In his first season in the Canadian Football League, Alouettes player Austin Mack currently leads all receivers in the league with 773 yards gained. If the 25-year-old American keeps up this pace, he could well pull off a rare feat in the Montreal club’s history and win the Rookie of the Year title.
Since the Alouettes’ return in 1996, none of their players have received such an honor. Barron Miles, Keith Stokes, Almondo Curry, Matthieu Proulx, Étienne Boulay, Jake Wieneke and last year Tyson Philpot all won the East Rookie of the Year award, but each time it was a Westerner, rightly or wrongly was crowned with the main trophy.
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The versatile Johnny Rodgers was the last Alouettes player to win it at the end of the 1973 season 50 years ago. Meanwhile, Montreal was gifted with another quintessential rookie in 1984, albeit under the Concordes, the late running back Dwaine Wilson.
Before Dalton Schoen
In 2022 it was another receiver, and not least the one who had favored Philpot: Dalton Schoen of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
In comparison, Schoen had 641 yards after the first nine games of his debut CFL season, 132 fewer than Mack. However, the Blue Bombers player ended the 2022 season strong, finishing for 1,441 total yards in 18 games.
For the 2023 season, Mack is ahead of Schoen like everyone else, the latter having rushed for 705 yards while playing a game more than the Alouettes rookie.
Nobody talks about Lewis anymore
On his own, Mack is forgetting the departure of Eugene Lewis, who left the Alouettes for the Edmonton Elks in the offseason. It was before the team was sold to Pierre Karl Péladeau. General Manager Danny Maciocia’s hands were tied while he was a free agent. As compensation, special emphasis was placed on wide receivers in the football operations department and in the training camp.
Besides Mack, we have to highlight the contribution of Tyler Snead, who has five touchdowns.
“When you see the impact some have had since the start of the season, it’s definitely a source of great pride,” admitted Alouettes general manager Danny Maciocia of the pass recipients. I am very proud of the work of our scouts. We targeted players and were able to convince them to come to Montreal.”
In the CFL (this season)
Front runner won in receiving yards
1 – Austin Mack, Alouettes – 773
2 – Alexander Hollins, Lions – 715
3 – Dalton Schoen, Blue Bombers – 705
4 – Keon Hatcher, Lions – 657
5 – Shawn Bane Jr., Roughriders – 656