Fleming on the verge of retiring within the next year or two
By Scott Petersen,
Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON — Sean Fleming has already talked to Warren Kean about putting the pressures of a pro franchise on his right foot.
Consider it the first of many mentor-tutor conversations to come between the Edmonton Eskimos’ all-time points leader and his heir apparent in the kicking game.
Kean, a Concordia University Stingers product, was the second overall selection in Wednesday’s CFL Canadian college draft.
It was the first time the Eskimos have taken a kicker in the first round since Fleming went sixth overall in 1992. They hope for an equally strong career from Kean.
“It’s definitely a position I can go in and I don’t think there’ll be too much animosity or direct competition between each other,” said Kean from his parents’ home in Dundas, Ont.
“It’s more about learning. I mean, he’s got the job. It’s his job. And it’s more of a mentorship to train me and, hopefully, I can take over for him.”
Fleming, 37, has previously dropped hints of retirement and being open to grooming someone to take over kicking duties. When Kean travelled to Edmonton recently for a pre-draft interview and showcase, that was apparently a topic in their hour-long conversation.
Eskimos head coach Danny Maciocia said he’ll leave it to training camp to best decide how to use his kickers. But he noted Kean could see duties in the coming year and would be a strong replacement if something happened to Fleming.
“Everybody’s well aware of the situation,” said Maciocia, who rebutted trade offers for his No. 2 pick because he didn’t think Kean would be available past the first round.
“Sean maybe wants to do this for another year or two and then maybe wants to shut it down and we can just hand it over to this kid and he can pick up where Sean left off and give us a 14- or 15- year run,” said Maciocia.
Kean went 18-for-19 on his field goals in 2005 and earned all-Canadian honours. He followed that by going 20-for-32 in 2006, struggling with a new holder. Still, he set a Canadian Interuniversity Sport record with nine field goals in a six-overtime game against St. Mary’s University.
Kean, who also posted a kickoff average of 56.9 yards, said he comfortably hits field goals from 55 yards in practice and can punt. His biggest pressure kick was a 44-yarder into the wind to force overtime against the University of Laval, he said.
His high selection ties another Concordia product, Dave Miller-Johnston, as the earliest drafted kicker in CFL history. Miller-Johnston went second overall to Toronto in 1998 and trains Kean, designing his workouts and coaching him on the finer points of kicking. Current Concordia head coach Gerry McGrath is also a former CFL kicker.
The Eskimos selected Akron University defensive back Jason Nedd (five-foot-10, 196 pounds) with their second round pick, 10th overall.
“Coach (Danny) Kepley was on my desk jumping and ranting and raving that we needed to have this kid,” said Maciocia. “He’ll knock your head off. Don’t let the size fool you.”
The Esks rounded out their draft by taking Laval defensive lineman Michael Jean-Louis and Western Washington University running back Calvin McCarty with back-to-back picks in the fourth round. Maciocia received an additional scouting report on McCarty from last year’s top pick Adam Braidwood, who trained with him. They also worked McCarty out in Edmonton and feel he could be an immediate special teams contributor with the potential to play some receiver.
U of Alberta long snapper Pat MacDonald, who recently signed an NFL deal with the New Orleans Saints, went in the third round to Calgary while Spruce Grove product Ryan Karhut went to Saskatchewan in the fifth round.
