Winnipeg punter Medlock packs tricks in his bag of kicks
You might compare Winnipeg Blue Bombers punter Justin Medlock to a baseball pitcher.
He’s always mixing up his deliveries and tosses plenty of curve balls.
“Instead of just throwing the fastball right down the pipe,” Medlock said Wednesday after the Bombers practised in preparation for Friday night’s home game against the Ottawa Redblacks. “It’s just changing it up a little bit. Making them guess and not just knowing I’m going to hit the ball 45 yards down the middle every time. It’s difficult to predict.”
Medlock made his name as a placekicker, spending time in the NFL.
When it comes to punting, he’s always been on a learning curve, so despite being in his 10th pro season, the 34-year-old just keeps trying new things.
He’s never going to wow anybody with his punting yardage — his 43.7-yard average is eighth in the league — but he has become a master of positional punting and deception, which limits the opposition’s ability to return the kicks.
Medlock has the third best net punting average in the league (36.7 yards) and last week against Hamilton he played in integral role, pinning the Tiger-Cats inside their 10-yard line three times. In fact, the Ticats had zero punt return yards in the game. Medlock punted out of bounds three times and there were no returns on the other three, once because of an illegal block penalty.
So what’s making it so tough for opponents? In a word: Variety.
Medlock basically has five kicks to choose from when he receives the ball from long-snapper Chad Rempel.
He can boom a normal spiralling kick, or he can mess with the opposition with something a little more tricky.
There’s the boomerang, which goes sideways to the left and often cuts out of bounds.
There’s a knuckle kick, which essentially flutters in the air, making it more difficult for the returner to catch.
There’s the Aussie ball, which goes end over end and can be tricky to field.
And finally, there’s what he calls the Aussie Koch Ball.
This was a kick Medlock used to pin the Tiger-Cats deep in the fourth quarter last week.
Named after Baltimore Ravens punter Sam Koch, the kick essentially involves Medlock moving as though he is going to kick the ball left and then hooking a low endover-end ball hard to the right.
The fact is, Medlock is not a punter by trade. Placekickers in the U.S. college ranks and the NFL rarely handle punting duties. Because he’s an international player in the CFL, it’s imperative that he can handle both duties.
“The punting just takes time,” Medlock said. “I didn’t punt in college and then when I started punting I would leave and go to the NFL and come back and start all over. I’m still getting there.”
Bombers coach Mike O’Shea doesn’t spend much time watching or worrying about Medlock. He just lets the kicker do his own thing, trying out all the different punting styles in practice as the team executes drills.
“He’s motivated to be the best at everything he does. He’s very competitive, with himself, with anything he does. Don’t get on a golf course with him. He’s very competitive. I try not to talk to him.”