West Division All Star Team

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Blitz
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Interesting to look at the West- All Star Team. Great to see eight of our Leos named to the West squad, with three on offence, three on defense, and two on special teams.

Also interesting to see that both running backs are Nationals and both were B.C. Lions in the past, as well as West All-Star center Justin Sorenson. Taylor Loffler, who we had an opportunity to draft with our second round pick (we chose Anthony Thompson instead) was the All-Star safety.

Ernest Jackson made the East All-Star team and would have looked good in a Leo uniform beside Many and Burnham. We've given up some good ones.

The West defensive backfield all came out of Calgary (3) and Winnipeg (2) .


OFFENCE

Quarterback - Bo Levi Mitchell
Running Backs - Jerome Messam, Andrew Harris
Receivers - Adarius Bowman, Derel Walker, Manny Arseneauz, Bryan Burnham
Tackles - Derek Dennis, Jovan Olifioye
Guards - Travis Bond, Spencer Wilson
Center - Justin Sorenson

DEFENCE

Defensive Ends - Charleson Hughes, Alex Bazzie
Defensive Tackles - Almondo Sewell, Micah Johnson
Linebackers - Solomon Eliminian, Adam Bighill, Maurice Leggett
Corners - Tommie Campbell, Ciante Evans
Halfbacks - Jamar Wall, T. J. Heath
Safety - Taylor Loffler

Returner - Chris Rainey
Field Goals - Justin Medlock
Punter- Richie Leone
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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B.C.FAN
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I'm surprised at the choice of Justin Sorensen at centre. Name recognition seems to be a big factor in all-star selections on the O-line. With the Lions leading the league in rushing and ranking third in fewest sacks allowed, their O-line deserves a lot more recognition. Cody Husband has done an outstanding job in his first year at centre. LG Hunter Steward is as good as anyone in the West Division, and is the key to B.C.'s rushing success. They deserve all-star consideration.
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aklawitter
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good for UBC alum Taylor Loffler

19th overall, we took fellow DB Anthony Thompson at 12
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B.C.FAN
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aklawitter wrote:good for UBC alum Taylor Loffler

19th overall, we took fellow DB Anthony Thompson at 12
Loffler would have been my choice for CFL rookie of the year but he lost the West Division nomination to Calgary receiver DaVaris Daniels.
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KnowItAll
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it should be Johnson instead of overrated harris.
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B.C.FAN
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Ed Willes has written a nice column on Cody Husband's all-star calibre year. Husband may have been snubbed because the league mistakenly listed him as a guard on its all-star ballot.

Some quotes:
His performance should have placed him in the conversation for the all-star centre spot in the West. But, sadly, when the CFL released its all-star ballots for the West Division last week, Husband was listed as a guard.

“That was disappointing,” said the Lions’ Jovan Olafioye. “He had an all-star year this year.”

In the interests of full disclosure, the CFL acknowledges the mistake and says it allowed voters to change their ballots. Edmonton’s Justin Sorensen, a seven-year vet, ended up as the winner by a comfortable margin.

“There’s nothing I can do about it,” said Husband. “I guess I can hope for the (CFLPA’s) all-stars.”
From offensive line coach Dan Dorazio:
“He maintains the integrity of the A-gap,” explained Dorazio, who can sound like Steven Hawking talking about time when he gets rolling on his guys. “You don’t need a win there but he gets us a tie and that allows to do a lot of things.”

Translation: Between Husband and guards Kirby Fabien and Hunter Steward, the middle of the offensive line hasn’t been compromised this year and no offence can function if it can’t control that space.
“We’ve kept things very basic this year,” said Dorazio. “But it’s been a steady, continual improvement. These are big guys, tough guys, and that’s what you want.”
Willes: An unrecognized all-star year for Husband and the Lions O-line
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DanoT
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B.C.FAN wrote:Ed Willes has written a nice column on Cody Husband's all-star calibre year. Husband may have been snubbed because the league mistakenly listed him as a guard on its all-star ballot.

Some quotes:
His performance should have placed him in the conversation for the all-star centre spot in the West. But, sadly, when the CFL released its all-star ballots for the West Division last week, Husband was listed as a guard.

“That was disappointing,” said the Lions’ Jovan Olafioye. “He had an all-star year this year.”

In the interests of full disclosure, the CFL acknowledges the mistake and says it allowed voters to change their ballots. Edmonton’s Justin Sorensen, a seven-year vet, ended up as the winner by a comfortable margin.

