The Saskatchewan Roughriders take on the Ottawa RedBlacks in CFL action on June 10th, 2017 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, SK. Liam Richards/Electric Umbrella
The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ special teams returned to the good old days in 2017.
A squad that has featured dangerous return men such as Corey Holmes, Willis Jacox and Curtis Mayfield over the years found a new threat in Christion Jones.
In 10 regular-season games in 2017, Jones returned 45 punts for 645 yards and two touchdowns and 18 kickoffs for 423 yards. He added 12 punt returns for 223 yards and a TD in Saskatchewan’s two playoff games.
His punt-return average of 14.3 yards in the regular season was the second-highest in the CFL and his two TDs tied him for second in the league.
The rookie helped Saskatchewan finish second in the CFL in punt-return average (12.2 yards), one season after it was seventh in that category (10.1). The 2017 Roughriders also led the loop in kickoff-return average (23.4 yards), one season after placing ninth in that statistic (18.5).
Those numbers reflected only one aspect of the special teams’ improvement in 2017, when the Roughriders’ return and cover teams were a key part of the team’s five-win improvement over the 2016 campaign.
Here’s a look at Saskatchewan’s special-teams personnel entering the team’s 2018 training camp, which opens Sunday in Saskatoon.
Returners
When training camp opened in 2017, Chad Owens was pencilled in as the No. 1 returner. But a lingering foot injury kept Owens out of the lineup and players like Nic Demski, Ricky Collins Jr., Duron Carter and Greg Morris handled the returns in the early stages of the regular season.
Jones joined the Roughriders in July and spent the first two weeks of his time in the CFL on the practice roster. After playing three games, he was put on the injured list for three games before returning for Saskatchewan’s 12th regular-season game.
He finished the regular season with four punt returns of 30 yards or more; the team had six such returns in total. He also had two kickoff returns that exceeded 30 yards; the team had a total of seven in the regular season.
Collins, Demski and Morris have moved on, but the Roughriders have other proven returners in Carter, Owens and Marcus Thigpen to handle the duties if required.
Cover teams
Denzel Radford
The Roughriders discovered a special-teams star in 2017.
Denzel Radford, who was acquired from the Montreal Alouettes during training camp, developed into a demon on Saskatchewan’s cover teams. The rookie tied for fourth in the CFL with 24 special-teams tackles.
Saskatchewan finished the season ranked first in the CFL in opponent’s kickoff-return average (19.6 yards, the only team with an average under 20 yards) and third in opponent’s punt-return average (9.8 yards). The Roughriders also tied for first in the league in opponent’s kick-return touchdowns (one).
Players like Radford, Brandyn Bartlett, Marc-Olivier Brouillette, Mike Edem, Kevin Francis and Spencer Moore return to the cover teams, as do Dillon Grondin and Cameron Judge — both of whom missed time last season due to injury. Free-agent signing Sam Hurl also is a proven performer on the teams.
But special-teams regulars like Jeff Hecht, Jeff Knox Jr., Glenn Love, Henoc Muamba and Cameron Ontko are gone from last season, meaning replacements will have to be found during camp.
Expect Micah Teitz (a 2018 draft pick) and Alexandre Chevrier (a 2017 selection) to get opportunities at training camp.
Punters
Josh Bartel
Josh Bartel returns for his fourth season with the Roughriders.
Bartel punted a league-high 117 times during the 2017 regular season and his 43.9-yard average was the second-highest of his career. He finished seventh in the league in average, but fourth in net average (34.9 yards). He also was second in the league with 10 punts that pinned opponents inside their 10-yard line.
Bartel’s backup for the past two seasons, Quinn Van Gylswyk, left Saskatchewan in free agency this off-season. The only other players on the training-camp roster who could punt if required are kickers Tyler Crapigna and Brett Lauther, neither of whom has punted in a CFL game in his career.
Kickers
In 2017, Crapigna overcame key misses in the first two regular-season games to match his statistics from the previous year.
Tyler Crapigna
In his second full season as the Roughriders’ kicker, Crapigna connected on 36 of 42 field-goal tries (85.7 per cent) in the regular season. A mid-season streak of 18 straight successful kicks helped his cause.
He was 30-for-33 from inside the 40-yard line, 6-for-9 between 40 and 50 yards, and 1-for-1 from 50 yards and beyond.
Crapigna also was 47-for-47 on converts, tying him for the CFL’s best percentage. He kicked off a league-high 87 times and averaged 60.3 yards, placing him eighth among qualifying kickers.
Lauther goes into camp as Crapigna’s backup. He hasn’t kicked in a CFL game since 2013, when he went 6-for-10 on field-goal tries for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Long-snappers
Jorgen Hus came back from off-season wrist surgery to have a solid campaign in 2017.
The Saskatoon product played all 18 regular-season games and both playoff contests, delivering snaps on time and on target to Bartel in his dual roles as punter and holder on placements.
Alexandre Gagne, who was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2017, likely will work as Hus’ backup during training camp.
