WINNIPEG — Nathan Rourke led a West Division sweep of the CFL’s individual awards Thursday night.
The B.C. Lions quarterback earned the George Reed Trophy as the CFL’s outstanding player and was also named top Canadian at the league’s awards banquet. Rourke joins Brady Oliveira, Jon Cornish, Russ Jackson and Tony Gabriel as the only players to capture both honours in the same year.
Trey Vaval of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers was also a double winner, claiming top rookie and special-teams player.
The other individual winners were B.C.’s Mathieu Betts (defensive player) and Jermarcus Hardrick of the Saskatchewan Roughriders (outstanding lineman).
Voting was conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and all nine CFL had coaches. A total of 53 ballots were cast.
Rourke, of Victoria, established career-highs in passing yards (5,290), touchdowns (31), rushing yards (564, tops among quarterbacks) and TDs (10) as the Lions led the CFL in offensive points (31.1 per game), net yards (430.2) and passing (325.4 per game). B.C. ended the regular season with six straight wins to finish second in the West Division with an 11-7 record.
Rourke received 40 votes to become the eighth B.C. player to capture the award but first since linebacker Solomon Elimimian in 2014. Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the CFL leader in passing (5,297 yards) and TDs (career-high 36) was a finalist for a second straight year.
Rourke earned 50 ballots in voting for Canadian, an award he first won in 2022. His passing yards and rushing TDs were single-season records by a Canadian while his TD strikes and rushing yards were second-most by a national player.
Defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund of the Montreal Alouettes was also a finalist.
Betts, of Montreal, received 40 votes to become just the second player to win the top defensive player twice — he also did so in 2023. The six-foot-two, 250-pound Betts posted a CFL-high 15 sacks with 42 tackles (two for a loss), four forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
Betts becomes just the third Lion to win the award twice, joining Elimimian, Cameron Wake and James Parker. Hamilton defensive lineman Julian Howsare was also a finalist.
The six-foot-four, 315-pound Hardrick earned 38 votes for his first top lineman award. He anchored a Saskatchewan offensive line that helped quarterback Trevor Harris pass for 4,549 yards, A.J. Ouellette run for 1,222 yards and the Riders to finish second in net offence (382.6 yards per game).
Hamilton’s Brandon Revenberg was also a finalist.
Vaval, 25, becomes just the third player in CFL history to capture top rookie and special-teams honours in the same season.
The five-foot-11, 163-pound defensive back scored a league-high four return TDs and was its leader in punt-return yards (957) and missed field goal yards (391) while amassing 2,266 total return yards — averaging 133.3 per game — to finish third overall in all-purpose yards.
He received 40 votes to become the fifth Winnipeg player to win the special-teams honour but first since kicker Justin Medlock in 2016. Toronto Argonauts kicker Lirim Hajrullahu was also a finalist.
Vaval received 36 votes in becoming the eighth Winnipeg player to secure top rookie honours and first since teammate Dalton Schoen in 2022. Hamilton linebacker Devin Veresuk was also a finalist.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2025.
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press
