Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back Brady Oliveira took home the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian award for the 2023 season.
The 26-year-old became just the second Canadian to rush for 1,500 or more yards and put up 2,000-plus yards from scrimmage. He received 57 first-place votes out of 61 ballots.
For Oliveira, to win the award is a dream but he remains focused on Winnipeg’s goal of winning another Grey Cup.
“This is obviously great and a great honour, but with that being said the job's not done. We've got unfinished business,” Oliveira said. “There's there's a piece of hardware Sunday that I need to get, that my teammates need to get and need to experience. So the job's not done.”
Only 15 times in the CFL history has a player reach at least 2,000 yards from scrimmage in a single season. The Winnipeg native led the league with seven games of 100-plus rushing yards.
The last Blue Bombers player to win the award was Andrew Harris in 2017. Oliveira is the ninth player in franchise history to receive the honour.
For Oliveira, getting put in the same conversation as other top Canadian running backs like Harris and John Cornish to win the award and take on the mantle as one of the top offensive players in the league is something he takes a lot of pride in.
“It's a great honour to even be mentioned in those sentences with them,” Oliveira said. “Andrew and I still talk all the time and he shot me a text after the West final saying how proud he was of my performance to go take over this game in the Grey Cup, like I know you can and I appreciate him doing that."
He beat out Montreal Alouettes defensive back Marc-Antoine Dequoy for the award.
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