November 23, 2017

Sophomore Surge: Singleton caps big season with MODP

Patrick Doyle/CFL.ca

OTTAWA — Alex Singleton exploded onto the scene in his second CFL season and was named the Most Outstanding Defensive Player at the Shaw CFL Awards on Thursday night.

Singleton set a new Canadian record for most tackles in a season with 123, good for second in the league and a new franchise benchmark. Singleton anchored a defence that allowed a league-low 349 points (19.4 points per game), created a CFL-best 50 sacks and forced the most turnovers.

“It’s cool, it’s kind of our whole defence,” Singleton told reporters following Thursday’s award. “To be the centrepiece of the greatest defence I’ve ever played on . . . the precedent we’ve set this year, the guys around me are incredible, they’re all amazing athletes, amazing players, I guess being the youngest guy on defence 95 per cent of the time – the older guys always trusting me, always relying on me to do my job and make plays. It’s pretty special.”

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Singleton added four sacks, a forced fumble and one interception of his own and finished second in the CFL with 151 total defensive plays. The last Stampeder to take home the top defensive honour was John Grace in 2005.

Singleton tallied 74 first-place votes and Montreal Alouettes linebacker Kyries Hebert was runner up.

For the sophomore linebacker, however, the focus has always been on Sunday. The Stampeders take on the Argonauts in the 105th Grey Cup presented by Shaw at Ottawa’s TD Place.

“Now it’s all Sunday. It’s always been Sunday,” Singleton said. “[But] it’s awesome — it’s the first thing, when you write down individual goals that you want to do.

“But right now the season isn’t over for us. Winning on Sunday, that’s the first goal you set for yourself.”