From the first weekend of the Canada West football regular season, first year running back Anthony Coombs was selected as Canada West Offence Football Athlete of the Week for the week ending September 4/11.

Coombs played in his first CIS game with Manitoba and made an immediate impact with two touchdowns (one rush, one pass) plus added return yards and tied for second in a Bison record for longest reception in a close 35-31 loss to #4 Calgary at home on Saturday, September 3.

The rookie running back/kick returner was the team leading rusher with 62 rushing yards on 15 carries plus added a six yard TD run on the first possession of the game. He added a 90 yard TD reception (tied for the second longest in Bison history) to end the third quarter and notched a game-high 101 reception yards on three catches.

In addition, the Winnipeg native had 51 kickoff return yards on nine attempts and one kickoff return for 27 yards.

Coombs is second in Canada West all-purpose yards with 241 yards, plus second in reception yards at 101 and fifth with 62 rushing yards.

He is the first Bison to be named to conference football honours during the 2011 campaign.

Bison Football Notes: Coombs was one of 23 Bison players (out of 50 players lineup - 46% of full roster) who played for Manitoba for the first time in their career. With the 23 new players for Manitoba starting this season on the roster, 13 of them are 20 years old or younger. As of game one, RB Nic Demski is 17 years old while Coombs and LB Bami Adewale are 18 plus eight other players are just 19. Manitoba (0-1) now travels to play in Edmonton against the Alberta Golden Bears (0-1) on Saturday, September 10 at 7 p.m. MT.