BURLINGTON, ON - On Wednesday, November 6, Ontario University Athletics officially announced the list of All-Stars for the 2019 football season with a total of six Gryphons receiving recognition.
Gryphon Football 2019 OUA All-Stars
OUA 1st Team
| #6 |
Clarke Barnes |
Kick Returner |
| #67 |
Coulter Woodmansey |
Offensive Line |
OUA 2nd Team
| #97 |
Alain Cimankinda |
Defensive Tackle |
| #94 |
Tavius Robinson |
Defensive End |
| #54 |
Job Reinhart |
Linebacker |
| #26 |
Dotun Aketepe |
Defensive Back |
In just his first season in the OUA,
Clark Barnes has earned OUA First Team All-Star status thanks to his explosive play on special teams as the conference's top kick returner.
Clark Barnes returns the opening kickoff vs Carleton in Week 2 for a TD
Barnes, a 6-2, 200 lbs arts major from Brampton, got his OUA career off to a dream start, recording a kick return for a touchdown in each of his first three games of the season. In Week 1, Barnes took the season's opening kick back 100-yards for a score versus McMaster. That was followed by a 106-yard kick return on the game's opening play in Week 2 and Carleton. And an unthinkable third straight game with a kick return for a touchdown would come in Week 3 versus York, where Barnes took one back 82-yards up the sideline for his third major of the season. Despite missing a significant amount of the second half of the season due to injury, Barnes still finished 4th in the OUA in kick return yards, needing just 13 kick returns to rack up 486 yards (averaging an OUA-best 37.4 yards per kick return).
Joining Barnes as an OUA First Team All-Star is
Coulter Woodmansey, a fourth-year offensive lineman from Toronto who earns the first OUA all-star recognition of his career.
OUA First Team All-Star, Coulter Woodmansey
The 6-foot-5, 300 lbs Woodmansey continues to garner attention from CFL scouts. After impressing at the U SPORTS East-West Bowl in May of 2019, Woodmansey anchored the Gryphons up front, helping the Gryphons finish 3rd in the OUA in rushing with 1,413 yards (176.6 per game). While the Gryphons impressed up front on the offensive line, as well as with several huge plays on special teams, there's no doubt that the spotlight in 2019 belonged to the Gryphon defence.
Four different players from the Gryphons dominating defensive unit earned a spot on the list of OUA Second Team All-Stars. Defensive linemen
Alain Cimankinda and
Tavius Robinson were among the elite pass rushers in the conference in 2019, finishing the regular season with 7.5 and 6 sacks, respectively. For both Cimankinda and Robinson, the Second Team All-Star nod marks the first conference all-star recognition of their Gryphon careers, with Cimankinda now in his third season at U of G and Robinson in just his second. Fifth-year linebacker
Job Reinhart, who like Robinson is a local Guelph product, was named an OUA Second Team All-Star at linebacker after helping lead a U of G defence that finished the regular season as the No. 1-ranked scoring defence in the province. Reinhart finished 2nd on the team with 44.5 tackles to go along with 4.5 sacks and a forced fumble. It marks the second time in Reinhart's career he has been named an OUA All-Star after earning all-conference honours in 2016 for his work on special teams. Rounding out the Gryphon all-stars is talented defensive back
Dotun Aketepe, a fourth-year marketing management major from Barrie who has become a game-changing piece of the Gryphon secondary. Aketepe started the season at free safety before transitioning to halfback where he would become one of the league's top shutdown players. Aketepe recorded a team-high 4 interceptions in 2019 to go along with 29.0 tackles to help him earn OUA All-Star status for the first time in his four-year career with the Gryphons.
A complete list of First and Second team all-stars can be found below. The OUA will announced the conference's major award winners on Thursday (Nov. 7) at the Yates Cup press conference.
2019 OUA First Team All-Stars
Offence
QB – Chris Merchant, Western
RB – Levondre Gordon, Laurier
RB – Dion Pellerin, Waterloo
REC – Tyler Ternowski, Waterloo
REC – Brett Ellerman, Western
REC – Will Corby, Toronto
REC – Phil Iloki, Carleton
C – Elliot Beamer, Western
T – Zack Fry, Western
T – Dylan Giffen, Western
G – Coulter Woodmansey, Guelph
G – Spencer Hood, Western
Defence
DT – Cameron Lawson, Queen's
DT – Sam Acheampong, Laurier
DE – Réshaan Davis, Ottawa
DE – Malcolm Campbell, Toronto
LB – Jack Cassar, Carleton
LB – Tommy Bringi, Laurier
SAM – Trevor Hoyte, Carleton
FS – Jacob Janke, York
HB – Noah Hallett, McMaster
HB – Cody Cranston, Ottawa
CB – Bleska Kambamba, Western
CB – Tyrell Ford, Waterloo
Special Teams
P – Marc Liegghio, Western
K – Marc Liegghio, Western
RET – Clark Barnes, Guelph
RUSH – Rashad Spooner, Ottawa
2019 OUA Second Team All-Stars
Offence
QB – Tre Ford, Waterloo
RB – Trey Humes, Western
RB – Rasheed Tucker, Queen's
REC – Nolan Lovegrove, Toronto
REC – Tommy Nield, McMaster
REC – Brentyn Hall, Laurier
REC – Gordon Lam, Waterloo
C – JD Richardson, Laurier
T – Spencer Andrews, Waterloo
T – Max Guy, McMaster
G – Jakub Szott, McMaster
G – Drew Mairleitner, Laurier
Defence
DT – Alain Cimankinda, Guelph
DT – Trevaughan James, Laurier
DE – Tavius Robinson, Guelph
DE – Anthony Federico, Queen's
LNB – Job Reinhart, Guelph
LB – Kyle Rodger, Ottawa
SAM – Eric Blake, McMaster
FS – Luke Griese, Ottawa
HB – Dotun Aketepe, Guelph
HB – Malcolm Thompson, Laurier
CB – Nolan Putt, McMaster
CB – Ayo Ajayi, Laurier
Special Teams
P – Jonah Zlatinszky, Waterloo
K – Nathan Mesher, Laurier
RET – Kalem Beaver, Ottawa
RUSH – Kurtis Gray, Waterloo
