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Jonathan Michael Cornish (born November 5, 1984) is a Canadian former professional football running back who played nine seasons with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted 13th overall in the 2006 CFL Draft after playing college football at the University of Kansas. Cornish was inducted as a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2019 on his first ballot.
While at Kansas, Cornish set the KU single-season rushing record with 1,457 yards and was selected First Team All-Big XII in his senior year. During his collegiate career, he was also selected Team Offensive MVP in both his junior year and senior year.
Professionally, after taking over starting duties from Calgary's all-time leading rusher Joffrey Reynolds midway through 2011, Cornish rushed for 611 yards in the final seven games of the season, averaging 7.7 yards per carry. In the Stampeders only 2011 playoff game versus the Edmonton Eskimos, he ran for 128 yards and a touchdown while averaging 9.2 yards per carry. Those eight games were enough to garner him the 2011 Calgary Booster Club Male Athlete of the Year award and a CFL West All-star selection.
In his first full year as a starter, Cornish led the CFL in rushing with 1,457 rushing yards on the ground. Cornish also broke Norman Kwong’s 56-year-old single-season rushing record for Canadians. This led to him being selected 2012 Most Outstanding Canadian as well as being the runner-up for the Most Outstanding Player award. Cornish was again selected for Calgary's Male Athlete of the Year award. He bettered this in 2013, rushing for 1813 yards and winning both the Most Outstanding Canadian and the Most Outstanding Player awards. Soon after, Cornish was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete for 2013.
In 2014, Cornish led the CFL in rushing for the third time with 1,082 yards, an average of 7.8 yards per carry. This was despite only playing in 9 games, half of the regular season. He was a member of the 2014 Grey Cup Champion Calgary Stampeders.
His career achievements were recognized in 2018 when the award for the top Canadian in NCAA Division One football was named the Jon Cornish Trophy honouring his career as a high school and professional player in Canada, and a college player in the NCAA.
Cornish is also credited with 152 career tackles, including 89 his senior season and holds his school career record with 37 quarterback sacks, 21 of which he had while a junior. At the end of his senior year, Cornish was selected the British Columbia Provincial Football Player of the Year in the year of its inception.
While at STMC, Cornish was on two Varsity AAA Provincial High School Football Championship teams.
Against Nebraska on his birthday, November 5, 2005, Cornish contributed a touchdown run of 72 yards to help seal Kansas' first victory over Nebraska in 38 years.
In Kansas' second Bowl game appearance under Mark Mangino, playing against the Houston Cougars, Cornish helped his team to their first bowl victory with 101 yards rushing. He also had two touchdown receptions for 13 and 30 yards.
Following his junior season, Cornish was drafted in the Canadian Football League draft by the Calgary Stampeders.
Cornish averaged 5.8 yards per carry, scored 8 rushing touchdowns, 1 passing touchdown, and had 8 games of 100 yards of rushing or more. Cornish was the Big 12's leader in all-purpose yards with an average of 137.6 yards per contest. Cornish finished the season as the 9th leading rusher in NCAA Division I-A College football and the 1st in rushing in the Big 12 Conference. Cornish's efforts were enough to earn him First Team Big XII honours and his second John Hadl team Offensive MVP award. In addition, Cornish's 5.8 yards per carry is the highest single-season mark in school history by a back with more than 200 carries, higher than that of former Kansas greats Gale Sayers and John Riggins.
Cornish's career-high rushing in a single game came on November 18, 2006, when he rushed for 201 yards and two touchdowns against Kansas State helping Kansas gain bowl eligibility for the second year in a row. Ultimately, Kansas was not selected for a bowl game.
He contributed to the Stampeders playoff efforts and was a part of the 2008 Grey Cup Championship Team.
His 7.3-yard average per rush was tops in the CFL among running backs, with at least 50 carries and he ran for a career-high 618 yards. He had three carries of at least 50 yards — a 52-yarder against Edmonton Eskimos on Aug. 15, a 50-yard dash against Saskatchewan on July 24 and another 50-yarder against BC Lions on Aug. 28. He also contributed as a receiver, making 14 catches for 226 yards and one touchdown for an average of 16.5 yards per catch, highest of all CFL running backs that year.
On special teams, he made 12 tackles and also returned 12 kickoffs for 224 yards. Cornish twice earned top Canadian honours in the CFL player of the week awards during the 2010 season as he was recognized for his efforts in Week 4 and Week 9.
During the playoffs Cornish was selected by CFL fans as the winner of the 2010 Reebok Rediscover campaign. In the final round of voting, Jon Cornish's description of what had motivated him as a player prevailed over Roughrider Darian Durant’s narration of his defining moment as an athlete.
For the season, he posted career highs in carries (119), rushing yards (863), rushing touchdowns (nine), catches (26), receiving yards (385) and receiving touchdowns (two). His 7.3-yard-per-carry average led all CFL players with at least 60 rushing attempts. His 11 total touchdowns tied him for the league lead and were the most by a Canadian Stampeders player since 1995. In addition to his excellent work on offence, Cornish was tied for second on the club with 13 special-teams tackles and returned eight kickoffs for 167 yards. Cornish recorded a pair of 100-yard rushing games during the regular season including a career-high 149-yard performance on Oct. 1 against Saskatchewan that resulted in him being named both the top offensive player and top Canadian in the CFL’s player-of-the-week awards. He also ran for 128 yards on Oct. 14 against Toronto — including a career-best 57-yard dash — and again picked up the CFL’s Canadian player of the week honour. He was also named the CFL’s Canadian of the month for September after posting 336 rushing yards, two touchdowns, a 9.9-yard-per-carry average and eight receptions for 166 yards.
He picked up more league recognition in the playoffs as he was named the Canadian player of the week after rushing for 127 yards and one touchdown in the West semifinal against Edmonton. For the second year in a row, Cornish was the Stamps’ nominee for the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian award.
Following the completion of his ninth CFL season Cornish decided to announce his retirement. His decision was based primarily on preserving his health.
| 2007 | CGY | 18 | 2 | 30 | 15.0 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2008 | CGY | 18 | 30 | 254 | 8.5 | 48 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 | CGY | 15 | 20 | 105 | 5.3 | 28 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010 | CGY | 18 | 85 | 618 | 7.3 | 52 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 31 | 10.3 | 28 | 0 |
| 2011 | CGY | 18 | 119 | 863 | 7.3 | 57 | 9 | 1 | 14 | 127 | 9.3 | 29 | 1 |
| 2012 | CGY | 18 | 258 | 1,457 | 5.6 | 73 | 11 | 3 | 51 | 278 | 5.5 | 0 | 0 |
| 2013 | CGY | 17 | 258 | 1,813 | 7.0 | 53 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 67 | 7.4 | 32 | 0 |
| 2014 | CGY | 9 | 139 | 1,082 | 7.8 | 79 | 5 | 1 | 14 | 54 | 3.9 | 11 | 1 |
| 2015 | CGY | 9 | 115 | 622 | 5.4 | 26 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
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