THE CANADIAN PRESS
The Saskatchewan Roughriders player awards are for the dogs.
The dog pound, as Tearrius George has described them, have been a front line of defence the Riders have relied upon not only for sacks and stopping the run, but for coming up with the big play.
Now two of the members advance to the next round of voting, as John Chick (Most Outstanding Player, Most Outstanding Defensive Player) and Ricky Foley (Most Outstanding Canadian) were nominated by the voters in Saskatchewan.
Chick, George, and Foley are all in the top five in sacks this season as the team has the league title for most sacks wrapped up, eight higher than the second place Eskimos.
While Chick got the two major award nominations, he’s not forgetting to give credit where credit is due and that’s to the other members of the line that have opened one on ones for him.
“With Michael Jordan, you hear all about Michael Jordan, but Jordan wouldn’t have had all the championships or all the accolades without Pippen and Rodman”
The always humble Chick, of course, was too quick to clear things up.
“And I’m not saying I’m Michael Jordan but to have those types of guys around you is what makes you all equal. You wouldn’t have one without the other.”
We could debate who is who, Ricky Foley as Pippen, Tearrius George as Rodman, or vice versa.
Chick knows any of them could have received the honour.
“On the d-line, we have a bunch of guys ballin’, so very humbling to be the one named but hope it represents the team that we are.”
The defensive linemen aren’t going to lie to you either; they knew what they had up front when they entered the season.
Leading the league in sacks as a team was one goal, but they are also trying to wrap up another one this weekend.
“We talked at the start of the year about going 1-2-3 in sacks and we have a chance to do that so years like that you can look back on and it’ll be pretty special.”
Right now with Odell Willis sitting at thirteen sacks, George and Foley are going to have to get one or two each on Saturday to accomplish that, although they all acknowledge there is a much bigger goal ahead in the playoffs.
Foley is in familiar territory, taking home the league’s top Canadian award in 2009. An honour he’d love to have again.
“I pride myself on being a Canadian boy in the CFL and as I’ve gotten older I realize how special it is.”
Foley’s numbers are bang on what they were when he took the top prize for Canadians in 2009, beating out a 1,000 yard receiving season by Ben Cahoon.
As for George, the third link in the chain, he was left off the nominations but was seriously considered from many voters for defensive player of the year and outstanding player after a career season in the interior of the line.
Head Coach Corey Chamblin has talked all year about George getting better with age, whether it be his on-field and off-field leadership or discipline, as without George pushing in the middle, Chick and Foley wouldn’t be getting to the quarterback as often as we’ve seen.
But there is a fourth link that needs to be brought up; Derek Walker.
The rookie was my vote for rookie of the year.
31 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 tackles for a loss, and an interception, while starting the majority of games as the fourth man, has been outstanding.
Walker credits George for making him a quality starter in just his first year in the CFL.
It’s been a long path for Walker to find his groove in the pros, seeing no playing time in stops in the NFL with the Seahawks, 49ers, and Bears.
He was heading back to school to complete his degree when the Riders called to attend the team’s mini-camp in April.
He left the camp thinking he left a good impression but heard nothing for over a month. He had settled on a future without football until he got the call to attend training camp and quickly moved up the depth chart to become a mainstay inside.
With a little help from David Lee, Trevor Guyton, and recently acquired Brandon Boudreaux, the Riders d-line is ready to continue their great regular season into the playoffs in pursuit of another Grey Cup.
