Montreal Gazette

Als’ Muamba earns award nomination­s

- HERB ZURKOWSKY hzurkowsky@postmedia.com twitter.com/HerbZurkow­sky1

In yet another season of disappoint­ment and underachie­vement for the Alouettes, one player stood tall — Henoc Muamba.

On Wednesday, the Canadian Football League announced the non-import middle linebacker is the Als’ award nominee in three categories — outstandin­g player, defence and top Canadian. Muamba was a unanimous selection in all three.

Meanwhile, tailback William Stanback is the team nominee for outstandin­g rookie and the special-teams award. Completing the list is centre/guard Kristian Matte (outstandin­g offensive lineman). Matte was also a unanimous selection.

The award nominees were selected by voting members of the Football Reporters of Canada, along with the nine CFL head coaches.

Muamba, a high-profile free agent last winter, signed a threeyear contract with the Als in April, returning to Montreal for the second time in his career.

The 31-year-old leads the team and the East Division with 100 tackles. He also has registered five sacks and 11 tackles for losses, while forcing a fumble and recovering one. He has one intercepti­on.

Muamba played four late-season games for Montreal in 2015, but was released the following February by former general manager Jim Popp, before he was to receive an off-season bonus.

Drafted first overall by Winnipeg in 2011, he was voted the Blue Bombers’ outstandin­g defensive player in 2013 and the team’s outstandin­g Canadian in ’12 and ’13. He spent three seasons with Winnipeg before signing with the Indianapol­is Colts in 2014.

Muamba became a free agent last winter after being released by Saskatchew­an, where he was the Roughrider­s’ nominee as outstandin­g Canadian in 2017.

Muamba’s chances of advancing in the outstandin­g-player category appear slim. He’s opposed by a pair of quarterbac­ks, Ottawa’s Trevor Harris and Hamilton’s Jeremiah Masoli. Toronto’s nominee is receiver S.J. Green, a former Alouette.

Stanback has become more of a fixture in the Als’ backfield since Tyrell Sutton was traded to British Columbia in September. Stanback has rushed for 508 yards on 75 carries while adding 20 catches for 210 yards and two touchdowns. The 24-year-old has started only six games.

He also was utilized on kickoff returns while Stefan Logan was injured this season, producing 464 yards on 19 runbacks. Stanback leads all East Division rookies, with 1,182 combined yards in 14 games.

Matte, in his eighth season with the Als, started 15 games at centre, but moved to left guard following the trade of Phil Blake to Saskatchew­an. This marks Matte’s third consecutiv­e nomination in the lineman category.

Montreal (4-13) is preparing for its final regular-season game Saturday night at Hamilton.

Division winners will be announced Nov. 8, while the league’s outstandin­g players will be named Nov. 22 during Grey Cup week at Edmonton.

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