Allen Cameron
Calgary Herald
Don’t ask Rob Maver to come into the Calgary Stampeders’ training camp next month and be the next Sandro DeAngelis.
He has his own set of tough expectations; he certainly doesn’t need to be saddled with the pressure of replacing the most accurate kicker in Canadian Football League history, who signed a free-agent deal in the off-season with Hamilton.
But like it or not, based on his status as a first-round draft pick, fifth overall, by the Stampeders in Sunday’s CFL draft, the 24-year-old University of Guelph product, who was 13-of-14 on field goals last season, will face some intense scrutiny.
“I’m not going to come into Calgary and replace Sandro DeAngelis,” insisted Maver, an Ontarian whose parents are planning to move to Kelowna, B.C. “I’m just coming in to do the same job that he can do. It’s my goal to do as good of a job as he did, and I’m going to work my butt off so that I can try to do that.”
The job is not Maver’s quite yet; he’ll be competing at camp against free-agent Warren Kean, who was the second overall pick in 2007 and has since attempted just four kicks in the CFL — a cautionary tale, if there ever was one, about kickers being picked in the first round.
“You shouldn’t put pressure on yourself as to where you get picked,” said Maver, whose draft-day stock was boosted by his ability to punt (although that won’t be an issue while Burke Dales is a Stampeder). “It wouldn’t matter if I signed as a free agent or was a first-round pick. It’s my job to go out there and make every kick.”
Stamps coach and general manager John Hufnagel said the plan was to have Maver focus solely on kicking for the time being.
“Going into the draft, there was no secret that one of our priorities was to get a kicker, and we feel we got the best kicker in the draft this year,” said Hufnagel. “We’re just going to have him kick field goals at first. I have one of the best, if not the best, punters in the league, and I needed to get a real good field goal kicker to be a part of that two-punch duo.”
In addition to potentially solving their kicking dilemma, the Stamps took care of other draft-day priorities. They picked a potential starter on defence in cornerback Taurean Allen — a priority considering the Stamps could have ratio problems with departures on the offensive line — as well as three offensive linemen, two of whom won’t be available until next year because of remaining U.S. college eligibility: Cochrane High School grad John Bender from the University of Nevada and J’Michael Deane from Michigan State. UBC’s Oamo Culbreath, meanwhile, is expected to be at rookie camp next month.
As well, the Stamps believe they nabbed a fifth-round sleeper in Saint Mary’s linebacker Karl McCartney, a highly touted player who TSN’s Duane Forde was reporting had given up on football. The Stamps, though, contacted him and discovered he still had CFL aspirations, so much so the resident of the Bahamas flew to Florida to work out for the Stamps.
“We talked to his coaches, we talked to his teammates, and everyone said he’s one of the best pure athletes they’ve seen,” said Hufnagel.
The Stamps had discussed taking Allen with their first pick, but decided they couldn’t gamble that Maver would be available later.
When Allen was still available in the No. 13 hole, it was a no-brainer.
And Allen couldn’t have been more thrilled; the five-foot-11, 195-pounder, a university all-star for three years running, was a roommate of Maver’s at last year’s CIS East-West Game, and was a fan of the Stamps before being picked by them.
“I love everything about the Stampeders; I love their players, I’m always talking about Brandon Browner, Dwight Anderson, Ken-Yon Rambo, all those guys,” said Allen. “I was just infatuated with the Stamps, and then picking me was one of my greatest moments. I’m extremely stoked.”
A cornerback at Wilfrid Laurier (where he played with current Stamp Justin Phillips), Allen would like to be one of the rare Canadians who plays that position at the pro level, but he’s not opposed to moving to safety.
“I feel I possess the physicality, the skills, the swagger, to be a CFL corner,” said Allen, who like another chatty cornerback, Anderson, was born in Jamaica. “I just want to get out there and ball.”
courtesy of www.calgaryherald.com
