West feels more like home: kicker
HAMILTON, Ont. — Brody McKnight is hoping Saturday will mark his debut in the Canadian Football League.
If it is, the Edmonton Eskimos will hold their breath and hope that their freshly acquired punt man leads with his best foot forward.
McKnight, 22, arrived in Edmonton late Wednesday night from Montreal, having been traded that morning for backup kicker Derek Schiavone and a pair of picks (first and fourth round) in the 2013 CFL draft.
The Alouettes took the Vancouver product eighth overall in the 2011 draft and landed him this year after he finished his collegiate career at Montana. He had tested the National Football League waters, but tryouts with the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals didn’t pan out.
In his rookie year in Montreal, McKnight was buried behind Sean Whyte, who took all three roles of punting, kickoffs and field goals for the Alouettes.
Wednesday’s trade opened a door for McKnight, who said after his first practice with the Eskimos on Thursday that he was excited about the opportunity that awaits him in Edmonton. If he gets into Saturday’s game as a punter against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, it will mark McKnight’s pro debut.
“It’ll be my first pro game at any level,” McKnight said. “It’s exciting. I’m welcoming any opportunity.”
Vancouver-bred and having spent four years at the University of Montana, McKnight was a small-town/West Coast-paced young man living in a bustling city in Montreal. In Edmonton less than 24 hours, he said he was already comfortable with his surroundings. “It’s a blessing,” McKnight said. “I come out here and I feel more at home here than I do at Montreal, to be honest with you.
“It’s a little bit closer to home, a little bit more of that small-town feel — I mean it’s not a small town by any means — but a little slower lifestyle than what I was used to.”
He’ll put the settling in on hold for a few days and get back on another plane on Friday morning. Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed will include McKnight on his 46-man roster, he said, but he wasn’t sure yet if he would call on him this week or let Grant Shaw take on all three kicking duties for one more week.
Shaw was forced to become the primary kicker on Labour Day in Calgary when punter Burke Dales injured his foot in the first quarter of the annual game against the Stampeders.
Dales injury, along with the salarycap relief that Schiavone’s departure brings — his contract became guaranteed on Thursday, estimated to be at $65,000, while McKnight is said to be in the $45,000 neighbourhood — precipitated the trade.
“From the stuff that we charted he was OK — we don’t expect him to be perfect right now because he just got off of a flight really late,” Reed said, adding that he planned to work out the kicker again in the afternoon to get a better feel for his abilities.