Saskatchewan Roughriders special teams coordinator Kent Maugeri is a ways away from writing off Alex Hale any time soon.
The rookie placekicker has found himself in the discussion hotseat after missing a pair of field goals against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, with many onlookers feeling his time in Saskatchewan should come to an end.
Maugeri isn’t so sure, though, especially with how Hale has shown flashes of brilliance in recent outings. He spoke with the Voice of the Roughriders Dave Thomas after practice on Wednesday about the kicking game and the performance of the special teams in general.
“So it's a bit of a roller coaster for him,” Maugeri said. “I think similar to (punter) Oscar (Chapman) he's still learning the CFL game, learning the wind up here and then right when you think ‘he's good, he's got three games where he didn't miss, his kickoffs are really improved, he's got some really nice shots in his bag’, then last game had two kicks that he wants back, we all want back.
“But you see him each week in practice competing and working hard trying to improve and I think he has.”
Maugeri feels that Hale has the toolbox to become far more consistent, especially given his demeanour in any game situation.
“He stays calm no matter what,” Maugeri said. “A lot of guys when they miss that kick, they go down in the dumps and you'd be scared to throw him out there. He is so cool, he doesn't get rattled at all next kick, it’s just ‘this is what I got to do’. You just got to learn from those and move forward “
As for other facets of the special teams, Maugeri had praise for the work Chapman has done to improve. While his punt average numbers might not lead the league — his 46.6 average sits fifth overall — it’s the placement and other facets that make the difference in his game.
“He's learning the game, the width of the field, the different types of shots you need, different hang times when you don't want to have as much hang time,” Maugeri said. “So he's really feeling it and he knows when to be quick and when he can take his time a little bit. That takes time and feel. So I'm not super concerned with just his average as much as location, hangtime and movement has been really good. So he continues to improve.
If there’s one aspect of the special teams that’s shone as of late, it’s the coverage teams. Riders opponents have had a difficult time getting good field position in most cases the last few games, and that’s helped Saskatchewan’s defence by putting teams in long field situations.
Maugeri said his crew takes pride in that, especially over the last two incredibly important games.
“We've got to hold our end of the bargain up and the Toronto game I thought we showed we’re capable of really swinging it towards our favour,” he said. “Each week it's a different challenge, whether it's the returner or the guy's holding up our cover units.”
Maugeri also gave praise to assistant Jeff Stusek for helping keep everything organized on the field as the team worked its way through a spate of injuries.
“We talk about situations all week and then on day four we go through it and ‘all right, if Johnny goes down, who's in? And then what do we do?’” Maugeri said. “We shuffle the pieces and this is for every position. Unfortunately we've had to go to that quite a bit this year and each week it seems like it's a bit more and more. It's a bit of a puzzle and you just have to work fast.”
The Riders are back in action for the Labour Day Classic rematch on Saturday afternoon, with kickoff at 2 p.m. at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg. The Rider Broadcast Network pregame show begins at 11 a.m. with Teagan Witko, Wes Cates and plenty of special guests. Dave Thomas and analyst Luc Mullinder will then have the game call at kickoff at 2 p.m.
