TORONTO — League passing leader McLeod Bethel-Thompson and CFL outstanding player award winner Zach Collaros top the respective divisional all-star teams.
The CFL initially unveiled the East and West Division all-star squads Wednesday in voting conducted by fans, voting members of the Football Reporters of Canada and the league’s nine head coaches. Later on Wednesday night, the league issued revised all-star squads after an error in tabulation and weighting of votes was discovered, which resulted in some earlier errors.
“The CFL offers its sincere apologies to everyone involved, especially the players who were incorrectly announced as all-stars or were incorrectly left off the list,” the league said in a statement. “We have also issued an apology to the Canadian Football League Players’ Association.
“The responsibility for this mistake rests solely with the CFL, and not those who cast ballots or the CFLPA.”
The CFL all-star squad will be named next week.
Bethel-Thompson threw for a CFL-high 4,731 yards with 23 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 17 starts this season. Collaros, a finalist for this year’s CFL outstanding player award, was second with 4,183 yards but also had a league-high 37 touchdown passes and won 15-of-17 starts.
Toronto’s A.J. Ouellette was selected at running back. The receiving corps features Ottawa’s Jaelon Acklin, Montreal’s Eugene Lewis, Kurleigh Gittens Jr. of the Argos and Hamilton’s Tim White and Steven Dunbar Jr.
Toronto centre Justin Lawrence anchors an offensive line that includes guards Brandon Revenberg of Hamilton and Jacob Ruby of Ottawa along with Dejon Allen of the Argos and Montreal’s Landon Rice at tackle.
Ottawa end Lorenzo Mauldin IV (CFL-high 17 sacks) leads a defensive line that includes Hamilton’s Julian Howsare (end) and tackles Shawn Oakman of Toronto and Micah Johnson of the Ticats.
Hamilton’s Jovan Santos-Knox and Toronto’s Wynton McManis are the linebackers with Kameron Kelly of the Ticats being the cover linebacker.
Toronto’s Jamal Peters (CFL-high six interceptions) and Hamilton’s Jumal Rolle are the cornerbacks with Richard Leonard of the Ticats and Montreal’s Wesley Sutton at halfback.
Hamilton’s Tunde Adeleke is the safety.
Seth Small of the Ticats is the kicker, with Toronto’s John Haggerty handling the punting duties. Montreal’s Chandler Worthy is the special-teams player.
Calgary’s Ka’Deem Carey (1,088 yards, 10 TDs) is the West Division running back. CFL receiving leader Dalton Schoen (70 catches, 1,441 yards, 16 TDs) leads a pass-catching corps that also includes Nic Demski of the Bombers, B.C.’s Dominique Rhymes, Calgary’s Malik Henry and Edmonton’s Kenny Lawler.
Calgary’s Sean McEwen is at centre and joined by teammates Ryan Sceviour at guard and Derek Dennis at tackle. Winnipeg’s Pat Neufeld and Stanley Bryant are the other guard and tackle, respectively.
Stampeders end Shawn Lemon (14 sacks) tops a defensive line that also includes teammate Mike Rose at tackle along with Winnipeg end Willie Jefferson and Edmonton tackle Jake Ceresna.
Winnipeg’s Adam Bighill and Calgary’s Cameron Judge are the linebackers with Saskatchewan’s Derrick Moncrief being the cover linebacker.
The secondary consists of cornerbacks Garry Peters (B.C.) and Jonathan Moxey (Calgary). The halfbacks are Deatrick Nichols (Winnipeg) and Marcus Sayles (B.C.)
B.C.’s Loucheiz Purifoy is the safety.
Calgary’s Rene Paredes and John Grace are the kicker and punter, respectively. Winnipeg’s Janarion Grant is the special-teams player.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2022.
