Rob and Diane Wiebe deserve serious consideration for MOP — Most Outstanding Parents.
They have been in the stands this season at all 16 CFL games that have included Nick Wiebe, who on Wednesday was named the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Most Outstanding Special Teams Player for 2025.
“They haven’t missed one yet,” said Nick, whose family hails from Okotoks, Alta. “My dad works out in Ontario, so he makes the East games pretty easily, but my mom being at every one this year is pretty impressive.
“Even when I was at Oregon, she didn’t make it to all of them, so having her around this year and having her support, knowing she was always in the crowd, that was super-helpful.
“There’s a bond between a mom and a son that you can’t replicate very easily, so having her there has been pretty special this year.”
Mr. and Mrs. Wiebe were at Princess Auto Stadium on Sept. 7, 2024 for Nick’s CFL debut. Alas, he aggravated a knee injury against the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers and was forced to miss the remainder of his rookie season, such as it was.
This year, the former University of Oregon Ducks and University of Saskatchewan Huskies linebacker has returned with a flourish. He has registered a team-high 20 special teams tackles — a total that ties him for fourth in the CFL.
“I don’t think I’d be here without the support of my family and of the guys in the locker room,” he said.
Wiebe is among six Roughriders players who received an award nomination on Wednesday.
Also included is Jermarcus Hardrick (Offensive Lineman of the Year). Like Wiebe, Hardrick has enjoyed a robust recovery after his 2024 season was shortened by an injury.
Hardrick started the Roughriders’ first five games last season before suffering a quad injury.
In 2025, he was anchored at right tackle for the first 16 regular-season games before being rested on Friday in Winnipeg.
That game did not have any bearing on the standings for Saskatchewan, which one week earlier had clinched first place in the CFL’s overall standings and hosting privileges for the Western Final (Nov. 8, 5:30 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
“(Hardrick and Wiebe) were in tough last year, obviously,” Head Coach Corey Mace said, “but they’re really the players we expected them to be, if healthy.
“That’s why you’re so hurt for those guys, because they didn’t really have the opportunity to show what they had (last year), even though I think everybody understood.
“They worked their tails off last year and this off-season and certainly to this point, too, so I’m extremely happy for those guys to get the recognition.”
The same sentiment applied to quarterback Trevor Harris (Most Outstanding Player), linebackers A.J. Allen (Most Outstanding Canadian) and Jameer Thurman (Most Outstanding Defensive Player) and left tackle Payton Collins (Most Outstanding Rookie).
Collins, whose season was interrupted by a knee injury he sustained in the opener, has excelled in 11 starts as a newcomer to Canadian professional football.
He is part of an offensive line that has helped Saskatchewan surrender only 25 sacks (third-fewest in the league) and boast a 1,000-yard rusher (A.J. Ouellette) for the first time since William Powell reached that milestone in 2019.
“I’m just so glad I came up here,” said Collins, previously of the Eastern Kentucky Colonels. “The whole team has been so great.
“I had a couple of other decisions before I came up here. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but when I made that choice to come up here, it felt right. It felt like what I was supposed to do.”
Harris had a tie to Collins, who also hails from Ohio, before the 6-foot-7, 301-pounder signed with Saskatchewan in early May.
“My nephew knows Payton so when he came here, he was telling me a little bit about him,” Harris said. “It has been fun to get to know him.”
The fun extends to being part of a 12-5 Saskatchewan team that is to wrap up the regular season on Saturday against the B.C. Lions (5 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
Harris has the most victories (11) by a CFL starting quarterback this season. He also leads the league in quarterback efficiency rating (110.5) in addition to being ranked second in completion percentage (73.2), third in passing yards (4,437) and fourth in touchdown passes (24). Hence the unanimous team MOP selection.
“It’s obviously a huge honour and I’m very thankful, but we have a lot of deserving candidates and this is the ultimate team sport,” he said.
“It’s like the turtle on a fence post. If you see a turtle up on a fence post, he didn’t get there on his own.”
The other unanimous choice was Allen, a fourth-year Roughrider who is thriving during his first full season as a starting linebacker in the CFL.
Allen is sixth in the league in total tackles with 88 (84 on defence; four on special teams) and leads all Canadians in total tackles and defensive tackles.
With 106 total defensive plays, he is tied for fifth in the CFL. He has four sacks, three interceptions, three forced fumbles, five pass knockdowns and three tackles for a loss.
“I’m just a kid from Burlington,” the Ontario-born Allen said. “If I can do it, a lot of people can, too.
“It’s just the culmination of putting the work in and putting your head down and working.
“It means so much (to win the award). It goes with the message: ‘It’s possible.’ It’s really possible for anybody.
“Get your head right, get your body right, and you can do things that you want to do. You can prove yourself right, given any opportunity.”
Allen has a huge booster in Thurman, who has used social media to tout the attributes of his linebacking cohort.
Thurman has also received due credit, one year after being a divisional All-CFL selection.
Despite being one of the league’s top linebackers since being introduced to three-down football in 2017, he had not been named his team’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player until Wednesday.
“It does feel good — I’m not going to lie,” said Thurman, whose 85 defensive tackles place him fourth in the league.
“At the end of the day, I pride myself on just doing my job. The plays are going to come. I make the plays that come my way. There are some games where I don’t really get a lot of action, but I think that is more of a respect thing than anything.
“The plays that come my way, I make. I’m just glad I’m able to finally get one.”
