Five Finalists Selected for the 2018-19 Cornish Trophy

For the Most Outstanding Canadian in NCAA Football

HAMILTON, ON/VANCOUVER, BC – In conjunction with the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum, the N8 Group is proud to announce the five finalists for the second annual Jon Cornish Trophy. The trophy is awarded annually to the most outstanding Canadian player in NCAA Football. The nominees are selected by a panel of former NCAA players with a connection to Canada, scouting staff from CFL teams and media who cover college football from a Canadian perspective. The evaluation is solely based on the player’s performance in the 2018-19 NCAA season. This season there were 139 Canadian football players on NCAA, NAIA and junior college rosters. A panel selected 16 players to evaluate in the first round of voting, which was narrowed down to the following five finalists:

Chase Claypool

Junior/Wide Receiver

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Abbotsford, BC/Abbotsford Secondary

At 6’4”, 227, the product out of BC’s Fraser Valley, Claypool was a consistent target for Notre Dame’s quarterbacks as the Irish qualified for the national playoff. He finished the 2018-19 campaign second on the Irish with 639 receiving yards on 50 receptions and four TDs. In 13 games, Claypool had 11 multiple reception games, six +50-yard games, and for his effort at Northwestern he was presented the game ball with eight receptions for 130 yards (11/3).

Neville Gallimore

Junior/Defensive Lineman

Oklahoma Sooners

Ottawa, ON/Canada Prep (St. Catharines, ON)

Gallimore played in 13 of 14 games (all starts) and recorded career highs of 50 tackles, 5.0 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks and two forced fumbles. He logged four tackles against No. 1 Alabama in CFP Semifinal at Orange Bowl (12/29), made five tackles in Big 12 Championship win over No. 9 Texas (12/1)…had four stops in victory at No. 12 West Virginia (11/23) … recorded five tackles (one for loss), a sack and a forced fumble against Oklahoma State (11/10) … registered one tackle and a sack for eight yards at Texas Tech (11/3) … made two tackles and forced a fumble against Kansas State (10/27) … recorded eight tackles (one shy of career high) against Army (9/22) … registered three tackles (one for loss) at Iowa State (9/15) … made eight tackles (one for loss) versus UCLA (9/8) … recorded one tackle and one sack for 10 yards in the season opener against Florida Atlantic (9/1).

Chuba Hubbard

Redshirt-Freshaman/Running Back

Returner Oklahoma State Cowboys

Sherwood Park, AB/Bev Facey Community High School

A two-letter athlete, Hubbard also excels at track. Chuba (pronounced CHOO-Bah), rushed 124 times for 740 yards (6.0 yards per carry) and seven touchdowns. He added 22 receptions for 229 yards and two touchdowns. In addition to his duties as a running back, he also served as OSU’s primary kickoff returner and averaged 22.2 yards on 23 kickoff returns, with a long of 42 yards. Hubbard took over as OSU’s primary running back when Justice Hill was lost to injury in the Bedlam game and responded with 22 carries for 104 yards and three touchdowns against the sixth-ranked Sooners. He followed that showing with a 26-carry, 134-yard performance to help lead OSU to a win over No. 7 West Virginia the following week. He finished with a season-best 145 rushing yards on 18 carries in OSU’s win over Missouri in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. Helped the Cowboys rank in the top 15 nationally in scoring offense, total offense, passing offense and first downs.

Brady Oliveira

Senior/Running Back

North Dakota Fighting Hawks

Winnipeg, MB/Oak Park

Oliveira is the lone senior of the nominees and is ranked tenth on the CFL’s Scouting Bureau list. Oliveira finished with 1,044 all-purpose yards for an average of 94.9 per game. Rushing wise, he carried the ball 161 times for 940 yards, with an average per carry of 5.8 yards and eight touchdowns in the Fighting Hawks 6-5 season. He registered four plus-100 yard rushing games in 11 games played, opening the season with 14 carries and 108 yards in a 35-7 over Mississippi Valley State (8/30)… 21 carries for 123 yards and two touchdowns in a 38-13 win over Northern Colorado (9/29)… 18 carries for 171 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-15 win over Sacramento State (10/20)… and 28 carries for 190 yards and two touchdowns in a narrow 31-27 loss to Idaho (11/3). Playing for an independent FCS team he could not qualify for a conference player of the week.

Nathan Rourke

Junior/Quarterback

Ohio Bobcats

Oakville, ON/Edgewood Academy (Alabama)

The 2017-18 winner of the inaugural Cornish Trophy, Rourke started all 13 games for the Bobcats as a dual threat quarterback leading Ohio to a MAC championship, a win in the Frisco Bowl and a 9-4 overall record. Via the air, Rourke connected on 164-of-274 (59.9%) for 2,434 yards and a TD-Interception ratio of 23/8. On the ground, he carried the ball 134 times for 860 yards, and 15 TDs. He was selected as a second team all-conference QB. He was selected MAC East Offensive Player of the Week in weeks five, six and eight. In week five, he got the job done with both his arms and his legs in a 58-42 victory over UMass at Peden Stadium, rushing for a career-high 189 yards and a touchdown on 16 attempts. He also passed for 270 yards and three touchdowns, going 27-of-32 through the air with one interception. Rourke helped Ohio’s offense explode for a program-record 664 yards of offense (9/29)… In week six, he scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:28 for a 27-26 win at Kent State. Rourke completed 18-of-20 passes, setting an Ohio record for completion percentage in a single-game by completing 90 percent of his attempts. Rourke threw for 284 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also added 49 yards and a touchdown on the ground on 15 rushing attempts (10/06)… In week eight, he accounted for five total touchdowns, throwing a career-high four touchdown passes and adding another on the ground in a 49-14 win over Bowling Green. Rourke completed of 8-of-12 passes for 193 yards and carried 10 times for 101 yards. (10/20).

The trophy will be presented to the winner at the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in March. The Cornish Trophy will be placed on permanent display at the Hall. The trophy was named after former Calgary Stampeder running back Jon Cornish. The graduate of St. Thomas More Secondary in Burnaby, BC, Cornish had a distinguished career in college with the Kansas Jayhawks. In his senior year of 2006, he rushed for 1,457 yards, making him the all-time single season rusher at Kansas. Cornish was the Big 12’s leader in all-purpose yards with an average of 137.6 yards per game and was the ninth leading rusher in NCAA Division I-A football and the first in rushing in the Big 12 Conference. With the Stampeders from 2007-2015, he became the most productive Canadian-born running back in CFL history with 6,844 yards rushing, won the league’s Most Outstanding Canadian Award three times (2012, 2013, 2014), was the CFL Most Outstanding Player in 2013, and was named Canada’s athlete of the year in 2013, winning the Lou Marsh Trophy.

For More Information, please contact: Jim Mullin, project partner N8 Group

T: 778-996-7398

E: jim@northern8.com

About N8 Group N8 Group was formed in 2011 to philanthropically support elite amateur football in Canada. N8 has produced over 300 hours of regional and national television and three seasons of national radio in support of amateur football via Krown Countdown U. In addition, N8 has donated MVP drive robotic tackling dummies in each college football centre in Western Canada to promote “Krown Safer Contact” for the college, junior, women’s and minor football levels. The Cornish Trophy annually recognizes the top Canadian playing college football in NCAA. About Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum The Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum operates as a non-profit registered charity. Located at Tim Hortons Field on the fourth floor in Hamilton Ontario since 1963, it is home to more than 80,000 Canadian football artefacts, ranging from equipment and trophies to photos and videos.

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