{"id":310185,"date":"2025-11-27T12:05:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/310185\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T12:05:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:05:25","slug":"blue-bombers-vaval-named-cfls-top-special-teams-player-at-cfl-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/310185\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Bombers\u2019 Vaval named CFL\u2019s top special team\u2019s player at CFL Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

BC Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke was the big winner on Thursday night, taking home the George Reed Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian at the CFL Awards.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the second time Rourke had won the Most Outstanding Canadian award, doing so also in 2022 and it\u2019s his first George Reed Most Outstanding Player award.<\/p>\n

Voting was conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and all nine CFL head coaches.<\/p>\n

Rourke was second in both passing yards (5,290) and touchdowns (31) but was the CFL\u2019s top rushing quarterback (564 yards, 9.2-yard average, 10 TDs) as B.C. finished the regular season with six straight wins to claim second in the West Division with an 11-7 record.<\/p>\n

Bo Levi Mitchell of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats was also a finalist for Most Outstanding Player award for a second straight year. He led the CFL in pass attempts (626), completions (428), yards (5,296) and touchdowns (a career-best 36), and was the only quarterback to start all 18 regular-season games as the Ticats (11-7) finished first in the East Division.<\/p>\n

Defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund of the Montreal Alouettes was the other finalist for the Most Outstanding Canadian award. The six-foot-one, 250-pound Adeyemi-Berglund, of Dartmouth, N.S., recorded a career-best 11 sacks along with 29 tackles (one for a loss), two fumble recoveries and a special-teams tackle.<\/p>\n

Adeyemi-Berglund will finish his season playing in the Grey Cup as Montreal faces the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Blue Bombers\u2019 Vaval double dips at CFL Awards\"\"Trey Valval Winnipeg Blue Bombers Trey Vaval Winnipeg Blue Bombers (John Woods\/THE CANADIAN PRESS) <\/p>\n

Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive back Trey Vaval double dipped at the CFL Awards on Thursday, taking home the Most Outstanding Rookie and Most Outstanding Special Teams Player awards.<\/p>\n

Vaval received the honour at the CFL\u2019s awards banquet.<\/p>\n

Voting was conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and all nine CFL head coaches.<\/p>\n

The five-foot-11, 163-pound Vaval led the CFL in punt returns (75) and yards (957) with a touchdown while returning two kickoffs for scores — the most in the league.<\/p>\n

He was also tops in missed field goal returns (six), yards (391), longest return (128) and touchdowns (one).<\/p>\n

Veteran kicker Lirim Hajrullahu of the Toronto Argonauts was also a finalist for the Most Outstanding Special Teams Player. The 35-year-old from St. Catharines, Ont., made 57-of-64 field goals, including a CFL-record 12 from 50-plus yards (on 15 attempts) and a league-best 25-of-30 from 40-plus yards.<\/p>\n

Linebacker Devin Veresuk of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats was also a finalist for the Most Outstanding Rookie. The six-foot-two, 240-pound Windsor, Ont., native \u2014 taken second overall in the 2025 CFL draft \u2014 posted 67 tackles, three special-teams tackles, two sacks and an interception.<\/p>\n

The interception was a 36-yard pick-six in his first pro start, a 35-17 win over Montreal on June 27.Roughriders\u2019 Hardrick takes home Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman<\/p>\n

\"\"Jermarcus Hardrick Jermarcus Hardrick Saskatchewan Roughriders (Brent Just\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n

Jermarcus Hardrick of the Saskatchewan Roughriders has his first CFL top lineman award.<\/p>\n

Hardrick was honoured during the CFL awards banquet Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Voting was conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and all nine CFL head coaches.<\/p>\n

Hardrick anchored a Riders front line that helped quarterback Trevor Harris pass for 4,549 yards and A.J. Ouellette run for 1,22 yards.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan\u2019s offence also finished second overall in net yards (382.6 per game) as the franchise finished atop the West Division for the first time since 2019.<\/p>\n

Brandon Revenberg of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats was also a finalist. He helped quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell lead the CFL in passing (5,296 yards) and touchdowns (a career-best 36), and running back Greg Bell rush for 1,038 yards as the Ticats (11-7) finished first in the East Division.<\/p>\n

Lions\u2019 Betts wins Most Outstanding Defensive Player\"\"Mathieu Betts BC Lions Mathieu Betts BC Lions (Brent Just\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n

Defensive end Mathieu Betts of the B.C. Lions is again the CFL\u2019s top defensive player.<\/p>\n

Betts received the honour Thursday at the league\u2019s awards banquet.<\/p>\n

Voting for the award was conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and all nine CFL head coaches.<\/p>\n

Betts, who posted a CFL-high 15 sacks this season, also won the award in 2023.<\/p>\n

He added 42 tackles (two for loss), four forced fumbles and a fumble recovery this year.<\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s Julian Howsare was also a finalist. He finished second to Betts with a career-best 13 sacks while also recording 43 tackles, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2025.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BC Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke was the big winner on Thursday night, taking home the George Reed Most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-310185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}