Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Cody Fajardo. (Photo courtesy of the Saskatchewan Roughriders)

By Jamie Nye

Roughriders shut out of league awards

Nov 22, 2019 | 10:04 AM

The Saskatchewan Roughriders will leave Calgary empty-handed after all three of their award nominees lost during the CFL awards ceremony on Thursday night.

Quarterback Cody Fajardo was up for most outstanding player, but dynamic Hamilton Tiger-Cats receiver Brandon Banks was the overwhelming choice among the 50 voters from across the CFL.

Banks received 41 votes after leading the league in catches (112), receiving yards (1,550), yards after the catch (657) and touchdown catches (13) during the Tiger-Cats’ 15-3-0 regular season.

Fajardo was honoured earlier Thursday by the CFL Players’ Association, which named him its all-star quarterback in 2019.

Fajardo threw for 4,302 yards and added 611 on the ground. He threw 18 touchdown passes and ran for 10 majors in his first season as a starting quarterback.

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He started the season fighting for the backup job in training camp and won that job. Then he won over the organization after leading the Riders to a 13-5-0 record following Zach Collaros’ injury on the first series of the season.

Fajardo’s head coach, Craig Dickenson, also lost to a member of the Tiger-Cats organization in voting for coach of the year. Orlondo Steinauer got 38 of the first-place votes.

Dickenson and Steinauer had similar seasons in 2019. Each was in his first season as a head coach and each saw his starting quarterback go down with an injury.

Steinauer got his team to the Grey Cup following a 15-win regular season. That ties a CFL record for most wins in a season by a rookie head coach.

Dickenson, meanwhile, got 13 wins out of a team that many believed wouldn’t be a contender this season. It was the first time the Riders had that many wins in a season since 1970 and the first time since 2009 that the team finished in first place in the West Division.

The third Rider to lose out on a league award was linebacker Cameron Judge.

Montreal Alouettes linebacker Henoc Muamba — a former Roughrider — got 34 of the 50 votes. Muamba finished second in the league in the regular season with 93 tackles and he added two forced fumbles, one sack and one fumble recovery.

Judge had a career year with 61 tackles, 11 special-teams tackles, five sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a touchdown this season.

The third-year linebacker showed why the team selected him with the second pick overall in the 2017 draft. He’s a potential free agent in February.

The Tiger-Cats had a big night with four individual awards.

Along with Banks and Steinauer, Chris Van Zeyl won the award as most outstanding offensive lineman by one vote over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Stanley Bryant, and returner Frankie Williams was named top special-teams player in voting against Winnipeg’s Mike Miller.

Bombers defensive end Willie Jefferson — another former Roughrider — was named most outstanding defensive player, while Calgary Stampeders linebacker Nate Holley was voted the most outstanding rookie.

With the Grey Cup in Calgary, the league honoured a few members of the Stampeders.

General manager John Hufnagel won the Hugh Campbell Distinguished Leadership Award for making the Stampeders a perennial Grey Cup favourite since he arrived in Calgary in 2008.

Punter Rob Maver was named the 2019 recipient of the Tom Pate Memorial Award for outstanding sportsmanship. The award winner is selected by the CFLPA.

The Tiger-Cats and Bombers are to meet in Sunday’s Grey Cup game.