saturday in the final regular season game.
Best’s return is a big boost to the Riders as they head into the playoffs. While the offensive line could argue to give the nomination to all five, the defensive line could argue that same point.
John chick, Ricky Foley, Keith Shologan, Jermaine McElveen, Tearrius George, Hilee Taylor, Zack Evans and more recently Alex Hall have been monsters all season.
“They’re the ones making everything easy for (the DBs),” says Brackenridge.
“We have guys that are getting a lot of pressure on the quarterback week in and week out and they’re making our jobs so much easier on the back end.”
The group is second in the league in quarterback sacks and in the first half of last Saturday’s game showed how much that front four can take over a big game.
Behind that group is a stable of linebackers who were questioned by many. They were either too small, in the wrong position or unable to stop the run.
Well, Craig Butler and Weldon Brown have both been all-star calibre. Butler leads the team in tackles and Brown has been the most consistent player, being able to get out and cover and get in on the blitz from his outside spot.
Last, but certainly not least, we get to the coverage team.
The players who rarely make the headlines but have held opponents to no punt returns over 20-yards all season.
Yes, some of that is to do with the amount of hang time Special Teams nominee Ricky Schmitt gets on his punts, but guys like Butler, Paul Woldu, Diamond Ferri, Tristan Black, Brian Peters, Graig Newman etc, etc, etc are getting downfield, avoiding no yards and getting a hand on the returner before they get to full speed.
Special teams coverage is a thankless job that needs accolades in this space.
They have had a tremendous season.
From the big stars to the unsung heroes, the Roughriders have built a contender when the playoffs get started next week.
