The Canadian Press
Dan Ralph
TORONTO—Henry Burris is proving age is just a state of mind.
The 40-year-old Ottawa Redblacks’ quarterback was named a finalist for the CFL’s outstanding player award yesterday in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada and league head coaches.
Calgary Stampeders’ star Bo Levi Mitchell is the West Division nominee.
Burris had a CFL-record 481 completions and career-best 5,693 yards to become the oldest passing leader in league history.
Burris, the 2010 award winner, was instrumental in Ottawa (12-6) finishing atop the East Division after winning just twice in its inaugural 2014 campaign.
“It proves all of his detractors wrong, and there were many last year, a lot of people who chose not to understand what our situation was as an expansion team,” said Redblacks’ GM Marcel Desjardins.
“It shows how professional he is in his preparation, be it physical, mental, or even spiritual,” he added.
“The guy is committed to his craft on all levels and does everything he can to best prepare himself each week.”
Burris had a league-record 45 completions in a win Oct. 1 versus Montreal and six TD passes in last weekend’s 44-28 home victory over Hamilton.
Burris posted a stellar 70.9 percent completion percentage, with 26 TDs against 13 interceptions after throwing more picks (14) than touchdowns (11) in 2014.
Desjardins believes Burris came into 2015 with something to prove.
“I think deep down he feels he’s the same guy this year as last year,” Desjardins noted.
“Any time anybody gets criticized, you want to try and prove people wrong, that’s just human nature.
“There were a lot of issues [last year] that weren’t of his making, but he was the one everyone pointed the finger at,” added Desjardins.
Mitchell took to social media to applaud Burris’ season.
“Congrats to @HenryBurris on East Nominee! 40 or not, what you did this year was truly amazing,” he tweeted.
“Great reg. season. @CFL. Now the fun begins.”
Mitchell, the 2014 Grey Cup MVP, was second in CFL passing (4,551 yards) as Calgary (14-4) finished second in the West Division.
He’s the sixth Stampeder in eight years to be named a finalist for the award, including Burris in 2008 and ’10.
Mitchell’s 13 wins as a starter were a league high and he had six 300-yard passing games.
Mitchell is 28-6 overall, the best record of any quarterback through his first 34 career starts.
The other nominees include:
•linebackers Adam Bighill of the B.C. Lions and Simoni Lawrence of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (defensive player);
•Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ defensive lineman Jamaal Westerman and Ottawa Redblacks’ receiver Brad Sinopoli (Canadian);
•B.C.’s Jovan Olafioye and Ottawa’s SirVincent Rogers (lineman);
•Calgary Stampeders’ kicker Rene Paredes and Hamilton kick-returner Brandon Banks (special-teams); and
•receivers Derel Walker of the Edmonton Eskimos and Vidal Hazelton of the Toronto Argonauts (rookie).
Earlier yesterday, Ottawa’s Rick Campbell and Edmonton’s Chris Jones were named finalists for coach-of-the-year honours.
The CFL will unveil its top individual performers Nov. 26 in Winnipeg.
