Caron Wins Presidents’ Trophy

Stingers Linebacker Picks Up Top CIS Defensive Award

SportsAndrew Maggio — Published November 29, 2011

The win marks the fifth time in the last eight years a Stinger has snagged the trophy, and it’s Caron’s second award of the season; he also won the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec`s Oustanding Defensive Player award earlier in the month.

“He’s an old school linebacker in the sense that he always brings his hard hat and lunch pail to work without ever.” -Luc Pelland, Stingers’ linebacker coach

Caron is coming off a stellar year in which he broke two single-season RSEQ records, notching five interceptions, and three interceptions returned for touchdowns. Caron also led the nation with 78.5 total tackles, an astonishing 8.7 average tackles per game.

“Winning the Presidents’ Trophy is a huge honour for me,” said Caron. “It was especially humbling to be considered in a year where there were many other talented defensive players in the league.”
Caron credited his brother for pushing him to become a better football player at every stage of his young career.

“Without my brother, I wouldn’t have been able to get to where I am today,” said Caron. “He helped me understand that if I wanted to be better than him I would have to put in the work and that was when I started to really work hard at becoming a good football player.”

Caron appears to be next in the line of great linebackers to come through the Concordia football program. He has been compared to other Concordia greats such as Ross Reeves, Luc Pelland, and Cory Greenwood. Greenwood, who won the
Presidents’ Trophy in 2009, currently plays for the National Football League’s Kansas City Chiefs.

Pelland, now the Stingers’ linebacker coach, noted Caron’s leadership and work ethic in describing his star protégé.

“Max is a true student of the game, and he inspires me as a coach to bring him the tools he needs to continue his development,” said Pelland. “He’s an old school linebacker in the sense that he always brings his hard hat and lunch pail to work without ever complaining.”

Phil Roberts, the Stingers’ defensive coordinator, had high praises for Caron’s work throughout the season.

“He’s come a long way after two years. I still think there’s growth in him. He’s shown himself to be one of the best university football players in Canada, and with a bit more fine-tuning there’s no doubt he’ll be able to take his game to the next level.”

Concordia halfback Kris Robertson was also honoured over the weekend as a CIS All-Canadian for his tremendous return abilities. This season he returned two punts for touchdowns and made two interceptions, returning one for a touchdown, and he spoke glowingly of Caron.

“Max is an incredible individual who exemplifies someone with incredible willpower,” said Robertson. “The trophy was well deserved. He earned it.”

Caron knows that he’ll have a target on his back now, as teams will begin to focus on him every week in an attempt to limit his impact on games. Unfortunately for them, Caron is ready for the challenge.

“If teams want to try and key in on me more, then I just need to concern myself with doing my job, because more attention on me just means that there will be more
opportunities for my teammates to make plays.”