WitP: Chad Owens an All-Star, Vince Manuwai a starter again

Congratulations to Chad Owens, who was named to the CFL's East Division All-Star team.

He's featured in a CFL.ca article about the re-emergence of big play return men in the CFL.

Owens led all three categories of kick returns, brought back four for TDs, and had 16 returns of 30 yards or more in 2010. By comparison, the Argos only had 19 completions of 30+ yards so he had nearly the same “big play” effect as the club’s entire aerial attack.

Many more of his potential long returns were called back for illegal blocks or the toll would have been even higher on the opposition. Winnipeg was the best example as they missed only two field goal attempts all year against Toronto, and Owens returned both for scores. His overall total of 2,701 return yards was the second-highest in league history and he would surely have challenged Eric Blount’s 1998 record had he suited up last weekend. He touched the ball 143 times on return plays during the season and turned the return into a total gain that ended up being just under half of the entire net offence for the Argonauts this season.

And Vince Manuwai has regained his starting job at left guard for the Jaguars.

For a few weeks now Jaguars left guard Justin Smiley has been insisting he isn't hurt anymore, but Vince Manuwai has been starting at the position anyway.

Seemed to everyone involved that Manuwai had won back the job after losing it in training camp.

So I asked coach Jack Del Rio point blank during his press conference today if Manuwai won back the job and Del Rio said yes.

"You can discuss it however you like, Vinny's going to be the starter this week," Del Rio said. "Justin remains a very valuable player for us. The way both of those guys have handled that is team first. I wouldn't say either one has ever been really happy about it but they're going about their business in a way that is best for the football team."