Training camp: A look at special teams

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ special teams had their moments during the 2016 CFL season.

Some of those moments were good, but some weren’t.

Saskatchewan’s cover teams held opponents to 11.1 yards per punt return (the third-lowest such number in the CFL) and 19.1 yards per kickoff return (second-lowest). But opponents limited the Roughriders’ returns to 10.1 yards per punt (seventh-best) and 18.5 yards per kickoff (ninth-best).

The Roughriders had two punt returns for touchdowns (by Kendial Lawrence and Joe Craig) during the season and didn’t give up any TD returns. But the Roughriders surrendered 11 punt returns of 30 or more yards while managing just four of their own.

Josh Bartel and Saskatchewan’s punt team kept returners inside their own 10-yard line 18 times, but the Roughriders averaged a league-low 61.2 yards per kickoff.

It all added up to an up-and-down year for a unit guided by special-teams co-ordinator Craig Dickenson.

Here’s a look at Saskatchewan’s special-teams personnel entering training camp, which opens Sunday in Saskatoon.

Punters

Bartel finished fourth in the CFL last season with a career-high 45.1-yard average, having punted a league-high 134 times. His season-high boot of 86 yards was the longest of his career.

He put 18 punts inside the opponents’ 10-yard line, more than twice as many as the second-ranked punter (the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Justin Medlock, who had eight such punts).

Bartel has missed five games over his four CFL seasons, all in the 2014 campaign with Saskatchewan. His backup is 2016 draft pick Quinn van Gylswyk, who didn’t attempt any punts during his only game with the Roughriders last season (he dressed as the kicker to replace an injured Tyler Crapigna).

Van Gylswyk is more than capable as a punter, having averaged 42.5 yards in his U Sports career with the UBC Thunderbirds. The strength of his leg made him a must-have for the Roughriders in the draft.

Kickers

Crapigna was 36-for-42 on field-goal attempts for the Roughriders in 2016; his success rate of 85.7 per cent was fifth-best in the league.

He also was fifth in average attempted field goal (35.1 yards) and average successful three-pointer (33.9 yards). But he only tied for seventh in converts (88 per cent) and was ninth in kickoffs (61.0-yard average).

Crapigna was 21-for-24 from inside the 40-yard line, 13-for-15 between the 40 and 49, and 2-for-3 from beyond 50 yards.

Van Gylswyk is the backup, having filled the role in one game in 2016. He was 1-for-3 on field-goal attempts — his successful try was a 54-yarder, the longest by a Saskatchewan kicker all season — and hit his only convert attempt. He also had one kickoff for 63 yards.

Long-snappers

The Roughriders went through three long-snappers in 2016, as injuries sidelined Jorgen Hus and the man who was signed to replace him, Dan MacDonald. Randy Chevrier handled the duties in the final three games of the season.

Hus underwent off-season wrist surgery and is expected to be ready for camp. MacDonald retired last season due to concussion issues and Chevrier wasn’t re-signed after the 2016 season.

Alexandre Gagne, who was signed as an undrafted free agent this spring, surprised the coaches with his long-snapping ability at the Roughriders’ mini-camp in Florida in April. That, along with his coverage skills, could earn Gagne a serious look in camp.

Returners

After Lawrence was released last season, Craig took over as the Roughriders’ primary returner.

Those duties could be transferred to Chad Owens, who was signed as a free agent in the off-season.

Owens, 35, was one of the league’s most dangerous return men in his younger days — he exceeded 1,000 yards on kickoff returns three times, surpassed 750 yards on punt returns three times and has three career missed field-goal returns for touchdowns — and he’ll be asked to recapture that magic with the Roughriders.

Nic Demski, Armanti Edwards and Ricky Collins Jr., also did some returning for the Roughriders in 2016. Rookie receiver Desmond Reece and rookie running back Quincy Walden were proven return men in college.

Cover teams

Seeking to address their punt and kickoff coverage, the Roughriders nabbed one of the CFL’s best special-teamers in free agency.

Glenn Love, who recorded 56 special-teams tackles in 44 games played over the past three seasons with the Calgary Stampeders, joined Saskatchewan this off-season. He had 21 special-teams stops in 10 games in 2016.

Safeties Marc-Olivier Brouillette and Mike Edem — both of whom were added this off-season — also are proven commodities on cover teams. So are returnees like Kevin Francis, Dillon Grondin, Spencer Moore and Henoc Muamba.

The Roughriders also targeted special-teamers in the CFL draft and landed linebackers Cameron Judge and Alexandre Chevrier.

Several of the Roughriders’ leading special-teams tacklers from last season are gone (including linebackers Greg Jones, Korey Jones and Jeff Knox Jr., and DB Graig Newman), so further auditions will be held at camp.