Two Canadians First and Second in Rushing

[jerrym]

Before Sunday's game two Canadians, John Cornish and Andrew Harris, were first and second respectively in rushing in the league. I think that is a first in CFL history since imports became an important part of the game. Before today's two games, they are still ranked second and third with Cornish having a chance to improve in the BC-Calgary game. The improvement in Canadian talent, especially at running back, has been incredible during the last 20 years.

[1argoholic]

Hope Cornish runs wild today.

[jerrym]

After all the games on the Labour Day weekend, Cornish is second in rushing with 642 yards, only 6 yards behind Saskatchewan's Sheets. Harris is fourth with 543 yards. Both are doing Canada proud.

[OV Argo]

Yeah, nice but ... Sebastien Levesque not getting drafted this past draft or getting any sort of CFL TC look - find this quite questionable.

[AngeloV]

Tells you what a wacky year it's been for rushers this year. Cornish has had 3 big number games to boost his stats, but IMO has been horrible in the other 6 games. IMO, Andrew Harris has been the best back in the league this year, followed by Brandon Whittaker. They have both been dual threats.

[jerrym]

Tells you what a wacky year it's been for rushers this year. Cornish has had 3 big number games to boost his stats, but IMO has been horrible in the other 6 games. IMO, Andrew Harris has been the best back in the league this year, followed by Brandon Whittaker. They have both been dual threats.
I agree. Harris has been much more consistent. My point was that in many years one would have to go very far down the rushing totals list before finding a Canadian.

[OV Argo]

I agree. Harris has been much more consistent. My point was that in many years one would have to go very far down the rushing totals list before finding a Canadian.


Those would be years that Canadian RBs got little opportunity to play; because when they have - i can name lots who have produced - like Lumsden & Lapointe; Blake Marshall was a force at fullback when he played for the Esks (back in the day when some fullbacks got lots of carries), and the Esks had a few seasons where they went with a lot of Canadian RBs - Milson Jones, Mike Soles and Chris Skinner were all good ones IMO.

Cornish, Messam and Andrew Harris are very talented RBs who have got CFL opportunity to play lately; but i believe there are and have been some pretty capable Canadian RBs who have not / did not get that much CFL opportunity as the position has been designated mostly for imports - by guess who. Kerry Carter and Darrhan Diedrick are examples of Canadian RBs who were top notch, highly rated RBs coming out of US college ball and who have not been given much / any CFL shot as an every-down RB type - bigger backs who get converted to fullback in the CFL or viewed just as back-ups; Darryl Stephenson also converted to "fullback" by CFL types. And too bad we never got to see top notch Canadian RB talent like Ruben Mayes, Tim Biakabatuka, Tim Tindale or Clifton Dawson play in the CFL. Top CIS backs - like Levesque, Riva and Granberg - not drafted at all last draft - says something (to me anyhow).

A position where there has always been lots of Canadian talent IMO - we just haven't always / that often got to see it on display in the CFL.

[jerrym]

I agree with your assessment. There was a time not that long ago when Canadian receivers mostly received the same treatment with some exceptions, but a very few in any one year. Now not having a true first string non-import receiver puts a team, such as the Argos, at a disadvantage. Hopefully, Watt and/or Bradwell can develop into that.

[jerrym]

I better revise my assessment of Cornish. He has been consistent. For the first 5 games of the season he was consistently mediocre. Since then he has been consistently great, including last night.

[AngeloV]

Those would be years that Canadian RBs got little opportunity to play; because when they have - i can name lots who have produced - like Lumsden & Lapointe;

Are you saying Lumsden and Lapointe got little opportunity to play? The only thing that limited their playing time was their ability to stay healthy. Playing in a back-up role prolonged Lapointe's career big time. He still got hurt plenty for a back-up. Don't even need to go into LLumsden's history.

[jerrym]

Cornish is now leading the league in rushing yards with 1,127 yards while Harris is leading the league in yards from scrimmage and with a great chance to also gain 1000 rushing yards (currently he is at 842 yards). Cornish and Harris could be the first double Canadian 1,000 yard rushers since Normie Kwong and Jerry James, who did it twice (1955 and 1957).

[jerrym]

Andrew Harris broke Terry Evanshen's 1967 record for the most yards from scrimmage by a Canadian last week and currently leads the league in this category with 1727 yards. He may even reach the 2,000 yard mark by the end of the season. This week he passed the 1,000 yard mark to join Jon Cornish as Canadians with 1,000 yards rushing. Cornish leads the league with 1,302 yards rushing while Harris is third with 1,025 yards. Cornish is third in yards from scrimmage with 1,634 yards. This is the first time since Normie Kwong and Gerry James became the first Canadians to reach the 1,000 yard Canadian club in the same year (in both 1955 and 1957) that two Canadians have managed to do it in the same year.

