CHRIS MILO HAPPY WITH HIS SITUATION

Chris Milo #19 with the Saskatchewan Roughriders during practice at Mosaic Stadium in Regina on October 18, 2011.

REGINA — Chris Milo woke up Wednesday as the only man on the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ roster who had punted and kicked in a CFL regular-season game.

The Roughriders released Luca Congi on Tuesday, one week after cutting Eddie Johnson. That left Milo — who handled all three duties (punting, kicking off and place-kicking) for the team’s final 12 games of 2011 — as the team’s lone veteran punter-kicker.

“It’s a tremendous honour and it’s great to have the confidence of the coaching staff and Mr. (Brendan) Taman (the Roughriders’ general manager),” Milo said Wednesday from Quebec City.
“Especially when it comes to the kicking game, when the people around you have confidence in you, it gives you that extra edge you need to have confidence in yourself. They trust and believe in what you can do and it gives you the extra little something you may need to perform at a high level.

“It’s a great accomplishment for me,” he added. “I’m proud and I’m going to work really hard to build on what I did last season and hopefully get better and better as the years go on.”

On Oct. 17, 2010, Congi sustained torn ligaments in his right knee when Calgary Stampeders defensive back Dwight Anderson crashed into the kicker while blocking a field-goal attempt.
Johnson and Warren Kean — who was signed after Congi was injured — handled the kicking duties for the rest of the 2010 campaign. Kean was released after the season.

Unsure if Congi would be ready for the 2011 season, the Roughriders selected Milo in the fourth round (30th overall) of the 2011 CFL draft from the Universite Laval Rouge et Or.

Saskatchewan began the regular season with Johnson punting, kicking off and handling placements while Milo was a healthy scratch, but that changed six games in after Johnson suffered a hip injury. With Johnson out, Milo took on all three jobs.

The Roughriders signed punter Jamie Boreham in early September, apparently with the notion that he would supplant Milo as the punter.

As well, the team apparently expected to hand the kicking duties to Congi, who came off the nine-game injured list and was added to the 46-man roster on Sept. 11.

But Milo hit his stride around that time. As a result, Congi didn’t dress for any games before returning to the nine-game injured list Oct. 21, Johnson never came off the injured list, and Boreham was traded to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Oct. 3 without appearing in a game for the Roughriders.

Milo finished the season with a 43.2-yard average on 79 punts (one of which was a CFL-record-tying 108-yarder against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Oct. 29), a 53.6-yard average on 47 kickoffs, and an 84.6-per-cent success rate on field-goal attempts (22-for-26).

After hitting only four of his first seven three-point tries, Milo missed just one of his next 19 attempts.

His success in 2011 — and, undoubtedly, his price tag — allowed the Roughriders to cut ties this off-season with Johnson and Congi.

“You have a good university career and you work so hard to get to this level, but once you come to this level, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past,” the 25-year-old Milo said of his own progress. “What matters is what you do in the present and working toward the future.
“Coming in, there was Eddie Johnson and Luca Congi, two of the best in the league. Competing with the best pushes you to get to the next level.”

Having veterans waiting for him to stumble certainly pushed Milo last season, but he may not have that incentive next season. As of today, the only other punter-kicker on the roster is Chris Bodnar — the signing of the Regina Rams’ specialist was announced Wednesday — and he’ll be a CFL rookie in 2012.

“I’m sure that Mr. Taman will bring a few guys in to keep me going and keep me motivated, but at the level I’m at right now, I have all the motivation that I need,” Milo said.
“A little competition in practice and a little push is always good to have so that you can maintain that extra edge you need come game time.”

Milo noted he was “somewhat surprised” by Tuesday’s news about Congi, whom Milo said was a great teammate and teacher. That said, Milo admitted that transaction also eased his mind a bit.
“I can’t help but be pleased about my situation right now, but it’s not one that I’m going to take for granted,” he said. “It’s one that I’m going to work hard at and try to maintain for a long time.”

ihamilton@leaderpost.com