“There’s nothing I can do about it,” said Husband. “I guess I can hope for the (CFLPA’s) all-stars.”
From offensive line coach Dan Dorazio:
“He maintains the integrity of the A-gap,” explained Dorazio, who can sound like Steven Hawking talking about time when he gets rolling on his guys. “You don’t need a win there but he gets us a tie and that allows to do a lot of things.”

Translation: Between Husband and guards Kirby Fabien and Hunter Steward, the middle of the offensive line hasn’t been compromised this year and no offence can function if it can’t control that space.
“We’ve kept things very basic this year,” said Dorazio. “But it’s been a steady, continual improvement. These are big guys, tough guys, and that’s what you want.”
Willes: An unrecognized all-star year for Husband and the Lions O-line
My criticism of Dorazio in the past is his tendency of making things too complicated for young linemen. So it is nice to see him acknowledge that this season he is KISS and the results have been self evident. Dorazio deserves a :thup:
Blitz
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B.C.FAN wrote:I'm surprised at the choice of Justin Sorensen at centre. Name recognition seems to be a big factor in all-star selections on the O-line. With the Lions leading the league in rushing and ranking third in fewest sacks allowed, their O-line deserves a lot more recognition. Cody Husband has done an outstanding job in his first year at centre. LG Hunter Steward is as good as anyone in the West Division, and is the key to B.C.'s rushing success. They deserve all-star consideration.
I would have voted for Sorenson for West All-Star center but really, the player who played the best at center this season was Spencer Wilson, who also played guard and tackle for Calgary. I guess they slotted Wilson at guard for the all-star vote. That is not to take anything away from Husband, who had an impressive season for his first season at center.

Husband, undrafted, and deep on the depth chart to begin last season, was moved to starting guard part way throug last year. Doug Malone, our offensive line coach last season deserves credit for recognizing Husband's talent, developing him, and giving him the opportunity to become a starting offensive lineman.

However, Hunter Steward has been very impressive at left guard. How and why we benched him is still mind boggling. He is a wrecking ball on the offensive line - tough, aggressive, and incredibly talented. He should have been the West All-Star guard over Travis Bond.

In terms of tailbacks, I thought Andrew Harris deserved the all-star nod. You have to look at his double threat ability as both a runner and a receiver. Johnson has really finished this season strong. While Johnson and Allen have been major contributors to our rushing success, what has put us over the top are the contributions of Rainey and Jennings to our running game.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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B.C.FAN
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DanoT wrote:My criticism of Dorazio in the past is his tendency of making things too complicated for young linemen. So it is nice to see him acknowledge that this season he is KISS and the results have been self evident. Dorazio deserves a :thup:
:thup: :thup: I'll second your thumbs-up to Dorazio and I'll give one to Wally, who took ownership of the decision to rebuild the offensive line from scratch in training camp by using the biggest, strongest players on the roster. I was skeptical that it would work. Offensive lines usually perform best when the players have had a lot of experience playing with each other in familiar positions. This year all five starters were new to the team or to their positions. I've just looked back on some of my posts from the training camp thread. It's fun to see how things have panned out during the season.
B.C.FAN wrote:Cody Husband is huge. At 6 ft. 7 and a legitimate 307 lbs., he's bigger than any Lions centre I can recall but he can move. The coaching staff's stated intention this year was to get bigger and more physical on the O-line. They seem to have accomplished that goal. We'll say how they play, given that none of the starters is in a familiar position.
B.C.FAN wrote:That brings us to the elephant in the room, or herd of elephants known as the offensive line. I talked to one of the presumptive starting O-linemen during the autograph session after practice and asked him what he thought of his position switch on the reshuffled line, with everyone playing a new position. His response was, "It's a bit different. I think they're just trying to go with the biggest offensive line possible." Yes. This O-line is a work in progress, and progress is always slow when players are inserted into unfamiliar positions. It's always tough to assess the strength of the offensive and defensive lines in training camp when they're banging against the same bodies every day. It will take two preseason games and probably four or five regular season games before we know what we have. This year in particular, the success of the Lions hinges largely on the performance of the offensive line.
I'd say it turned out as well as it could have, even though free-agent acquisition Levy Adcock didn't pan out at right tackle. Keeping it simple worked for Dorazio. The physical play of the O-line is fun to watch. Steward and Olafioye blow open some huge holes and Husband has neutralized every dominant nose tackle he has faced while calling all the blocking assignments for the first time in his career. The right side is weaker but Fabien reclaimed his starting job after losing it to rookie Charles Vaillancourt and Antonio Johnson has stepped in for Adcock and learned on the fly. The Lions are much better on that side than they were earlier in the year.

