The BC Lions Football Club is pleased to announce that five members of the 2015 squad have earned CFL All-Star status including CFL Outstanding Defensive Player Adam Bighill and CFL Outstanding Lineman nominee Jovan Olafioye. Running back Andrew Harris, receiver Emmanuel Arceneaux and punter Richie Leone round-out the club’s selections.
For Bighill, it caps off a career season in which he led the CFL in defensive tackles, captured his team’s nomination as Outstanding Player and Defensive Player and with today’s announcement, captures his third CFL All-Star selection.
Jovan Olafioye makes it five-straight All-Canadian honours for his amazing career in BC, which is also tops among all current players for consecutive selections. The hulking right tackle is a six-time West Division All-Star and has been nominated as the league’s Outstanding Lineman three times, winning in 2012.
Andrew Harris led the CFL in rushing yards for much of the season and ultimately finished second in the category with 1,039 yards on 233 carries and seven majors. He also led the league in yards from scrimmage with 1,523 aided by his 484 reception yards. This is Andrew’s second CFL All-Star nod, the first coming in 2012.
Emmanuel Arceneaux picks up his first All-Canadian kudo after a career season as a Lion notching 76 receptions for 1,151 yards and nine majors. The Manny Show was the CFL’s fourth-leading receiver in 2015 and now sits just 87 yards shy of 5,000 for his career after piling up 2,056 in the past two seasons alone.
Richie Leone also pulls down his first career CFL All-Star selection after leading the CFL with a base punting average of 49.5 and net average of 38.3 yards. The strong-legged first-year CFL’er had 61 punts of 50 yards or more this past season, 20 more than the next best punter in the league.
CFL All-Stars are voted upon by 66 members of the Football Reporters of Canada as well as the CFL’s nine head coaches. The Lions, Edmonton Eskimos and Hamilton Tiger-Cats each had five selections with the West Division holding a 15-12 advantage over the East Division among the 27 players on this year’s squad.
