Regina Rams quarterback Noah Picton has been voted the most outstanding player in Canadian university football and with that comes the most prestigious award in university sports, the Hec Crighton Trophy.

Picton received the honour at the All-Canadian Football Awards Gala in Hamilton Thursday night as part of the festivities leading up to Saturday's Vanier Cup Game.

"It's incredible to have your name go down in history with this trophy" Picton said. "50 years from now, hopefully, some guy from Regina is looking at this trophy and he says, 'Hey there's Noah Picton and he's next to Andrew Buckley and Andy Fantuz and some incredible CIS players and some guys who had incredible CFL careers.' So it's a little bit surreal right now."

University of Regina Rams quarterback Noah Picton set a national passing record this season throwing for more than 3,100 yards. (Peter Mills/CBC)

Picton set a national standard for passing this year throwing for more than 3,100 yards while leading the Rams to 1st place in the Canada West Conference for the first time since they joined the university ranks in 1999.

Picton credited first year head coach Steve Bryce for orchestrating a psychological and cultural shift in the Rams' clubhouse, taking a team which went winless in 2015 to top spot this year.

Picton is disappointed the Rams' playoff run was short lived as they lost to UBC in the semi-finals, but winning the Hec Crighton takes some of the sting away.

He called it "eery timing" that it was 30 years ago when his dad Dean won the first of his two Peter Dalla Riva Trophies, awarded to the most outstanding offensive player in Canadian Junior Football — while also with the Regina Rams.

"It's neat to know that he was going through the exact same thing that I was," Picton said.

"He won a national championship to go along with it so I didn't quite live up to that aspect of it," he added. "I have still have a lot to prove to carry on his legacy and follow in those footsteps. But it's something we will enjoy together."

Dad was in the room at the Hamilton Convention Centre when his son's name was called as winner of the Hec Crighton. Dean Picton says it will take a while for that to sink in.

"I'm just extremely proud," he said. "It's really amazing that a five-foot-nine quarterback from Regina can accomplish that in a sport where guys are getting bigger and stronger. I'm just kind of dumbfounded. We're just enjoying the ride, the success that he's had and soaking it all in."

Noah Picton became the first player in Regina Rams history to win the Hec Crighton Trophy. (Glenn Reid/CBC)

Noah Picton is the first player from the University of Regina to win the Hec Crighton and the first from a Saskatchewan university since Dave Pickett of the Huskies won it in 1973.

Picton, a business administration student at the U of R is the 50th recipient of the Hec Crighton Trophy since its inception in 1967 and he continues a nice run for quarterbacks in the voting for most outstanding player.

Signal callers have taken home Canadian university football's highest individual honour each of the past 10 years and 30 times overall.

Rams' rookie defensive lineman Nicholas Dheilly and head coach Steve Bryce were also up for National awards on Thursday night but came away empty-handed.

The Laval Rouge et Or and the Calgary Dinos play for the Vanier Cup this Saturday at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton.