Can Leone put the boot to rivals?
Buono looking for one player to handle all kicking duties next year
With the surname of Leone, Richie Leone was born a lion.
But whether the 22- year- old punter/ kicker from Roswell, Ga. is meant to be a B. C. Lion is yet to be determined.
Half the age of the team’s field goal kicker, 44- year- old Paul McCallum, Leone’s powerful leg impressed players and coaches after he joined the expanded practice roster of the Canadian Football League team on Oct. 20.
Although he didn’t play a game, Leone unnerved the team’s resident punter, Ricky Schmitt, from the moment he set foot on the practice field.
Schmitt had good reason to feel threatened. His official release was announced Tuesday, when the Lions said they were not picking up the options of Schmitt and veteran defenders Dante Marsh, Khalif Mitchell and Jamall Johnson.
“He’s got lots of potential, lots of power,” McCallum said of Leone. “I saw him hit the scoreboard ( at BC Place) in practice. I think I’ve proven that kickoffs and punting are past me now. I think I can still kick field goals. But that’s up to them ( management). If they want someone who can do all three, I’ll be out of a job.”
Lions general manager Wally Buono indeed is looking for a player who can handle all three kicking duties in 2015, similar to Swayze Waters of the Toronto Argonauts — the CFL special teams player of the year — and Justin Medlock of the Grey Cup finalist Hamilton Tiger- Cats.
With the expansion of active rosters to 44 from 42 players, CFL teams have the luxury of using two roster spots for a domestic kicker and an import punter — as the Lions did last season — or having an American kicker do all three.
The 6- foot- 3, 214- pound Leone has a whipsaw for a leg. At the University of Houston, he was a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award, given to the top punter in NCAA football, in three consecutive years. In his senior year, almost half of his kickoffs ( 47.4 per cent) went for touchbacks. And he was the Cougars’ field goal kicker for seven games, going five- for-five in a game against Temple in which his longest kick was 40 yards.
What’s keeping the Lions from signing him? Well, Leone still has options in the National Football League.
The Baltimore Ravens signed him as a free agent in May, took him to training camp and kept him there until the final round of cuts. He was in competition against veteran punter Sam Koch, and the presence of Leone pushing him may have been a factor in Koch’s outstanding season. Koch leads all NFL punters in balloting for the Pro Bowl.
“They ( Lions) want me to come back and compete for a job,” Leone said.
“I never thought I’d come up there ( Canada). But I met some great guys ( backup quarterbacks John Beck and Jordan Rodgers) whom I lived with for a few weeks. I really enjoyed my time up there. I can choose to come back ( to B. C.). They obviously want me to come back to training camp and compete. But I’m going to wait a couple of months and kind of see what’s the best situation for me. Only time will tell.”
In McCallum’s opinion, Leone might not make it to training camp, six months away in Kamloops.
“If he’s as good as he looked here, and wants to go to the States, I think he’s got lots of potential,” McCallum said. “I honestly don’t think he’ll be around very long.”
IN KHARI’S CORNER: Though quarterback Kevin Glenn played out his option and won’t be returning next season, the former Lions starter thinks it would be counterproductive for the team’s next head coach to change offensive co- ordinators. Glenn believes Khari Jones should stay.
“Hopefully, they keep Khari,” he said. “It makes sense if you want continuity. Travis ( Lulay), John ( Beck), Travis ( Partridge) and Jordan ( Rodgers) are all familiar with him. You’re starting down the same road, as we did a year ago, if you bring in a new coordinator. It usually takes a couple of years for an offence to jell.”
Glenn also said it would not surprise him if he ended up in Ottawa, the same club that traded him to B. C. in May.
“I’ve seen weirder things happen,” he said. “I do love football and I have lots of football left in me.”
He is still under contract to the Lions, however, and won’t become a free agent until February.
“It confuses me,” Glenn said. “The Lions don’t want me in their plans. But if I go out and talk with another team, is that still considered tampering?”