Montreal’s Sené rounds out Hec Crighton Trophy nominations

OTTAWA (CIS) – Rotrand Sené, a fourth-year running back from the University of Montreal, rounded out the list of nominees for the prestigious Hec Crighton Trophy when he was announced as most valuable player of the RSEQ football conference, Friday evening.

The Montreal native will compete for CIS most-outstanding-player honours against quarterbacks Kyle Graves of Acadia (AUS), Kyle Quinlan of McMaster (OUA) and Eric Dzwilewski of Calgary (Canada West), who were named MVP of their respective leagues on Thursday.

The Hec Crighton Trophy will be presented on November 22 in Toronto - on the eve of the 48th Vanier Cup - along with three other CIS individual awards, including the Presidents’ Trophy (defensive player of the year), J.P. Metras Trophy (outstanding down lineman) and Peter Gorman Trophy (best rookie). The Frank Tindall Trophy (coach of the year) and Russ Jackson Award (football, academics & citizenship) will be handed out the night before, also in Toronto.

Sené, a 23-year-old industrial relations student, became the first member of the Carabins to be voted MVP of the Quebec conference since the rebirth of the Montreal program in 2002. This season, the 5-foot-9, 215-pound senior led the RSEQ in all major rushing categories, including yards (813), yards per game (90.3), carries (166) and touchdowns (9) in nine contests. A 2010 first-team all-Canadian and three-time league all-star, Sené helped the Carabins to a second-place finish in the RSEQ standings thanks to a stellar 8-1 record.

Other RSEQ recipients who became CIS award finalists on Friday were Laval linebacker Frédéric Plesius (defensive MVP), Montreal defensive end Jean-Samuel Blanc (outstanding down lineman), McGill wide receiver Shaquille Johnson (top rookie), Bishop’s receiver David Haddrall (Russ Jackson Award nominee), as well as Laval head coach Glen Constantin.

2012 CIS FOOTBALL AWARD NOMINEES:

HEC CRIGHTON TROPHY (player of the year):

AUS: Kyle Graves, quarterback, Acadia
RSEQ: Rotrand Sené, running back, Montreal
OUA: Kyle Quinlan, quarterback, McMaster
CWUAA: Eric Dzwilewski, quarterback, Calgary

PRESIDENTS’ TROPHY (defensive player of the year)

AUS: Brett Hubbeard, linebacker, StFX
RSEQ: Frédéric Plesius, linebacker, Laval
OUA: Aram Eisho, linebacker, McMaster
CWUAA: Mike Edem, linebacker, Calgary

J.P. METRAS TROPHY (outstanding down lineman)

AUS: Rob Jubenville, defensive end, Saint Mary’s
RSEQ: Jean-Samuel Blanc, defensive end, Montreal
OUA: Ben D’Aguilar, defensive end, McMaster
CWUAA: Brett Jones, guard, Regina

PETER GORMAN TROPHY (rookie of the year)

AUS: Thomas Troop, running back, Acadia
RSEQ: Shaquille Johnson, wide receiver, McGill
OUA: Yannick Harou, running back, Western
CWUAA: Brett Blaszko, receiver, Calgary

RUSS JACKSON AWARD (football, academics & citizenship)

AUS: Matt Albright, offensive tackle, science, Saint Mary’s
RSEQ: David Haddrall, receiver, natural sciences, Bishop’s
OUA: Zach Androschuk, defensive back, biomedical science, Guelph
CWUAA: Brett Jones, guard, engineering & applied science, Regina

FRANK TINDALL TROPHY (coach of the year)

AUS: Jeff Cummins, Acadia
RSEQ: Glen Constantin, Laval
OUA: Stefan Ptaszek, McMaster
CWUAA: Blake Nill, Calgary

-CIS-