{"id":793254,"date":"2026-07-10T17:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/793254\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T17:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:45:08","slug":"justin-rankin-is-on-pace-for-a-season-the-cfl-has-never-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/793254\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Rankin is on pace for a season the CFL has never seen"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014\u00a0Comparing a player to Mike Pringle isn\u2019t something that happens very often.<\/p>\n

The Hall of Fame running back is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in CFL history, setting or tying nearly every significant rushing record during his remarkable career. His two 2,414-yard seasons from scrimmage remain the gold standard for skill-position players nearly 30 years later.<\/p>\n

Yet through five games of the 2026 season, Justin Rankin<\/a> isn\u2019t just keeping pace with one of the league\u2019s all-time greats.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s ahead of him.<\/p>\n

RELATED
\u00bb Player Bio: Justin Rankin<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Rankin, Elks defence lead Edmonton past Ottawa on Thursday<\/a>
\u00bb3 stats that defined Edmonton\u2019s win over Ottawa in Week 6<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Buy tickets for the 2026 CFL season<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Subscribe to the CFL\u2019s newsletter for exclusive offers and league updates<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rankin has quickly become the engine behind Edmonton\u2019s 4-1 start, producing explosive plays on the ground and through the air while emerging as one of the CFL\u2019s early George Reed Most Outstanding Player candidates.<\/p>\n

His numbers through five games tell the story.<\/p>\n

The Elks running back has rushed 67 times for 513 yards and six touchdowns while adding 26 receptions for 297 yards and another major.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s 810 yards from scrimmage and seven total touchdowns in just five games. That includes his 150 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns in the win over the REDBLACKS on Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For perspective, Pringle had 530 yards from scrimmage through his first five games of his historic 1998 campaign before finishing the season tied (with himself) for the CFL\u2019s single-season record with 2,414 yards from scrimmage. In 1994, he only had 383 yards over his first five games.<\/p>\n

Project Rankin\u2019s current production over an 18-game schedule and the numbers become almost difficult to comprehend:<\/p>\n

Stat
\nTotal<\/p>\n

Carries
\n241<\/p>\n

Rushing yards
\n1,847<\/p>\n

Rushing touchdowns
\n22<\/p>\n

Receptions
\n94<\/p>\n

Receiving yards
\n1,069<\/p>\n

Receiving touchdowns
\n4<\/p>\n

Yards from scrimmage
\n2,916<\/p>\n

Total touchdowns
\n26<\/p>\n

If that pace were somehow maintained, Rankin would eclipse Pringle\u2019s longstanding record by more than 500 yards.<\/p>\n

The comparison becomes even more impressive when measured against recent history.<\/p>\n

Canadian running back Brady Oliveira<\/a> captured both the George Reed Most Outstanding Player Award and the Most Outstanding Canadian Award in 2024 after rushing for 1,353 yards and three touchdowns while adding 476 receiving yards and another score through the air. His outstanding season featured 1,829 yards from scrimmage, one of the best all-around campaigns by a running back in recent CFL history.<\/p>\n

Rankin\u2019s current pace would put him more than 1,000 yards above that total. Rankin is also averaging 1.4 touchdowns per game, putting him on pace for 25.2 total touchdowns over an 18-game season. That would surpass Milt Stegall\u2019s CFL record of 23 touchdowns, set in 2002, while also eclipsing the Edmonton franchise mark of 20, established by Blake Marshall in 1991.<\/p>\n

Of course, projections are just that.<\/p>\n

An 18-game CFL season is demanding. Injuries, defensive adjustments and the natural ups and downs of a long schedule make it incredibly difficult to sustain this level of production.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s exactly what makes Rankin\u2019s start so remarkable.<\/p>\n

His success hasn\u2019t come from simply piling up carries. He\u2019s been equally dangerous as a receiver, forcing defences to account for him on every snap while helping create opportunities for quarterback Cody Fajardo<\/a> and the rest of Edmonton\u2019s offence.<\/p>\n

Every week seems to produce another highlight run, another broken tackle or another explosive play that swings momentum in Edmonton\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n

Whether Rankin ultimately challenges Pringle\u2019s record remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

What isn\u2019t up for debate is this: through five games, the Elks running back is producing at a pace that puts him in the same conversation as some of the greatest players the CFL has ever seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014\u00a0Comparing a player to Mike Pringle isn\u2019t something that happens very often. The Hall of Fame running…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-793254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793254","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=793254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}