Burlington, ON - A trio of Mustangs were recognized by the OUA on Thursday morning as they announced the year end major awards.

Mustangs QB Chris Merchant was named the league MVP for his outstanding performance, leading the Mustangs to a third consecutive undefeated season. Merchant was quick to credit his entire team for putting him in the position to be recognized for the award. "Four year ago, when I came to Western and sat down with Coach Marshall we knew we had some big goals and wanted to win a lot of championships but to have the success I have had wouldn't be possible without my teammates. We've had a lot of great teams over the years and we were supposed to be rebuilding this year but we just reloaded and played some really close games against some great teams this year. This award is nothing without them and its special because I get to share it with them".

Two days after being named to the All-Rookie Team, DB Kojo Odoom was named the 2019 OUA Rookie of the Year. The 1st year King's College student registered 15 solo tackles and 10 assisted tackles, he also led all Western defensive players with four pass breakups. Odoom says the veterans in the dressing room have been a big influence "Having seasoned vets who have conditioned themselves to win and conditioned themselves to be excellent have been the key to my success, that extends to our coaching staff who have been top notch and that's helped me get to where I am today".

For the seventh time in his storied career, Head Coach Greg Marshall was named the OUA Coach of the Year. Marshall deflected the honour as not so much a recognition of his performance but more of a reflection of his entire team and their performance. 

Marshall first won the David "Tuffy" Knight Award in 1999 and was asked during the presentation about how the game has changed between then and now. "The kids that I coached when i first started coaching are very similar to today, we keep hearing about how times have changed and people change but the student-athletes we all coach are fantastic and I feel very fortunate to have the job I have and to be able to interact with our players every single day".

The major awards come a day after ten Mustangs were named OUA All-Stars. Western had nine First Team All-Stars including Merchant, Brett Ellerman, Elliot Beamer, Zack Fry, Dylan Giffen, Spencer Hood, Bleska Kambamba & Marc Liegghio as both the punter and kicker. Mustangs RB Trey Humes was also recognized as a Second Team All-Star.

The Mustangs still have some more hardware in mind starting with the Yates Cup this weekend. Western will take on McMaster Saturday at 1pm at TD Stadium. Tickets are on sale now at westernmustangs.ca/tickets.