Eight Roughriders named West Division all-stars

Eight members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders have been named West Division all-stars.

The CFL revealed the division all-stars on Wednesday. The teams were picked by voting members of the Football Reporters of Canada, along with the league’s head coaches.

The CFL all-star team is to be revealed in December.

Three Roughriders were selected on offence, each for the first time in his CFL career.

Cody Fajardo, who’s in his first year as a starting quarterback in the league, was honoured after throwing for 4,302 yards and 18 touchdowns and rushing for 611 yards and 10 touchdowns in the regular season. Fajardo is in his first season with the Green and White.

Shaq Evans, a second-year member of the Roughriders, was named an all-star receiver after catching 72 passes for 1,334 yards and five touchdowns.

Regina product Dan Clark was named the West’s all-star centre in his eighth season with the Roughriders. He led an O-line that allowed just 37 sacks and helped the Roughriders average 112.8 rushing yards per game.

Four Saskatchewan defenders were named division all-stars.

In his second season with the Roughriders, defensive end Charleston Hughes led the CFL with 16 sacks and added 50 tackles, four forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

It’s the second straight season — and the eighth time in his career — that Hughes has been named a West Division all-star. He was selected to the team six times when he played for the Calgary Stampeders.

Middle linebacker Solomon Elimimian was named a West Division all-star for the sixth time in his career; he previously was selected five times as a member of the B.C. Lions.

In 2019 — his first season in Saskatchewan — Elimimian recorded 88 tackles, four sacks and one forced fumble.

Outside linebacker Derrick Moncrief earned his first all-star berth after accumulating 69 tackles, four special-teams stops, four sacks, three interceptions and one forced fumble in his third season with the Roughriders.

Safety Mike Edem was selected a division all-star for the second time in his career; he was an East all-star in 2013 when he was with the Montreal Alouettes. In his third season with the Roughriders, Edem had 69 tackles, seven special-teams tackles, three sacks and one forced fumble in 2019.

Punter Jon Ryan was named the West Division’s all-star punter in his first season back in the CFL after a 12-year stint in the NFL. Ryan, who also was the West all-star in 2005 when he played with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, punted 107 times for a 48.8-yard average in his first season with Saskatchewan.

The full list of East and West division all-stars can be found here.