NEWS : Cumberbatch, Charbonneau, Polk named All-Canadians

The Gee-Gees had three members named All-Canadians for the first time in their careers on Thursday as the national honourees and award winners were announced Thursday evening in Kingston, Ont., site of the 2023 Vanier Cup.

Eric Cumberbatch was named a First Team All-Canadian at halfback, while linebacker Max Charbonneau and running back Amlicar Polk were named Second Team All-Canadians.

Cumberbatch established career highs in interceptions (two), and tackles per game (4.1), along with one sack and four pass breakups in the regular season. The 6-foot-3 human kinetics student from Alexandria, Ont., is a third-year Gee-Gee and has been named to the OUA All-Star Team twice.

Max Charbonneau was named the OUA's Standup Defensive Player of the Year to cap his five-year career in Garnet and Grey. Charbonneau finished the season with 44 solo and 36 assisted tackles for a total of 62.0 total tackles, all leading the OUA. The Ottawa product finished third in the nation with 7.8 tackles per game, and was also second nationally in overall tackles. The criminology student added a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a blocked kick to his impressive statistical résumé.

Amlicar Polk was the offensive sparkplug for Ottawa in 2023, scoring seven rushing touchdowns to lead the squad and rank third in OUA. Polk, a product of Hamilton, Ont., started the season with four games of over 100 yards rushing, setting a career high of 191 at Toronto. He finished with an average of 117.7 yards rushing per game and also picked up eight receptions this season. A fifth-year Gee-Gee, Polk finishes his career with 1228 career rushing yards, 824 of which were from 2023. Both totals land him in the all-time Gee-Gees record book.