[ArgoRavi]

Andrew Harris broke Terry Evanshen's 1967 record for the most yards from scrimmage by a Canadian last week and currently leads the league in this category with 1727 yards. He may even reach the 2,000 yard mark by the end of the season. This week he passed the 1,000 yard mark to join Jon Cornish as Canadians with 1,000 yards rushing. Cornish leads the league with 1,302 yards rushing while Harris is third with 1,025 yards. Cornish is third in yards from scrimmage with 1,634 yards. This is the first time since Normie Kwong and Jerry James became the first Canadians to reach the 1,000 yard Canadian club in the same year (in both 1955 and 1957) that two Canadians have managed to do it in the same year.

Good to see them both attain 1000 yards rushing in 16 games or less just like Kwong and James did. Evanshen's record was especially impressive considering that he did it in a 14 game schedule.

[jerrym]

By the way, Gerry James was the youngest player to ever play in the CFL and the only player to play in both Grey Cup and Stanley Cup finals (for the Maple Leafs in 1960). He played parts of 5 seasons with Leafs as a fourth liner, scoring 41 points in 149 games, being restricted in playing time to some extent by his CFL career. Pretty talented!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_James

[jerrym]

Normie Kwong also has a hockey connection, as president, general manager and part owner of the Calgary Flames, and was also incredibly talented. He was the first Chinese Canadian in the CFL. He ranks 8th all-time in rushing and first among Canadian players even though he played in much fewer games each season during the 1948 to 1960 seasons. He also served as Lieutenant Governor of Alberta.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Kwong

[jerrym]

Great page-long article in the Vancouver Sun comparing the Harris-Cornish 1,000 yard rushing seasons with the James-Kwong 1957 season, the last time two Canadians rushed for 1,00o yards.

"In his years playing junior football in Nanaimo, Andrew Harris was unaware that he had a secret admirer -- Gerry James, a former running back from nearly three generations ago who was twice the nation’s most outstanding Canadian player. ... 'I saw him play, and he was really dominant,' James said of the B.C. Lions current feature back. 'He was head and shoulders above everybody else.'Making the leap from junior football, straight to the CFL, as Harris did, takes some doing. But James did him one better. He vaulted straight from high school to the Blue Bombers, who signed him as 17-year-old prospect. 'My mother negotiated my first contract -- for $2,000,” he said. “I had to return to high school when the regular season was over.' ...

Kwong, known as the “China Clipper”, ran for 1,437 yards in his best season, 1956, the greatest campaign ever for a Canadian running back, and he did it in just 15 games. Cornish, the CFL’s leading rusher, needs 136 more yards to supplant Kwong as the king of Canadian running backs, and he has two more games left in which to do it. ...

'It’s something I would like to do in my career, absolutely,' said Cornish, who played high school football at St. Thomas More in Burnaby before setting rushing records at Kansas. 'Lots of credit to Normie Kwong, that something has stayed around for more than 50 years. I think, at some point, it needs to be broken. The sooner it gets broken, the more Canadian running backs we’ll have in the league.'
'I’m really impressed how quickly Cornish gets off the line and hits the hole,' James said. 'Harris probably catches the ball more out of the backfield, and that makes him really effective. I had only partial vision in my right eye (because of a hockey injury in junior) and I didn’t have confidence catching the ball.' ”

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/football/lions/Lions+Andrew+Harris+secret+admirer/7449022/story.html

[jerrym]

Jon Cornish broke the 56 year old all-time Canadian season rushing record set by Normie Kwong in 1956 Friday night by rushing for 69 yards against Edmonton to give him 1,457 yards, 20 more than Kwong gained in 1956. Kwong ironically played for the Eskimos. He is also likely to become the first Canadian to lead the league in rushing since Orville Lee did it in 1988 with the Ottawa Rough Riders. Unless Kory Sheets gains 215 or more yards for Saskatchewan against BC tonight Cornish will also lead the league in rushing.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/stampeders-jon-cornish-breaks-56-year-old-cfl-record-1.1023146

[jerrym]

Congrats to Jon Cornish and Andrew Harris as Canadian stats leaders. With the end of the Saskatchewan-BC game and the season, Jon Cornish is officially the league leader in rushing in 2012 with 1457 yards, while Andrew Harris finished third with 1,112 yards rushing. However, Harris finished first in yards from scrimmage with 1,830 yards while Cornish was second with 1,795 yards. If Messam returned to his 2011 form next year (my personal opinion is that this is less than likely) we could have three first string Canadian running backs and, who knows, 3 Canadian 1,000 yard runners.