Justin Rankin, Tyson Philpot among CFL players on historic pace

TORONTO — Only six weeks of CFL football have been played this year, but a handful of players have already started putting together campaigns that could be written into the history books.

Justin Rankin has been one of the biggest stories across the country, as the Edmonton Elks running back has emerged as an early George Reed Most Outstanding Player candidate. He’s on pace to become the first player in CFL history to surpass 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving. Rankin is also on pace to surpass Mike Pringle’s record of total scrimmage yards and Milt Stegall’s total touchdown record.

Through five games, Rankin leads the CFL with 513 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground, and has 297 receiving yards and a touchdown.

In the East, Tyson Philpot is drawing just as much attention. The Canadian receiver has been the focal point of Montreal’s offence and Davis Alexander’s favourite target. He is on pace to break Allen Pitts’ receiving yards record and Derrell “Mookie” Mitchell’s receptions record. So far this season, Philpot leads the league with 719 receiving yards, averaging 143.8 yards per game, and has scored four touchdowns.

Along with Rankin and Philpot, Alexander, Vernon Adams Jr. and Chad Kelly are also on pace for significant seasons.

Both Adams Jr. and Kelly are on pace to throw 50 touchdowns on the year, which would break Doug Flutie’s record of 48. Kelly and Alexander aren’t on pace to break Flutie’s single-season passing record of 6,619, but they’re still worth keeping an eye on as they are both on pace to go over 6,000 yards.

It’s also worth noting that if both Alexander and Kelly surpass 6,000 passing yards this season, it will be the first time since 1993 (Doug Flutie, 6,092 and David Archer, 6,023) that two quarterbacks have gone over that mark in one season.