Three Stars: Jon Cornish, Chad Owens and Alonzo Lawrence shine in Week Seven

Moving on with our Three Stars series, here's a look at the top offensive, defensive, special teams and Canadian players from Week Seven. It was another bye week, so there were only half as many performances to choose from as usual, but there were still some very impressive ones.

First star/offensive player of the week: Jon Cornish, running back, Calgary Stampeders: There was plenty of offensive firepower on display in Week Seven's two games, but the majority of it came from Cornish. He collected 175 yards and four touchdowns on the ground against Saskatchewan Friday. If you count converts with the touchdowns, that means Cornish accounted for 28 points, more than either the Roughriders (27) or the Alouettes (13). That's pretty impressive. Beyond the touchdowns, though, Cornish also ran very efficiently, needing just 16 carries to pick up those 175 yards. That's an average of 10.9 yards per carry. His success wasn't just from one long run, either, as his longest carry was for 53 yards. Cornish was consistently effective (and versatile: one of his touchdowns came on a 14-yard run off a direct snap, and he also added 20 receiving yards on three catches) Friday. The former Kansas Jayhawk continues to be one of this league's top offensive players.

(Honourable mentions: Kevin Glenn, QB, Calgary; Nik Lewis, SB, Calgary; Ricky Ray, QB, Toronto.)

Second star/special teams player of the week: Chad Owens, PR/KR, Toronto Argonauts: Owens delivered this week's most spectacular play with a 118-yard touchdown return off a missed Montreal field goal Thursday, putting the Argonauts up 21-0. He also was effective on kick returns (two for 31 yards) and punt returns (three for 39 yards). It's been a solid year for Hawaii product Owens, who's fourth in the league with 664 combined return yards, but he hasn't produced quite as many highlight-reel returns as we're used to. He certainly did that this week. (He's also leading the league in receiving yards, so, not a bad season at all.)

(Honourable mentions: Noel Prefontaine, P/K, Toronto; Rob Maver, P, Calgary; Yannick Carter, LB, Calgary.)

Third star/defensive player of the week: Alonzo Lawrence, defensive back, Toronto Argonauts: Lawrence made a remarkable impact in his first CFL start Thursday, particularly on a first-quarter play where he hit Alouettes' running back Noel Devine hard enough on a short pass to force a fumble, then recovered the fumble himself. Lawrence delivered a perfect bulldozing tackle and stayed aware of where the ball was, getting to it before anyone else. That set up the Argos' second touchdown and paved the way for them to run away with the game. Lawrence also had two defensive tackles on the night and recovered another fumble. It's a long way to the CFL from Lawrence's alma mater, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (he was once a highly-touted Alabama signing, but then transferred to Southern Mississippi and ran into academic eligibility issues there, causing him to transfer again), but he's had some impressive stops along the way, including NFL tryouts. He's looking like he'll fit in just fine up here.

Bonus star/Canadian player of the week: Jon Cornish, running back, Calgary Stampeders: It would be silly to pick anyone other than Cornish again, considering just how dominant he was this week. It's notable that this wasn't a one-off for him, though; we discussed his performance against Saskatchewan above, but he's been remarkably good in an often-under-the-radar role this season. Much of the talk about the Stampeders this season has been around the success they've found with their revolving cast of quarterbacks, but Cornish has been a consistent part of their offence, and his success on the ground has helped to open up the passing game for all those different pivots.

Cornish's 676 rushing yards on the season are second in the league, and although he's a long ways behind the Roughriders' Kory Sheets (845), it's notable that Cornish has been more effective with his touches, averaging an astounding 7.3 yards per carry (versus Sheets' still-remarkable 6.4); he's just carried the ball 39 fewer times than Sheets has. That doesn't necessarily scale linearly, of course: teams facing Saskatchewan are very prepared for a high-run offence, while Calgary's opponents are often expecting the pass, giving Cornish an element of surprise, so his yards-per-carry might drop with more usage. Still, he's proven to be not just one of the CFL's top RBs, but one of its top players, and the reigning Most Outstanding Canadian looks like the favourite for that title again at this point.

(Honourable mentions: Jerome Messam, RB, Montreal; Chris Getzlaf, WR, Saskatchewan; Noel Prefontaine, P/K, Toronto.)

Want to nominate a candidate for next week's Three Stars? Let me know via Twitter or e-mail during the week's games.