It was during Week 13 of the 2011 Canadian Football League season that Jon Cornish became Calgary’s starting running back.

The New Westminster, B.C., product had a solid debut in the role — despite carrying the ball just nine times, he ran for 84 yards in the Stampeders’ Touchdown Atlantic meeting with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The following week, Cornish stepped it up a notch or two, rumbling for 149 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. For that wonderful performance, he was voted the CFL’s Canadian player of the week, setting the tone for what was to come.

Cornish has now been the Stamps’ feature back for 18 games — the equivalent of a full regular season — and the numbers have been very impressive.

When it comes to awards, he has been named Canadian player of the week seven times in those 18 games (plus once more during the first week of the 2001 playoffs). Cornish was also crowned the league’s Canadian of the month in September of 2011 and August of this season.

Very nice, but Cornish’s greatness has hardly been limited by his nationality. Over those 18 regular-season starts, Cornish has ran for 1,491 yards. That’s 272 yards more than his closest pursuer over the same period and a total superior to the those of three of the last four CFL rushing champions.

He has scored 15 touchdowns in those two games — 14 rushing and one receiving — has a nifty 6.5-yards-per-carry average and has recorded five 100-yard games (and one more in the playoffs) including a career-high 185 yards a couple of weeks ago in Edmonton.

CFL rushing leaders since Week 13 of the 2011 season (18 games)