http://lionbackers.com/bc_lions/viewtop ... =2&t=28553
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B.C.FAN
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Blitz wrote:Hunter Steward has been very impressive at left guard. How and why we benched him is still mind boggling. He is a wrecking ball on the offensive line - tough, aggressive, and incredibly talented. He should have been the West All-Star guard over Travis Bond.
Agreed. You know I love stats, so here are a couple on the contribution of Hunter Steward:

In the 14 games Steward started, the Lions averaged 121.9 yards rushing, exceeding 100 yards in nine games.
In the four games he didn't start, the Lions averaged 94 yards rushing, exceeding 100 yards in only one game.
Blitz
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B.C.FAN wrote:
Blitz wrote:Hunter Steward has been very impressive at left guard. How and why we benched him is still mind boggling. He is a wrecking ball on the offensive line - tough, aggressive, and incredibly talented. He should have been the West All-Star guard over Travis Bond.
Agreed. You know I love stats, so here are a couple on the contribution of Hunter Steward:

In the 14 games Steward started, the Lions averaged 121.9 yards rushing, exceeding 100 yards in nine games.
In the four games he didn't start, the Lions averaged 94 yards rushing, exceeding 100 yards in only one game.
Thank you B.C. Fan. The stats substantiate what I believed my eyes were seeing. Steward has made some blocks this season that have been very impressive. In his first game back, after Dorazio had sat him out for a number of games for O'Neil, Steward made a double team block with Husband, on an inside zone read, with the offensive line angling right, then peeled off the block and completely pancaked the linebacker, knocking him on his back. Jeremiah Johnson ran the football for a 15 yard gain.

After the game, I read what a good a game our tailback had interestingly, that tailback didn't have a good game prior to that contest. Offensive line blocking for the run game gets criticized when we get shut down, which is fair, as long as it gets highlighted when our backs have a good game, which often doesn't happen.

Good to see offensive line play and offensive line players highlighted on Lionbackers.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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WestCoastJoe
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Blitz wrote:
OFFENCE

Quarterback - Bo Levi Mitchell
Running Backs - Jerome Messam, Andrew Harris
Receivers - Adarius Bowman, Derel Walker, Manny Arseneauz, Bryan Burnham
Tackles - Derek Dennis, Jovan Olifioye
Guards - Travis Bond, Spencer Wilson
Center - Justin Sorenson

DEFENCE

Defensive Ends - Charleson Hughes, Alex Bazzie
Defensive Tackles - Almondo Sewell, Micah Johnson
Linebackers - Solomon Eliminian, Adam Bighill, Maurice Leggett
Corners - Tommie Campbell, Ciante Evans
Halfbacks - Jamar Wall, T. J. Heath
Safety - Taylor Loffler

Returner - Chris Rainey
Field Goals - Justin Medlock
Punter- Richie Leone
Good for our guys.

And very happy for Andrew Harris. :thup:

It took a number of cuts and different teams before Jerome Messam ''settled in" with a team. Calgary has the stability. Messam has the talent.

J Jennings is in the top bracket with Mitchell and Reilly. :thup:

Manny and Burnie ... Terrific Twosome, also Team 100 O :thup: :thup:

Sorensen ... We (Dan Dorazio) cut him loose. He obviously had some talent, along with his humongous size. Cody Husband has certainly had a remarkable year. :thup:

Kudos to Dan Dorazio for his work this year with the O Line. Simpler schemes and techniques. Keep it physical, not mental. :thup:

Glad to see the performance and health of Hunter Steward, and all the OL guys. :thup:

Jovan :thup:

Team 100 D ... Solly and Biggie, along with Bazzie :thup: :thup: :thup:

The dynamic Chris Rainey :thup:

Leone :thup:
...............

Comeback coach of the year ... Gotta be Wally. Made some adjustments. :thup:
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Blitz wrote:I would have voted for Sorenson for West All-Star center but really, the player who played the best at center this season was Spencer Wilson, who also played guard and tackle for Calgary. I guess they slotted Wilson at guard for the all-star vote. That is not to take anything away from Husband, who had an impressive season for his first season at center.
Wilson was all over the place, jack of all trades. I was looking into the numbers last week to respond to some Eskimo fans trying to justify Reilly as being more worthy of MOP than Mitchell based on the O-lines each had to play behind. What I found was (using team depth charts for every game) that Edmonton used 4 combinations with their main starting 5 being intact for 13 of 18 games. Calgary used 12 combinations with 4 games being the longest stretch where the same unit started. Going by their announced depth charts slotting Wilson as guard was accurate because that's where he racked up the most playing time. He started 8 games at RG, 6 at C and 4 at RT. Lavertu started 9 games at C, Wilson 6, Thorn 2 and Grozman 1.
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