WINNIPEG — BC Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke has been named 2025’s Most Outstanding Canadian.
It is Rourke’s second time winning the Most Outstanding Canadian after capturing the honour in 2022.
Rourke was also named the George Reed Most Outstanding Player. It is the second consecutive season that a Canadian has won the game’s most prestigious award after Brady Oliveira did the same in 2024.
The Lions pivot is the first Canadian quarterback to win both awards since Russ Jackson. Rourke joins Oliveira, Jon Cornish, Jackson and Tony Gabriel as the only players to capture both honours in the same year.
“It means a lot,” said Rourke about joining the list. “Those names are obviously legendary in the CFL, and it’s so much cooler that they’re Canadian as well. To be able to kind of continue the legacy that they started, and continue on the great traditions of this league is an honour and a privilege, and something I don’t take lightly.”
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Rourke helped BC make it all the way to the Western Final, where the team lost a close 24-21 battle to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The quarterback passed for a career-high 5,290 yards and 31 touchdowns to lead BC to a second-place standing in the West Division. On the ground, the former Ohio Bobcat rushed for 564 yards to lead all quarterbacks, an average of 9.2 yards per carry, while adding 10 majors.
In setting his new career-best in passing yards (5,290), he also established a new single-season CFL record for future generations of Canadian pivots to chase. The Victoria native’s 31 touchdown passes were the second-most in a single season by a Canadian, trailing only Russ Jackson’s 33 set in 1969.
