Montreal running back Mike Pringle earned his team's sixth straight nomination as the league announced the results of the first balloting for the CFL's equivalent of the MVP award.
With a league-record 19 rushing touchdowns and 1,752 yards on the ground with one game left in the season, Pringle is having yet another outstanding season and is considered a heavy favourite for the award.
For Pringle, this is the fourth straight time he has been nominated by the Montreal Alouettes.
Mike Pringle received the Alouettes' sixth straight nomination as the CFL MVP.
He was the Baltimore Stallions' nominee in the last two seasons of the team's existence before it moved to Montreal.
Pringle, who won the award in 1995 in Baltimore and 1998 with Montreal, will be battling Hamilton defensive lineman Joe Montford and receivers Derrell Mitchell of Toronto and Milt Stegall of Winnipeg to be the East Division's nominee.
"It means a lot, but I have to give all the credit to the guys on our team that have stood by me for years and supported me for years," Mitchell told The Fan 590, a Toronto all-sports radio station.
"It was a surprise to me when I got the news this morning."
Mitchell has been one of the sole bright spots in Toronto's offence this season, with 16 receiving touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and 1,363 receiving yards.
Stegall has 15 touchdowns and 1,423 receiving yards, while Montford leads the league's stingiest defence with seven forced fumbles.
It should be a battle of the quarterbacks for the West Division's nominee as three of the four candidates for the CFL's Most Outstanding Player come from that position.
Leading up the West list is B.C. Lions pivot Damon Allen, followed by Saskatchewan's Henry Burris and Calgary's Dave Dickenson. Edmonton defensive back Terry Ray rounds out the group.
Allen shook off a poor start to the season to become the league's all-time leading passer.
For Allen, who leads the league with 4,757 yards, this is his third team nomination.
A young Burris has guided the Saskatchewan Roughriders to a couple of surprising wins and has shown poise well beyond his years in passing for 4,647 yards.
Dickenson rebounded from an injury in the middle of the season to claim the CFL's highest pass percentage (64.3 per cent) and efficiency rating (114.0).
"I really feel when the team does well that's when the individual awards come anyway," said Dickenson. "We set out for a goal to win the west and accomplished that and the individual stuff is better to look at after the season's over."
Ray is second in the league with 96 defensive tackles.
Ray was also nominated for the CFL's most outstanding defensive player award.
Also given the nod for the honour were Montford, Toronto's Calvin Tiggle, Montreal's Lester Smith, Calgary's Joe Fleming, Saskatchewan's Demetrious Maxie, Winnipeg's Antonio Armstrong and B.C.'s Herman Smith.
Winnipeg wide receiver Albert Johnson III, who had 3,241 combined yards, was nominated in the rookie-of-the-year category along with Calgary wide receiver Marc Boerigter, Toronto running back Michael Jenkins, Hamilton linebacker Willie Fells, Saskatchewan's George White, Montreal rush end Tito Hannah, Edmonton defensive back Jerome Peterson and B.C. defensive back Michael Fletcher.
