The Ticats had their final full practice of the year Wednesday with just a walkthrough on Thursday and Friday night’s curtain-dropper in Ottawa remaining in their 2024 season.
Here’s an all-too-rare notebook of some of the happenings around the Cats this week.
*After voting by each team’s head coach and local members of the Football Reporters of Canada, the CFL released the individual team’s nominees for the six major individual awards. Team award winners will now move on to a second round of voting to determine division finalists, which will be announced on October 31. The East and West Division nominees will go head-to-head in Vancouver during the CFL Awards on Thursday, November 14, as part of the Grey Cup Festival.
- Bo Levi Mitchell, was one of two unanimous Tiger-Cats winners, easily being named as the Most Outstanding Player candidate. He’s thrown for 5,026 yards—the first CFLer in six years to reach the 5,000-yard plateau—and 31 touchdowns.
- Receiver Shemar Bridges, who was injured on September 28 and is out for the season, was the other unanimous winner: as Most Outstanding Rookie. He had a first-year-CFLer club-record 83 receptions, shattering Jalen Saunders’ 2017 mark of 76 and still leads the Tiger-Cats in total receptions and is third in receiving yards.
- Jamal Peters was named the club’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player. The shutdown boundary corner led the team with four interceptions, had seven pass knockdowns, two tackles for losses and registered 38 defensive tackles before being hurt. He played 14 games and won’t be in the lineup Friday in Ottawa due to injury.
- Receiver Kiondré Smith’s breakthrough season earns him the Ticats’ Most Outstanding Canadian honours. Smith has started all 17 games at receiver for the Tiger-Cats and has posted career-highs in receptions (71), receiving yards (881), receiving touchdowns (six) and targets (102). He ranks second on the Tiger-Cats in receiving touchdowns, third in targets and receptions, and fourth in receiving yards.
- Left guard Brandon Revenberg won his fourth straight, and fifth overall, nomination as the Ticats’ Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman. He’s started all 17 games and will be looking to be the East’s finalist in the category for the fourth time in his career after leading an offensive line which has blocked well and been at or near the top of the CFL in fewest sacks allowed.
- Placekicker Marc Liegghio is the team’s Outstanding Special Teams Player nominee. He’s converted 39 of 44 field goal attempts and has had a couple of game winners. has played in all 17 games this season for the Tiger-Cats and has converted 39 of his 44 field goal attempts (88.6%) and 37 of his 38 convert attempts (97.4%) with a long of 55 yards.
* We asked head coach Scott Milanovich to give a thumbnail comment on each of his team’s nominees:
- Shemar Bridges: “The all-time record here for receptions (for rookies) and until he got injured was probably going to break the league record. Would have been a 1,000-yard receiver. A pro. Was a starter from Day 1 in training camp and proved everybody right. He wanted to come back and play even though his knee was banged up and didn’t realize it. A good guy to build on for the future.”
- Kiondré Smith: “He’s had a good year, really grown in his year. As he’s been more productive, we’ve called his number more. I think he’s an under-rated player in our league, he does so much in terms of, obviously, receiving but also in blocks, bombers, and as part of the run game. He plays multiple positions in different personnel groups, which is not easy in this offence from a mental standpoint.”
- Brandon Revenberg: “Rev’s been one of the best guards in this league for quite some time. Well-deserved. Another guy who’s a real pro, in here every day—all the guys from the offensive line are—until 5, studying. They take it seriously. I remember he took a penalty in the first game, a personal foul on a screen, didn’t realize the play was over. I don’t know if he’s had another penalty all year; maybe he’s had a false start or something. That’s just the kind of guy he is. He’s probably going to be a Hall of Famer one day.”
- Marc Liegghio: “Leggs has been great. Enjoy having him. I don’t even watch field goals. At the end of the game in Toronto (where he kicked the winner on the final play), I was just watching their sidelines: I knew they would make a response. He’s had a good year. He’s done a better job on kickoffs in placement and hang time and I think that’s shown in the way we’ve been able to cover kicks.”
- Jamal Peters: “One of the leading corners in the league and played through injuries through much of the season. I have a lot of respect for him. Hopefully he’ll be back at 100 per cent for next year because he’s a problem: guys don’t want to go at him.”
- Bo Levi Mitchell: Today Milanovich praised Mitchell for throwing for a stunning 1,000 yards more than any other quarterback in the league and yesterday he also said this about his quarterback’s 2024 season: “He’s grown. I don’t know what else to say about it. The reps certainly help, the offence, the understanding of what it is the coaching staff want our quarterbacks and our offence to do, all that factors into the improved play. Obviously Bo’s got a great pedigree of great football on his resumé and I’m happy for him. Happy that he’s played at this level and has a little bit of rebound in his career.”
*For Mitchell, it’s the fourth time he’s been recognized as a team MOP, the previous three coming in Calgary. He was the league’s MOP in 2012 and 2018, the last time before this year that he—or anyone in the CFL—reached the 5,000-yard mark. This morning he said, “Recognition in a sport always feels great. I wish it was coming along with an extra game, or two, or three. But I think it just shows the amount of, first of all, work put in in the off- season, second of all, the time put in with Scott. The patience Scott has had, and the impatience at times as well … the happiness and the good moments. Just an accumulation of a year of a lot of great work and a lot of great people.”
*The Ticats’ 398.6 offensive yards per game is well ahead of No. 2 Edmonton and the only other team to ever lead the league in net offence and not make the playoffs was the 1962 BC Lions, who finished fourth.
*Mitchell can become the 10th quarterback to win 100 games as a starter in the CFL if he wins tomorrow night. He will finish as the league’s top yardage passer for the first time in his 12-year CFL career and has thrown for five TDs twice in games this year, including last week against Calgary. His previous high was four.
