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Our Lions have signed four new players to the practice roster. Unfortunately there is no International defensive end among the group, so there goes my wish again.

However, we did sign a kicker/punter so that is interesting.

With Sinkfield only signed for this season, our Leos are looking at International recievers for the outside slot position next year.

Hard to know whether both Johnson and Allan will both want to be back at tailback next season. One could be signed elsewhere.

Zaud is going to get a good look for sure, with Leone still trying to get field goal consistency.

Reports indicate Long had NFL talent but not a good attitude in college, getting into scrapes with a lot of his coaches. Long had been projected as a potential late-round NFL pick. Perhaps he has matured.

Coprich is consided a zone offence type of runner who can also catch the football. He is 5'8" and 208 pounds. He also had some baggage in college, pleading guilty for selling the green stuff and got two years of probation. He was a first time offender and has the charge removed from his record.

Bobby Zalud split his college playing days between Arkansas State and Cal Poly. During his time with the Mustangs at Cal Poly he appeared in 23 games going 20 of 30 on field goal attempts and punting 63 times for 2,405 yards (38.1 avg.). He was also a purrfect 55 for 55 on converts during that time.

Gionni Paul is intelligent, has good football instincts and plays with a lot of enthusiasm. Gionni Paul is only 5'10" tall but is a 230 pound linebacker. He was suspended twice at Miami and left the program there by mutual decision to go play for Dennis Erickson at Utah State.

In lieu of the annual practice roster expansion period, the BC Lions have added Imports Deon Long (WR), Marshaun Coprich (RB), Bobby Zalud (K/P) and Gionni Paul (LB) to the squad. All four players have reported to the facility and will begin practicing with the club on Tuesday of this week.

Following his release from the Los Angeles Rams, Long most recently had a practice roster sting with the Philadelphia Eagles.  The University of Maryland product is noted for his toughness and ability to play multiple positions. He also ran a 4.41 at the Combine so he is definitely noted for his speed.

Coprich was a standout at Illinois State, twice rushing for over 1,900 yards including a stellar Junior season where he surpassed the 2,200 yard mark. Coprich spent 2016 training camp with the New York Giants.

Zalud, who recently began punting to go along with kickoff and placekicking duties, was a teammate of Lions linebacker Cameron Ontko at Cal Poly. Before transferring there from Arkansas State, Zalud led the Sun Belt Conference in touchbacks in both 2010 and 2011.

Paul was a 2016 training camp attendee with the Cincinnati Bengals. The stout linebacker played at the University of Utah where he recorded 117 tackles, three sacks and four interceptions in the 2015 season.

Leone a natural punter learning to placekick.

Zalud a placekicker learning to punt.

I seem to recall McCallun coming to BC from the Riders as an Ok kicker but not a great all start FG kicker until the later part of his career.

Sean Whyte is a much better kicker now than he was a few years ago when he was a BC Lion.

So give Leone some time and he could become more reliable and in the meantime his misses have yet to cost any games.

TheLionKing wrote:Leone a natural punter learning to placekick.

Zalud a placekicker learning to punt.

We just can't find both.

But then again, I thought Fera was a great candidate for the job here in B.C.

Fera has hit 83.3% of his attempts in Montreal including a 52 yarder. He has hit 5 field goals longer than 40 yards. He's averaging 47.3 yds. per punt in Montreal.

DanoT wrote:I seem to recall McCallun coming to BC from the Riders as an Ok kicker but not a great all start FG kicker until the later part of his career.

Sean Whyte is a much better kicker now than he was a few years ago when he was a BC Lion.

So give Leone some time and he could become more reliable and in the meantime his misses have yet to cost any games.

It's tough finding the jack-of-all-trades kicker. Fact is they are few and far between in what has become a specialists discipline, particularly south of the border. If there is a combo kicker it's usually that the punter also handles KO chores. I think Leone continues to improve but needs to reduce those "set back" games. Both convert misses Saturday were virtually identical pushes just right of the uprights. That is more fixable than if he was hooking one one way and pushing the other the other way. Strange numbers though. In the first 7 games he was 65% on FGs and 100% on converts. In the last 6 games he's improved to 80% on FGs while going only 57% on converts. Interesting of note is that on August 13th he went 4 for 4 on converts then never was asked to try another until 4 weeks later.

