Former Boll Weevil gets CFL recognition

Around these parts, football fans usually limit the scope of their interest to high school, college and the NFL. One former University of Arkansas at Monticello Boll Weevil is doing his best to turn heads northward, though.

A 5-foot-10, 186-pound slotback for the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Clarence Demnark has been included on the 26-player CFL All-Star Team for 2014 after finishing second in the league in receiving yards this season. The Football Reporters of Canada and CFL head coaches conducted the voting.

One of seven players who attended Arkansas colleges on current CFL rosters, Denmark was one of three receivers in the CFL to have posted more than 1,000 yards receiving in 2014. The former UAM star caught 65 passes for 1,080 yards and three touchdowns, a 16.6 yards per catch average. During his four-year career with the Blue Bombers, Denmark has amassed 3,418 receiving yards and 13 scores on 248 receptions.  

“It feels good to be recognized,” Denmark told the Winnipeg Sun after learning of his all-star selection last week. “For me, it was just being consistent—and playing with Drew (Willy, Winnipeg’s starting quarterback) was a big thing. I tell everybody that just playing with a quarterback that’s in the game and you’re playing with him from week to week, it’s a good feeling to have that chemistry with your quarterback.”

Denmark was one of the few bright spots on a Bomber squad that finished out of the playoffs for the third year in a row with a 7-11 record. The only one of Winnipeg’s receivers to have played all 18 regular-season games, Denmark was also the CFL’s most dangerous deep threat this season, hauling in a league-high 11 passes that went for 30 yards or more. He also tied for fourth in the league with 24 second-down conversion catches.

And, the Sun reported, he did it after an off-season in which he dealt with personal issues he wasn’t quite ready to reveal.

“I went through some personal things that were real serious for me, and it took a lot for me to fight through that off the field and continue to keep the right mindset and continue to train and do things I was supposed to do to prepare for this season,” Denmark, who signed a contract extension with the Blue Bombers in September, told the Sun. “So when all that happened for me I had to take time to look back on everything that I went through, and it was really big for me. It means a lot, and it shows me what I can go through and overcome.”

Denmark’s said his goal for next season is to become more of a leader on offense, and that means becoming more vocal.

“I can step up and play that role,” he said. “I was under Terrence Edwards (who retired after nine seasons as a Winnipeg slotback in 2013) for a while, and I learned a lot from him. He played that role. It’s time for me to step up and play that role—be a lot more vocal and expect more out of the guys, and let them know I expect more out of them.”

The all-star nod is the Jacksonville, Fla. native’s first such honor as a professional athlete since joining Winnipeg in 2011. During his two-year career at UAM, Denmark totaled 1,586 yards on 91 catches. He earned All-Gulf South Conference honors as a senior in 2008 with 987 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Denmark is not the only Southeast Arkansas collegian to play with Winnepeg. Defensive back Don Unamba of Southern Arkansas University is also on the Blue Bombers’ roster. 

Other players with Arkansas college ties on CFL rosters, according to the league’s website, are running back Martell Mallett of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Jeremy Williams, a defensive back from Henderson State University, who were teammates on this season’s Grey Cup (the CFL’s version of the Super Bowl) champion Calgary Stampeders; defensive end Bryan Hall of Arkansas State University and the Grey Cup runner-up Hamilton Tiger-Cats; defensive back Tristan Jackson of the University of Central Arkansas and the Saskatchewan Roughriders; and Montreal Alouettes’ quarterback Tanner Marsh, of Arkansas Tech University.