Honoured but Not Satisfied: Ticats Reflect on CFL Award Nominations

They’re unanimous in these two sentiments: they’re happy to have a couple of extra days together, but they’d much rather be preparing for another game than an awards ceremony.

“It’s an honour to be nominated but if you’re not here for the team thing it’s a big disappointment,” Ticats’ defensive end Julian Howsare said Wednesday night on the eve of the annual CFL Players Award Gala, Thursday night, one of the cornerstone events of the Grey Cup Festival.

Howsare, coming off a brilliant season, is one of four Ticats who are finalists in the six major categories, the most of any CFL team. He’s the East conference rep for Most Outstanding Defensive Player, where he will be opposed by BC Lions’ defensive lineman Mathieu Betts, who led the league in sacks, two ahead of Howsare.

In the Most Outstanding Player category, quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell — who had his first back-to-back 5,000-yard season and set a career high in touchdown passes — will also be opposed by a BC Lion, Nathan Rourke, whom he edged by six yards for most passing yards in the league. But Rourke got the nod as all-CFL pivot.

Offensive guard and team co-captain Brandon Revenberg is a finalist for the fourth time for the Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman award, going against Saskatchewan offensive tackle Jermarcus Hardrick. It’s his fourth time as a finalist but he has yet to win.

And middle linebacker Devin Veresuk, who was drafted second overall out of the University of Windsor in May and became a starter by the Ticats’ third game of the season, will oppose Winnipeg’s fleet returner/defensive back Trey Vaval for Most Outstanding Rookie.

Revenberg shared Howsare’s distaste for being in a suit rather than a black and gold uniform this week but was far more blunt about it.

“It’s s*** when you’re here and you’re not playing in the big game,” he said. “It’s as simple as that. That’s the expectation and anything short of it is a kick in the groin.”

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s flattering to be a finalist, but it’s a team sport and we won’t be in it. I’m going home, not staying for the game and I won’t even watch it… I want to play in it.”

The four Ticats, who were animated — and very funny — brought some welcome life to the pre-awards media availability session.

“We’re having fun,” said Mitchell, who predicted Rourke would win MOP. “We’re going to go out tonight and really enjoy our time together. We like being together and we enjoy playing football together. There are a lot of deserving candidates for awards out there, there are a lot of great players in this league. The CFL is awesome, a lot of guys get overlooked. I’m proud of everyone in this league; I’m proud of all the guys in black and gold. A lot of guys don’t get recognized who should.”

Although the final vote was held a couple of weeks ago, Mitchell publicly campaigned for Revenberg.

“Rev has been unrecognized in four outstanding years because he plays guard and not tackle,” Mitchell said. “But he’s the best offensive lineman in the league. He’s one of the main reasons I came to Hamilton.”

Revenberg said he wasn’t nervous about the high-end gala and seemed resigned to being the runner-up again on Thursday night.

“I’m 0-for-3 going against a tackle and I expect to be 0-for-4,” he laughed. “As history proves itself, any time I go against a tackle I ain’t winning it. So that’s the expectation I’d say.”

Veresuk says he appreciates his three veteran teammates, “showing me the ropes and having a lot of fun here. Among my own teammates I kind of feel like the younger brother, to be honest. These guys have taken me under their wing here.”

He added that having finalists in four of the six main categories reflects, “How this team played this year. You can’t ignore it. We were first in the East and we played pretty damn well, I think, and having four finalists is a testament to that. We have an O-lineman, quarterback, D-lineman, and me, a linebacker. It just shows how we excelled at different parts of the game.”

Mitchell, who said he and his wife Madison still have to talk about whether he returns for another season, said Howsare had had a brilliant season: “What he did out there was unbelievable.”

Howsare had very similar sack/tackle/TD stats to Betts, but also topped the league in quarterback pressures and was among the leaders in knocking down passes.

He was asked if it was his best season of a seven-year career that includes two stints with Hamilton and two years in Calgary. His 13 sacks were nearly double his previous career best (seven).

“It probably was numbers-wise,” said Howsare, who was elected all-CFL for the first time and seems to be an increasingly better player at the age of 33. “I feel better every year than I had the year before. I think this year was more a full picture of that.”

Mitchell said that he felt the Ticats, “We were the best offence in the league but at the end of the day you play to get into the championship and we didn’t quite get it done. We want to be there and we’ll try to keep getting better to make that happen.”