I think McCallum's improvement in BC had a certain amount to do with finally become a student of the position and being more dedicated to conditioning. A lot also had to do with no longer having to deal with prairie winds for 75% of the season, particularly the Mosaic winds. Rider kickers are asked to make a higher percentage of low percentage kicks (either into winds or longer range kicks with the wind) than any others in the CFL.

I really like Richie Leone - I think he's a good kid and I root for him to do well. However, I am not sure why the club didn't draft Quinn Van Glyswyk, who was drafted #26 overall despite a stellar college career here in our own backyard (UBC). Generally, kickers aren't drafted very high but Nationals that can capably handle both kicking and punting duties like Lirim Hajrullahu are worth their weight in gold.

Although Van Glyswyk is no magic panacea (he's 1 of 3 this year, hitting from 54-yards out while apprenticing under Tyler Crapigna), he could have come in and pushed Leone at the very least, and been a long-term solution as a field goal kicker. I think he's going to have a pretty good future.


DH

David wrote:I really like Richie Leone - I think he's a good kid and I root for him to do well. However, I am not sure why the club didn't draft Quinn Van Glyswyk, who was drafted #26 overall despite a stellar college career here in our own backyard (UBC). Generally, kickers aren't drafted very high but Nationals that can capably handle both kicking and punting duties like Lirim Hajrullahu are worth their weight in gold.

Although Van Glyswyk is no magic panacea (he's 1 of 3 this year, hitting from 54-yards out while apprenticing under Tyler Crapigna), he could have come in and pushed Leone at the very least, and been a long-term solution as a field goal kicker. I think he's going to have a pretty good future.


DH

I agree. I was hoping the Lions will draft Van Glyswk

David wrote:I really like Richie Leone - I think he's a good kid and I root for him to do well. However, I am not sure why the club didn't draft Quinn Van Glyswyk, who was drafted #26 overall despite a stellar college career here in our own backyard (UBC). Generally, kickers aren't drafted very high but Nationals that can capably handle both kicking and punting duties like Lirim Hajrullahu are worth their weight in gold.

Although Van Glyswyk is no magic panacea (he's 1 of 3 this year, hitting from 54-yards out while apprenticing under Tyler Crapigna), he could have come in and pushed Leone at the very least, and been a long-term solution as a field goal kicker. I think he's going to have a pretty good future.


DH

I was hoping the same. Too bad the Riders have him on their injured list rather than their practice roster. He would be a nice steal and they owe us two steals.

TheLionKing wrote:

David wrote:I really like Richie Leone - I think he's a good kid and I root for him to do well. However, I am not sure why the club didn't draft Quinn Van Glyswyk, who was drafted #26 overall despite a stellar college career here in our own backyard (UBC). Generally, kickers aren't drafted very high but Nationals that can capably handle both kicking and punting duties like Lirim Hajrullahu are worth their weight in gold.

Although Van Glyswyk is no magic panacea (he's 1 of 3 this year, hitting from 54-yards out while apprenticing under Tyler Crapigna), he could have come in and pushed Leone at the very least, and been a long-term solution as a field goal kicker. I think he's going to have a pretty good future.


DH

I agree. I was hoping the Lions will draft Van Glyswk

I thought they would too and may well have been planning to take him with the Dillon Guy pick had he still been available. We won't know how Blaszko will turn out but for now I'm quite content with the 3 players they did take prior to QVG being taken. I think it would've been a waste to use on of their first 3 picks on a kicker. I was surprised later to find out how old he is though. He was already 25 on draft day making him physically mature already. His college numbers were solid but not spectacular at 75.4% on FGs compared to Crapigna at 88.9% in his final CIS year. Van G's 42.5 punting average was also decent but not spectacular. Interestingly Rider fans think of him as a punter only. With the year Bartel is having and Crapigna being a year younger than QVG his future in Regina isn't looking all that rosy. He may be looking at another year of being stashed on the Rider 6G IR or a new address.

Toronto just signed defensive end Eric Martin. The Stamps just signed an outstanding defensive end a couple of weeks ago.

With Allen and Hudson having one sack each for the entire season, we really should be bringing in a defensive end. They are out there.

C'mon Leos!!!!!